The following is an excerpt from Z. Byron Wolf | November 28, 2011 | ABCNews.com
Rep. Barney Frank, the first serving member of Congress to come out as gay and a powerful Democrat whose name is attached to the sweeping Wall Street reform bill, announced today that he will not seek reelection in 2012.
“I am required to choose. I have to choose between fulfilling my obligation as a ranking member of the Financial Services Committee on behalf of financial reform and my responsibility to continue to be a full representative of the people who voted for me in 2010,” Frank said in a statement to reporters in Newton, Mass. Monday afternoon. ”I do not choose to run for Congress in 2012.”
Frank said he believes that if he had decided to run he would have won in 2012, but the challenges created by redistricting proved not to be worth an attempt to extend his tenure for two more years.
“I don’t want to be torn between a full-fledged campaign in a district with 325,000 new people, and my obligation to the existing constituents,” Frank said. “I would be asking 325,000 new constituents to give me the mandate to be their advocate with the federal government for only two years. Starting on a series of projects only to be passing them along in various stages of incompletion to a successor two years later is not a responsible way to act.”
Frank became the member of Congress to come out as gay six years after he first took office, coming out in 1987 and breaking an important barrier in American politics.
Asked what sort of legacy he hoped to leave behind in Congress, Frank said………
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