Barney Frank, The Fat Fox Guarding the Hen House

More Fun Facts from OpenSecrets.org, This time from Massachusetts' 4th Congressional District Race featuring 30 year incumbent, Barney Frank vs. newcomer Sean Bielat.

Below you'll see that the people sending the most money to Frank are those who work in and/around the very same industry he regulates.

The counter-intuitive truth about regulations is that they most help those who are the richest players in the regulated industry. How's that work? Because the cost of compliance acts as a barrier to entrance to start-ups.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure Barney doesn't really want his liberal constituents understanding who pulls his strings.

Top Industries

2010 Race: Massachusetts District 04

Most members of Congress get the bulk of their campaign contributions from two main sources: the industries that make up the economic base of their home district and the Washington-based interest groups that pay more attention to the member's committee assignments in Congress. In addition, most Democrats receive substantial sums from labor unions.

From this table, you can get a flavor of which are the top industries giving to the candidates running for Congress in your district. Do the industries match your local economy, or are they more Washington-based? If the latter, the candidate may have divided loyalties on issues where the interests of their cash constituents conflict with those of the voters who elected them.

Barney Frank (D)

Industry	Total
Securities & Investment	$251,958
Insurance	$227,449
Real Estate	$213,750
Lawyers/Law Firms	$170,714
Retired	$123,771
Misc Finance	$102,750
Democratic/Liberal	$71,837
Commercial Banks	$70,800
Casinos/Gambling	$61,400
Lobbyists	$56,800
Accountants	$42,950
Business Services	$35,750
General Contractors	$30,350
Misc Unions	$27,500
Finance/Credit Companies	$24,000
Health Professionals	$23,080
Misc Manufacturing & Distributing	$22,900
Education	$22,150
Printing & Publishing	$21,700
Hospitals/Nursing Homes	$21,190

Sean D. Bielat (R)

Industry	Total
Retired	$46,750
Securities & Investment	$35,600
Lawyers/Law Firms	$21,826
Misc Finance	$12,850
Real Estate	$11,950
Misc Business	$10,500
Health Professionals	$7,050
TV/Movies/Music	$6,800
Commercial Banks	$6,450
Civil Servants/Public Officials	$6,150
Business Services	$6,150
Computers/Internet	$3,500
Printing & Publishing	$3,400
Accountants	$3,100
Education	$2,500
Insurance	$2,500
Chemical & Related Manufacturing	$2,250
Misc Manufacturing & Distributing	$2,000
Oil & Gas	$1,750
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products	$1,650

One more reason to Money Bomb Sean Bielat....

Barney Frank, the nauseatingly fat and ugly congressperp ostensibly representing the people residing in Massachusetts' 4th Congressional District - and a primary contributor to the economic collapse of 2008 - has been a very hypocritical little piglet (but then there's nothing new about that when it comes to Frank):

Here's the juice:

Rival blasts Barney Frank’s swanky free jet ride

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, immersed in one of the toughest political fights of his career, took a free private jet to the Virgin Islands courtesy of a Maine congresswoman’s billionaire fiance — whose company received a $200 million federal bailout, the Herald has learned.

Frank, who’s facing feisty Republican challenger Sean Bielat, flew to the tropical paradise for a vacation in 2009 on a $25 million jet owned by Paloma Partners honcho S. Donald Sussman, the fiance of U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine). Paloma Securities — a subsidiary of Sussman’s Greenwich, Conn.-based hedge fund — received $200 million in 2009 as part of the $180 billion federal bailout of troubled insurance giant AIG, records show.

Frank, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, said his partner, Jim Ready, lives in Pingree’s district and the couples are “personal friends.”

“She and I have become friendly and they invited us to the Virgin Islands and I checked with House ethics (officials) and they gave it the OK,” Frank said. “It was purely personal.”

Republican National Committee spokesman Parish Braden said: “Barney Frank’s acceptance of a lavish gift from a hedge fund manager, an industry he is responsible for regulating, is a troubling conflict of interest that raises serious questions about his judgment.”

Bielat added: “Typical. Barney keeps showing how career politicians work — they use our dollars for their favors. It may be legal, but it’s wrong and that’s why we need a change.”

Frank called the GOP criticism “nonsense” and said he has backed legislation to crack down on hedge funds.

“I’ve never talked with him about any favorable treatment,” he said of Sussman. “I voted to raise his taxes. That’s one of the most backwards things I’ve ever heard. I’ve taken the anti-hedge fund position.”

Frank, who voted for the bailout in October 2008, took the trip around Christmas 2009. He reported the trip in required House financial filings and valued the flight at $1,500. He originally listed the trip vaguely as “first class round trip travel by private aircraft” in a congressional filing in May. In July, he amended the report to show he traveled from Portland, Maine, to the Virgin Islands. He called the discrepancy a “clerical error.”

Sussman, a huge Democratic campaign donor with homes in Maine and Connecticut, lives in St. John, Virgin Islands. Spokespersons for Sussman and Pingree declined to comment. Pingree also is facing criticism from the Maine GOP for using Sussman’s jet.

h/t to Christopher Fountain, my nearby neighbor in Greenwich where Sussman keeps a "cottage."

MONEY BOMB SEAN BIELAT HERE