Boston Herald: 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.
Sliding in and out of revolving doors without the ability to tell which side they are on, or whether the door is moving clockwise or counterclockwise. Lost to the ability to judge unethical. Lost to tell what's rigged.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."
