NORTON, Mass. -- The suburban town of Norton, Mass., is not fertile political turf for Barney Frank, whose base of support is in the working class cities of New Bedford and Fall River about 30 miles to the south. Frank always wins the town, but by margins not as great as elsewhere.
Yet there he was on Sunday, marching in Norton?s 300th town birthday parade, waving at town residents for two miles, pacing things off right behind a group of Civil War re-enactors and in front of a troop of girl scouts, dodging deposits left by a group of 8 Clydesdale horses that had already finished for the day. And he was even smiling every now and then, which is a departure from the congressmen?s default demeanor.
We caught up with Frank, who has remained a beacon of hope in the wake of two rounds of indictments that have shaken the online gambling community. Frank wants you to know that he feels your pain, outrage and frustration, and is working to legalize Internet gambling. And surprisingly, he is confident that it will happen.
?Just from talking with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle (Republicans), I can tell you that while it may not seem that way, there is some momentum building,? Frank told ***** Frank says that Republicans are starting to feel pressure from banking interests, many of which may be getting more than a little nervous since some of their counterparts were caught up in the Dept. of Justice crackdowns coming out of New York and Maryland.
Frank says that he plans to talk with DoJ (?Can?t say when. Not sure?) about the indictments, which he says were an ?incredible waste of taxpayer resources.? He claims to have no inside information about the motives or future plans the DoJ might have, but is quick to add that he thinks it ?highly unlikely? that the indictments were part of a widespread, immediate effort to shut down all offshore gambling sites that service U.S. customers.
There is a school of thought that unless something can be done in Congress by this fall, the winter-spring-summer election season will make progress impossible until after the next Congress is seated in January 2013. ?I don?t agree with that,? said Frank. ?We can move forward regardless.?
With that in mind, Frank has joined forces with California Republican John Campbell, jointly sponsoring legislation similar to that which passed the House Financial Services Committee (then chaired by Frank) last July but which did not get to the House floor. The Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act contains safeguards to prevent underage gambling and compulsive gambling, plus the customary firewalls regarding combating cheating, loss limits, tax evasion and money laundering.
Getting Republicans to pay attention to legalized gambling might be a tall order when they are thigh-deep in the process of dismantling Medicare and preventing abortions, but Frank feels that there is a little bit better than a puncher?s chance of the legislation moving forward in this session.
?When you think about it,? said Frank, ?opponents of online gambling are the same people who tell you that government should not be involved in running your life. Less government is better. But when it comes to gambling online, they seem to want more government. Does that make any sense at all??
With that, Frank headed to the next public event, a few towns away, before making plans to return to Washington on Monday.
?Why are we punishing people whose only crime is trying to draw to an inside straight?? he said. ?I can?t figure it out.
Yet there he was on Sunday, marching in Norton?s 300th town birthday parade, waving at town residents for two miles, pacing things off right behind a group of Civil War re-enactors and in front of a troop of girl scouts, dodging deposits left by a group of 8 Clydesdale horses that had already finished for the day. And he was even smiling every now and then, which is a departure from the congressmen?s default demeanor.
We caught up with Frank, who has remained a beacon of hope in the wake of two rounds of indictments that have shaken the online gambling community. Frank wants you to know that he feels your pain, outrage and frustration, and is working to legalize Internet gambling. And surprisingly, he is confident that it will happen.
?Just from talking with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle (Republicans), I can tell you that while it may not seem that way, there is some momentum building,? Frank told ***** Frank says that Republicans are starting to feel pressure from banking interests, many of which may be getting more than a little nervous since some of their counterparts were caught up in the Dept. of Justice crackdowns coming out of New York and Maryland.
Frank says that he plans to talk with DoJ (?Can?t say when. Not sure?) about the indictments, which he says were an ?incredible waste of taxpayer resources.? He claims to have no inside information about the motives or future plans the DoJ might have, but is quick to add that he thinks it ?highly unlikely? that the indictments were part of a widespread, immediate effort to shut down all offshore gambling sites that service U.S. customers.
There is a school of thought that unless something can be done in Congress by this fall, the winter-spring-summer election season will make progress impossible until after the next Congress is seated in January 2013. ?I don?t agree with that,? said Frank. ?We can move forward regardless.?
With that in mind, Frank has joined forces with California Republican John Campbell, jointly sponsoring legislation similar to that which passed the House Financial Services Committee (then chaired by Frank) last July but which did not get to the House floor. The Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act contains safeguards to prevent underage gambling and compulsive gambling, plus the customary firewalls regarding combating cheating, loss limits, tax evasion and money laundering.
Getting Republicans to pay attention to legalized gambling might be a tall order when they are thigh-deep in the process of dismantling Medicare and preventing abortions, but Frank feels that there is a little bit better than a puncher?s chance of the legislation moving forward in this session.
?When you think about it,? said Frank, ?opponents of online gambling are the same people who tell you that government should not be involved in running your life. Less government is better. But when it comes to gambling online, they seem to want more government. Does that make any sense at all??
With that, Frank headed to the next public event, a few towns away, before making plans to return to Washington on Monday.
?Why are we punishing people whose only crime is trying to draw to an inside straight?? he said. ?I can?t figure it out.
