Dannemeyer Goes After Frank in Letter

Rep. William E. Dannemeyer’s campaign to expel Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) from the House of Representatives because of Frank’s relationship with a male prostitute heated up Monday as Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton) shot off a “Dear Colleague” letter to the 435 members of the House.

The letter’s two-page introduction is followed by 31 pages of attachments, including Dannemeyer’s legal analysis, highlights from articles about the Frank case published in Penthouse magazine and elsewhere, and newspaper editorials calling for Frank’s resignation.

A Frank aide said Monday, “The vast majority of the material he (Dannemeyer) is circulating is recycled untruth.” He declined further comment.

However, Dannemeyer press secretary Paul Mero said, “This is all based on what Barney Frank has admitted to. We don’t have to take anybody else’s word other than Mr. Frank’s.”

Dannemeyer is perhaps the most vocal critic of homosexual rights in Congress and one of its most conservative members. Frank, a liberal Democrat, is one of two congressmen who has publicly acknowledged that he is homosexual.

In the letter, Dannemeyer argues that Frank should be expelled because he has admitted committing sex acts that are crimes in the District of Columbia, that Frank allowed the prostitute to operate out of his home, and that Frank engaged in other dishonorable conduct. Frank has denied that he knew that the prostitute, Steven Gobie, was operating an escort service out of Frank’s home in Washington.

Mero said Dannemeyer sent the letter Monday because the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, which has been considering the Frank case for months, is rumored to be close to a decision.

“We’ve been hearing rumblings that something is going to happen,” Mero said.

Dannemeyer will move to expel Frank once the committee makes its report to the House, perhaps as early as this week, Mero said.

Dannemeyer outlined his case against Frank in a letter to House members in part because he is concerned that House leaders may block debate on his motion to expel and move to table it without discussion, Mero said. A motion to table requires a simple majority; a motion to expel a member requires a two-thirds vote.

Frank’s problems began last summer when he acknowledged to a Washington newspaper that he had hired Gobie, with whom he had once had a sexual relationship, as his personal assistant. Frank told the Washington Times that his sexual relationship with Gobie ended after Gobie began working for him.

Frank has insisted that he paid Gobie’s salary with personal funds and that Gobie was never on the House payroll.

Frank himself asked the House ethics committee to investigate after the newspaper story appeared.