Retired U.S. Rep. Barney Frank wants you to know two things: He has a Netflix subscription, and he has no plans to drift quietly into the Maine wilderness.
The Newton Democrat, who splits his time between Vacationland and Greater Boston, wrote a column in last Sunday’s edition of the Portland Press Herald, skewering the Netflix series “House of Cards” for what he called a “fictional misrepresentation of political reality.”
Frank, who has said in retirement he planned to write more, was as glib and thoughtful as you may remember him from his decades on Capitol Hill.
“ ‘House of Cards,’ ” … has no stronger relation to political reality than the ratings given by Standard and Poor’s to packages of subprime mortgages had to economic truth,” he wrote.
Zing!
Frank points out a series of examples that don’t jibe with Beltway realities, including one episode in which the chief of staff for Kevin Spacey’s congressman character — an unrealistic “caricature,” according to Frank — convinces D.C.’s police commissioner, a nonexistent position, to drop drunken driving charges against a congressman in exchange for help in the commissioner’s quest to be mayor.
The problem, Frank writes: Washington citizens don’t like congressional meddling.
“They are so angry at Congress most of the time — with excellent reason — that accepting any intervention of that sort by a congressional leader would be the dumbest thing a mayoral candidate could do,” Frank writes.
Admittedly, Frank has only watched three episodes, but he quips, “Not having to sit through presentations that neither instruct nor entertain me is one of the nicest things about never being a candidate again.”
Let’s hope Frank keeps writing because he’ll certainly have fodder. The Press Herald broke a story last week that Gov. Paul LePage told Republicans at a GOP fundraiser this month that President Obama “hates white people.”
Sounds like something out of “Veep.”
Gomez for governor?
The coy wrinkle Gabriel Gomez’s camp threw into the governor’s race this week raised eyebrows, but also doubts among some state Republicans, who wondered if the Cohasset businessman — despite a stronger-than-expected showing in the special U.S. Senate race — could challenge for a nomination many see as Charlie Baker’s to take.
But in what one strategist predicted could be the GOP’s strongest statewide ticket in “25 years,” there’s certainly room for Gomez.
“He could effectively take the path Joe Malone took,” said Boston lobbyist Stephen Silveira, echoing a thought other veteran GOP members have floated. “Joe Malone ran against Ted Kennedy in ’88, acquitted himself well, and lost. And then got elected state treasurer in 1990. Gomez could put himself in the exact same position. I’m not advising him, but if I were, that’s something I would strongly advise him to consider.
“The governor’s thing, I don’t know. There’s an awful lot of issues on the state level that you have to get up to speed on, and if you haven’t been involved, and he hasn’t, that’s kind of a heavy load.”
Karyn Polito, who ran for state treasurer in 2010, is another potential statewide officer seeker. GOP members have also pointed to Mary Connaughton, who ran for auditor in 2010; Richard Tisei for a repeat bid against state Rep. John Tierney; and Essex County Sheriff Frank Cousins.
“It’s more about the atmosphere is right at this particular time,” said GOP chairwoman Kirsten Hughes. “You have rampant scandal, the technology tax which is very murky and throwing a bucket of water on the technology industry, the gas tax, and where is the governor?”