Barney Frank confronts protesters; 15 arrested

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said Wednesday that he had no qualms about seeking the arrests of 15 protesters a day earlier because they refused to conduct their demonstration in a civil manner.

Those arrested in Frank’s office were among 52 people from the advocacy group ADAPT to be detained by U.S. Capitol Police on Tuesday for a series of protests over Section 8 housing vouchers that have yet to be paid for by this Congress.

{mosads}Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said he would not tolerate the tactics employed by members of the group, who staged a sit-in in his office and refused to leave.

“When I heard that they had stormed into the office and occupied it, I went in and told them that was not an acceptable way of doing business and I told them to leave and if they didn’t leave, I would have the police remove them,” Frank said. “They wouldn’t leave, so I asked the police to remove them. I think that it’s undemocratic, these kind of tactics, and I won’t be influenced by them.”

Others were arrested at the offices of Sens. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) — the chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.

Police charged the 52 demonstrators with unlawful assembly after issuing verbal warnings that they would be taken into custody. They also charged 11 members on Monday for protesting outside Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) presidential campaign office.

The group is holding demonstrations on Capitol Hill this week to publicize its housing platform, which focuses on obtaining 500 housing vouchers for low-income people with disabilities wanting to transition from nursing homes to independent living situations.

“Congress just bailed out the middle class,” said Randy Alexander, an organizer with ADAPT, referring to the stimulus package rebates. “It’s time that lower-income families and individuals get some assistance.”

Frank, who has met three times with representatives from ADAPT, said Wednesday that the group shouldn’t be complaining to him. He supported the vouchers in authorizing legislation that has passed the House. The problem is that the vouchers must be paid for, which is done through the Appropriations Committee, chaired by Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.).

Democrats have signaled that they are unlikely to pass most appropriations bills for the next fiscal year until after President Bush leaves the White House.

{mospagebreak}“I very much agree with them and I have in fact been working for it,” Frank said. “Frankly, their problem is not with me, it’s with the appropriations process and the budget. They’re very frustrated, so they came, and I don’t know why they thought doing this in my office was going to help them.

“Some of the leaders may have thought that I could get Obey to do something. But Obey can’t make money that isn’t there. The basic problem is that there isn’t enough money in the budget for the kind of vouchers they want and I support them in fighting for it.”

Demonstrators also met with Shelby outside of his office for about five minutes Tuesday before police arrested 19 people, according to Shelby spokeswoman Laura Henderson.

{mosads}“I absolutely think that our message has been delivered and gotten across,” ADAPT’s Alexander said. “It’s unfortunate that [Frank, Shelby and Dodd] couldn’t take a simple step and talk about this, have a meeting and do something. Instead they reacted in a ‘No, just arrest them’ way.”

The final series of 18 arrests was in front of Dodd’s office around 6 p.m.

“They were cooperative and we were sensitive to meeting any special needs they had,” said Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, spokeswoman for the Capitol Police.

The activist group had held similar demonstrations Monday at the McCain campaign office and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) office.

“The DNC was cordial, and they accepted our housing platform,” said Barb Toomer, an ADAPT organizer, in a statement. “Sen. John McCain’s campaign staff not only refused to even look at our housing platform, they had 11 of us arrested by police who caused injuries to at least one arrestee.”

All arrested demonstrators have been released, according to ADAPT.

“Sen. Dodd shares their concerns and allowed them to express their concerns all day, over five or six hours, and it was unfortunate that after the office closed for the evening that Capitol Police arrested them,” said Bryan DeAngelis, a spokesman for Dodd.