Frank says no better option for interim Mass. Senate appointment

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) believes he is the best option to serve as interim senator if Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) is confirmed for secretary of State, he told the Boston Globe.

After Doug Rubin, a top adviser to Gov. Deval Patrick, tweeted over the weekend that there were "better options" for the interim appointment, Frank told the Globe, "I disagree with him."

Frank said previously that he believes he can be of particular help in the coming months, as Congress is set to tackle the debt ceiling and possibly the budget, as well as looming sequestration and, most likely, entitlement reform.

“The first months of the new Senate will be among the most important in American history,” he recently told the Globe. “I may be a little immodest, but I called the governor and said I think I can be a help in reaching a fair solution to some of these issues.”

Frank's decades of experience in the House, coupled with his work on financial regulations as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, make him particularly well-suited to act as interim senator, his supporters say.

And the upcoming issues facing the government are why, Frank said, he called Patrick last week to let him know he wanted the job. No other potential candidate has made any mention of discussions with Patrick, and Patrick has made no indication which he prefers.

But Rubin's tweet this weekend seemed to indicate that Frank was not a shoo-in for the seat. Though he insisted in a follow-up interview he was simply speaking for himself, he also stood by his initial statement, that Frank may not be the best option, suggesting that Massachusetts "sorely need[s]" "some fresh ideas and energy."

“The theory that we have to send experienced people to Washington to break the gridlock — the experienced people are the ones creating the gridlock,” he said.

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