NU Online News Service, Nov. 28, 3:19 p.m.EST

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., one of the primary authors offinancial services reform legislation passed by Congress last year,says he will not return after his term ends in 2013.

He will have served 32 years in Congress.

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., is next in line to succeed Frankas ranking minority member of the House Financial ServicesCommittee. However Waters is under scrutiny by the House EthicsCommittee for her role in helping a troubled bank in which herhusband owns stock.

In July, the ethics panel turned the case over to an outsidecounsel to determine whether the panel is too partisan to deal withthe issue objectively.

Next in line is Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y.

Frank, 71, had said in February that he would run forre-election, but says he changed his mind after his district waschanged to include several more conservative areas, includingMilford, Attleboro and Hopkinton, and remove the white-collarstronghold of New Bedford.

“I was planning to run again and then the congressionalredistricting came,” Frank says. “I know my own capacity and energylevels and it would have been a mistake…. I could not have put therequisite effort in.”

Frank tells reporters he was too old to campaign in a newdistrict and to represent hundreds of thousands of newconstituents.

“I think I'd win,” he adds, but “it would have been a toughrace; I don't like raising money.”

He says he will continue to be active politically. “I'm notretiring from advocacy of public policy,” he states, but adds, “Iwill be neither a lobbyist [nor] a historian.”

He says he would do “some combination of writing, teaching andlecturing.”

Frank served as chairman of the House Financial ServicesCommittee for four years, from 2007 to early this year, when hebecame ranking minority member of the panel after the 2010elections.

Frank, along with then-Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., shepherdedthrough Congress sweeping financial services reform legislationthat bears their name.

Joel Kopperud, director of government affairs for the Council ofInsurance Agents and Brokers, says, “It goes without saying that[Frank] was a real leader for members of the Financial ServicesCommittee and the industry as a whole.”

Kopperud says Frank “will be missed not only for his intellect,but his candor and humor—always making committee hearings a littlemore interesting.”

Leigh Ann Pusey, president and CEO of the American InsuranceAssociation, says, “During his long career, Frank showed anunderstanding and appreciation of our industry. This wasparticularly evident during his tenure as chairman of the HouseFinancial Services Committee.”

She credits Frank for playing a leading role in passingTRIA reauthorization.

“Most recently, AIA worked with Frank to ensure that theDodd-Frank Act, legislation aimed at reforming and modernizingfinancial services regulation, correctly recognized that insurersdo not pose a systemic risk. He understood that insurersmaintain a low-risk business model which protects policyholders intimes of economic uncertainty.”

Ben McKay, senior vice president, government affairs for theProperty Casualty Insurers Association of America, says, “Rep.Frank is a passionate public servant, having served in the Housefor more than 30 years. He remained committed to process throughoutthe Dodd-Frank Act.”