Discussing bailout bill, Bill Cunningham falsely claimed Barney Frank "ran a house of prostitution"

Summary: On his Cincinnati talk radio show, Bill Cunningham falsely claimed that Rep. Barney Frank "ran a house of prostitution in Washington, D.C., for gay men." In fact, the House Ethics Committee determined that Frank "did not have either prior or concomitant knowledge of prostitution activities involving third parties alleged to have taken place in his apartment," and it also did not conclusively determine that any "prostitution activities" took place there.

On the October 2 broadcast of his Cincinnati radio talk show, Bill Cunningham falsely claimed of Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), "[T]his guy ran a house of prostitution in Washington, D.C., for gay men. He -- 27 years he's been in the U.S. House of Representatives. He's been in charge of the committee overseeing Fannie and Freddie, and this is the guy in charge of the bailout." In fact, as Media Matters for America has noted many times, the House ethics committee -- which, at Frank's request, investigated the allegations made by Stephen Gobie that Gobie was running a prostitution ring out of Frank's house with Frank's knowledge -- determined in 1990 that Frank "did not have either prior or concomitant knowledge of prostitution activities involving third parties alleged to have taken place in his apartment." Moreover, the committee did not conclusively determine whether Gobie was even using Frank's apartment for "prostitution activities," noting in its report that purported evidence offered by Gobie that he had been engaging in prostitution from Frank's apartment collapsed under scrutiny.

As Media Matters recently noted, during the September 29 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Michael Savage also falsely claimed that Frank is "a man who ran a male house of prostitution in his apartment in Washington."

From the October 2 broadcast of 700WLW's The Big Show with Bill Cunningham:

CUNNINGHAM: You know, Brenda, your good friend Henry Paulson, the secretary of the Treasury, spent 24 years at Goldman Sachs, made $500 million, goes into government for two years, doesn't see the crisis coming, then shows up in the U.S. Capitol on behalf of your buddy, George Bush, wanting us to give him $750 billion and -- with no strings attached.

CALLER: Yeah.

CUNNINGHAM: What's wrong with this picture?

CALLER: Well, you know what, though, Bill, the thing is, is somebody like me, an average -- just middle class -- you know, most of the stuff I have to get from -- I have to have my husband to decipher things, especially when Barney Frank talks.

CUNNINGHAM: Oh.

CALLER: Oh, my gosh.

CUNNINGHAM: It's like Mr. Magoo.

CALLER: Yeah -- I call him Gummi.

CUNNINGHAM: It's unbelievable. And then this guy ran a house of prostitution in Washington, D.C., for gay men.

CALLER: What's his --

CUNNINGHAM: He -- 27 years he's been in the U.S. House of Representatives. He's been in charge of the committee overseeing Fannie and Freddie, and this is the guy in charge of the bailout.

CALLER: I couldn't understand a word he said hardly.

—J.K.F.