Washington, D.C.—One day back in early April the Republican National Committee’s director of communications, Mark Goodin, decided to put together a memo on Tom Foley, the man who seemed likeliest to succeed a beleaguered Jim Wright as Speaker of the House. The point was to publicize Congressman Foley’s increasingly liberal voting record: Foley was widely perceived as more moderate than Wright, but in fact he had one of the most liberal records in the House. To make the point, Goodin intended to compare Foley’s record with that of the liberal Representative Ed Markey (D., Mass.).
But then Goodin called the American Conservative Union, which was updating its ratings. The ACU suggested that Barney Frank be used instead of Markey, for the simple reason that Frank’s frequent citations in the press made him better known nationally. As ACU Executive Director Dan Casey explains, “Barney Frank defines liberalism.” And so Mr. Frank was substituted for Mr. Markey.
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