Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) made his retirement from Congress official this afternoon, saying he was planning on quitting in 2015 anyway — and does not want to introduce himself to over 300,000 new constituents to earn another term next year.
]Frank said he will be no less an advocate for the issues he cares about when he leaves office in January 2013 — and took a shot at Newt Gingrich, saying: "Let me be very clear: I will be neither a lobbyist nor a historian."
"Being a lobbyist and having to try to be nice to people I don't know or like would be weird," he added.
Gingrich said he was hired by Freddie Mac to give his advice to the government-backed lender as a historian — though it was later revealed that he was providing the company advice on how best to appeal to conservatives in Congress.