Barney Frank, Mile High Harassment Victim

On a flight home to Massachusetts from Los Angeles on Sunday, aboard Virgin America, Rep. Barney Frank and partner Jim Ready found themselves seated nearby two eye doctors en route to a conference in Boston. They were not happy about this healthcare bill thingy, and they weren’t about to let federal regulations stop them from telling Frank all about it.

The problem started soon after the ophthalmologists – two sisters on their way to a conference in Boston – boarded the Virgin flight. When they discovered that Frank was sitting nearby, the women loudly dissed the landmark health care bill as an “Obamanation.”

[…] “They wanted to talk to me, but I apologized and said I like to read and watch on planes,” Frank told us today. “They began to talk louder and that’s when Jimmy (Ready) said, ‘If you’re trying to be bitchy, you’re doing a good job.”

Needless to say, the women didn’t appreciate the remark, and things got heated. (Attempts to locate or ID the women were unsuccessful.) Sexton [a passenger seated a few rows behind Frank], who’s an HR director for the UK-based retailer All Saints Spitalfields, said flight attendants weren’t working hard enough to defuse the situation, so she got involved.

“The women had been drinking, and they were crying and shouting,” Sexton said. “They were clearly the antagonizers, and Mr. Frank was kind of minding his own business.” (She said Ready also upset another passenger, calling him “Santa Claus.”) Finally, the parties calmed down and remained quiet for the rest of the flight. (Sexton was offered some complementary wine for her trouble.)

Sometimes ya just prefer a Tea Party.

[Boston Globe]