Yeah, the same Barney Frank who said Fannie & Freddie weren’t in any financial trouble when the Bush Administration wanted additional regulation of them in 2003. Had Frank been a Republican, this would’ve been splashed across the frontpage of every major paper. But he’s a Democrat, so it’s up to Fox News to report it.

Unqualified home buyers were not the only ones who benefitted from Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank’s efforts to deregulate Fannie Mae throughout the 1990s.

So did Frank’s partner, a Fannie Mae executive at the forefront of the agency’s push to relax lending restrictions.

Now that Fannie Mae is at the epicenter of a financial meltdown that threatens the U.S. economy, some are raising new questions about Frank’s relationship with Herb Moses, who was Fannie’s assistant director for product initiatives. Moses worked at the government-sponsored enterprise from 1991 to 1998, while Frank was on the House Banking Committee, which had jurisdiction over Fannie.

Both Frank and Moses assured the Wall Street Journal in 1992 that they took pains to avoid any conflicts of interest. Critics, however, remain skeptical.

“It’s absolutely a conflict,” said Dan Gainor, vice president of the Business & Media Institute. “He was voting on Fannie Mae at a time when he was involved with a Fannie Mae executive. How is that not germane?

Via Ace, who wants to know why we know the exact time Palin’s water broke but we’re just getting Frank’s conflict of interest reported now. Good question.