Barney Frank to visit Sonoma County

<p>A visit to Sonoma County Saturday by colorful and controversial Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank is attracting supporters who want to give him re-election campaign donations and detractors who want to give him grief for his outspoken views.</p><p>The openly gay congressman is making two public appearances, one at 10 a.m. at the Flamingo Hotel in Santa Rosa and at 1 p.m. at Iron Horse Vineyards in Sebastopol. Admission to the event at the Sterling family’s winery is $500 a person. Organizers are requesting $50 a ticket for the Flamingo event, co-sponsored by the Santa Rosa Democratic Club, though the amount is negotiable.</p><p>“We are helping him raise money for his re-election because he faces opposition from the far right and because he is a fierce fighter for people’s rights, not just gays,” said Liz Basile, the Democratic Club program chairwoman. “For that, he is paying the price.”</p><p>The Flamingo Hotel event is expected to draw protestors from the ranks of local conservatives and religious organizations who are being summoned to demonstrate against Frank.</p><p>Activist Doug Millar, calling Frank a “pedophile congressman,” said he is encouraging people to “bring your picket and protest signs as we give him a Sonoma County greeting he’ll never forget.”</p><p>Millar is a self-proclaimed investigator of violent crimes against children who often appears at Sonoma County Board of Supervisors public comment sessions to criticize what he calls collusion between law enforcement and child abductors. He had brief notoriety after the 1993 Polly Klaas kidnapping when he claimed he had evidence that a Saudi Arabian prince had ordered her abduction and had her put upon a flight from a Napa County airfield.</p><p>Attorney Michael Fiumara, a friend of Frank’s who is co-sponsoring the congressman’s visit, said “it wouldn’t surprise me at all there will be protests because they don’t like what he stands for.”</p><p>Frank has been a leading advocate for gay rights, for legalization of medicinal marijuana and for restrictions on Wall Street executive compensation packages. Last August, his angry encounter with a loud protester at a health overhaul forum was a much-viewed clip on YouTube.</p><p>Fiumara said that he has known Frank for almost 20 years and that the congressman asked him to assemble a fundraiser in the county because of its liberal leanings.</p><p>Frank was last in Sonoma County in 1996 to help raise money for the re-election campaign of Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, who plans to attend the afternoon event. Basile said about 100 people are expected at the Flamingo Hotel fund-raiser.</p>