Barney Frank Changes Tune on Golf Sponsorships...Kind Of

Over the weekend, I got an email from the folks at Golf World.  They let me know that they in a PGA Tour-organized interview with Barney Frank in which the Representative from Massachusetts says that he has changed his soured attitude of golf sponsorships proper.

So, naturally, I am quoting a story at the Wall St. Journal (who is apparently doing great sports now?) by JP Newport:

"I'm not ruling out sponsorship, especially since tournaments support charities. But the entertainment aspect is problematic," Mr. Frank, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, said in the interview. "There are cheaper, more cost-effective ways to get to know people and understand them."

Well, that's quite a turnaround from the 2/24 letter sent to Northern Trust in which the Democrat reamed the company for sponsoring the event at Riviera and the lavish parties during tournament week.  Frank is still very skeptical about sponsorship, saying among other things that:

• local community impact (i.e., non profit support) is not good enough of an argument for sponsorship because there is no argument in picking on geography over another to support;
• the standard of lavish is in the eye of the beholder, but of course, he's right about his own view;

I will definitely give some credit to Tim Finchem for organizing this interview and working on behalf of his tournaments and their beleaguered sponsors.  He had to do something like this in an attempt to stem the tide.