The Hill News

Barney Frank, the liberal chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, praised the selection of William Daley as the new White House chief of staff Friday on MSNBC. 

In response to a question by MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell about what he thought of newly appointed Obama chief of staff William Daley, who, Mitchell noted, opposed the financial regulation bill he co-wrote, Frank (D-Mass.) said that Daley would be a good chief of staff.

"I think highly of Bill Daley, I think he will do do a very good job, and we passed that law and the people in charge of implementing that law â€" Mary Shapiro at the SEC, Gary Gensler at Commodities Trading Commission and Sheila Bair â€" they're all in favor of it, so I don't think Bill Daley is going to do any harm and I welcome him," Frank said. "I think he's a very able guy and we'll be able to work with him."

The praise by Frank contrasts the response of many liberals in Washington who criticized the ! news that Daley was being seriously considered for the chief of staff job. Those critics argued that Daley, a JPMorgan Chase executive and brother of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, was too friendly with Wall Street and against serious financial regulation.

The White House announced that Daley would be President Obama's new chief of staff Thursday. He replaced interim chief of staff Pete Rouse.