Hints came last week that Rep. Barney Frank as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee would go slowly on new hedge fund regulation, when he said he didn’t have any major concerns about the industry. Now that the election is over, the Massachusetts Democrat is poised to set his agenda, which according to Bloomberg News, will be pointing in “a more working-family and consumer-friendly direction.” In an interview with Bloomberg News, Frank indicated that hedge funds would be on the back burner for now, and, John Gaine, president of the Washington-based Managed Funds Association, says he expects Frank would likely support a bill calling for four federal agencies to study hedge funds and then come up with recommendation on regulations. “I think he’s going to do a careful examination of the industry, working with his counterparts on the committee,” Gaine told Bloomberg News, noting that Frank is not “a pro-regulatory hawk.” Bloomberg News also offered the suggestion that committee jurisdictions may be reshuffled again, after the Republicans mixed them up five years ago. At that time, jurisdiction over securities and insurance issues shifted to Frank’s committee and away from the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The head of that group, Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), just may try to gain back that control. “It was a shame,” says Dingell, when his committee lost jurisdiction, “because we had the expertise and experience to handle those issues. Meanwhile, the two hedge fund candidates for Congress got clipped. Jack Carter, son of peanut-farming President Jimmy Carter, lost his bid to unseat Republican Sen. John Ensign, despite heavy campaigning by his famous father. And in Connecticut, libertarian candidate Phil Maymin was left in the dust in a tight race between Republican Christopher Shays and Democrat Diane Farrell.