Martha Stewart was mercilessly flogged for her relatively small "illegal"
transaction, will justice be blind or prejudiced? Whatever oil Delay has
used to slip out of justice's noose will be highly sought after by Frist.
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Documents show Frist was in loop on blind trust
September 25, 2005
BY LARRY MARGASAK
WASHINGTON -- Blind trusts are designed to keep an arm's-length distance
between federal officials and their investments, to avoid conflicts of
interest. But documents show that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist knew
quite a bit about his accounts from nearly two dozen letters from the trust
administrators.
Frist (R-Tenn.) received regular updates of transfers of assets to his blind
trusts and sales of assets. He also was able to initiate a stock sale of a
hospital chain founded by his family with perfect timing. Shortly after the
sale this summer, the stock price dived.
A possible presidential contender in 2008, Frist faces dual investigations
by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and the
Securities and Exchange Commission into his stock sales.
Sheldon Cohen, who was the trustee for Democrat Walter Mondale's blind trust
when he was vice president and drafted Democrat Lyndon Johnson's blind trust
for Johnson's presidency, said that in the executive branch, ''you don't
tell them how it's composed.'' He said Frist, like any federal official,
''absolves himself of conflict by not knowing what he owns.''
-cont.-
http://www.suntimes.com/cgi-bin/print.cgi
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During the last election cycle, while Frist headed the NRSC, the health care
industry increased its contributions to Republican candidates to just under
$ 4 million and became the largest industry contributor to the party.
"If you look at the money involved, it would be easy to say the medical
industry has bought itself a Senator and, now, a Senate," says Harleigh.
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_1470.shtml
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