Saturday, September 24, 2005

When Blind Trusts Can See


"Bill Frist has this all upside down. He thought Terri Schiavo could see and his trust was blind." -- Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.)

With both the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission inquiring into the Senate Majority Leader's timely sale of stock, it appears that Bill Frist may soon be joining the Delay Club of Out Dishonest Lawmakers.

Coincidentally, Frist sold his HCA stock "at a time when insiders in the company also were selling off shares worth $112 million. ." The lucky Senator dumped his stock one month before the price plummeted.

Frist has maintained that the ownership of stock in his family-owned business poses no conflict of interest since it has been held in a blind trust.

In a television interview in 2003, Frist insisted:

So as far as I know, I own no HCA stock. . I have no control. It is illegal right now for me to know what the composition of those trusts are. So I have no idea.

According to documents on file with the Senate, two weeks before the Senator made this statement, the trustee in charge of the "blind" trust, informed Doctor Frist that he had just acquired some HCA stock in his "blind" trust.

I'm not sure where we can find honest leaders, but it is painfully apparent that we can't find them in the Republican Party.

Like my mama always told me, never trust a cat killer.