GOP Leadership Continues to Crumble: Frist on the ropes

With all the talk about Tom DeLay, it would be easy to lose sight of the ethical "oops!" moments of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. (Frist, as you recall, has been making noises about running for President in '08. With this latest news, he may not want to quit his day job.) Fortunately, over at The Moderate Voice, Jonathan Singer is keeping tabs on the big guy.

According to the Washington Post this weekend, it seems that a few of Frist's previous statements to the SEC, the Justice Department and the public were somewhat inaccurate, possibly exaggerated, outright lies.

Letter Show Frist Notified of Stocks in "Blind" Trust

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) was given considerable information about his stake in his family's hospital company, according to records that are at odds with his past statements that he did not know what was in his stock holdings.

Managers of the trusts that Frist once described as "totally blind," regularly informed him when they added new shares of HCA Inc. or other assets to his holdings, according to the documents.

Since 2001, the trustees have written to Frist and the Senate 15 times detailing the sale of assets from or the contribution of assets to trusts of Frist and his family. The letters included notice of the addition of HCA shares worth $500,000 to $1 million in 2001 and HCA stock worth $750,000 to $1.5 million in 2002. The trust agreements require the trustees to inform Frist and the Senate whenever assets are added or sold.

The letters seem to undermine one of the major arguments the senator has used throughout his political career to rebut criticism of his ownership in HCA: that the stock was held in blind trusts beyond his control and that he had little idea of the extent of those holdings.

This report is particularly interesting since, on a previous CNBC interview where he was asked about his HCA stock holdings, he said, "I think really for our viewers it should be understood that I put this into a blind trust. So as far as I know, I own no HCA stock." He added that the trust was "totally blind. I have no control."

The letters to him providing details of every HCA stock transaction would seem to counter that. Not to mention, of course, that he somehow mysteriously sold all of his stock in the company a few weeks before it tanked due to poor earnings reports. And of course, even though the Frist family controls that company, he didn't have any insider knowledge about it. Uh huh.

Culture of corruption, people. The fig leaf is pulled away and this is the GOP leadership on display.