Frist may want to re-think those presidential plans

October 13, 2005

Bill Frist’s legal team will probably be pretty busy for the foreseeable future.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has been subpoenaed to turn over personal records and documents as federal authorities step up a probe of his July sales of HCA Inc. stock, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

The Securities and Exchange Commission issued the subpoena within the past two weeks, after initial reports that Frist, the Senate’s top Republican official, was under scrutiny by the agency and the Justice Department for possible violations of insider trading laws.

Frist aides previously said he had been contacted by regulators but did not mention that the lawmaker had received a formal request for documents. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the investigation, said Frist is expected to testify under oath about what he knew about the company’s health in the weeks before he sold stock. […]

The formal request for documents usually presages an acceleration of a federal probe.

It’s far too soon to say if Frist will actually face criminal charges as a result of this investigation, but it’s not unreasonable to believe that will undermine the Senate Majority Leader’s burgeoning presidential campaign. In fact, I’m wondering when other candidates start distancing themselves from Frist because of the controversy.

To be sure, this hasn’t happened yet. Frist is scheduled to travel extensively this month, including stops in New Jersey (to help Doug Forrester’s gubernatorial campaign) and Ohio (to raise some money for Mike DeWine). The trips are, no doubt, part of Frist’s drive to lay the groundwork for a presidential run in 2008.

But these events were set well in advance of Frist’s political “difficulties.” Republicans may want to tap Frist’s fundraising network, but in the coming months, who really wants to take a chance campaigning alongside a senator facing SEC and Justice Department probes for insider trading? For that matter, who’ll want to vote for such a person in the ’08 primaries?

It’s always nice to start the morning with good news!

  • Frist is in a tenuous position right now, that’s true. But I wouldn’t expect him to suffer too badly for it. Bush got re-elected while a criminal investigation into the activites of his White House was still underway, and despite DeLay becoming an increasingly controversial figure in the months leading up to his indictment, most in GOP circles were grumbling not about the ethical shortcomings of their House leader, but about the political heat he was starting to attract.

    These people just don’t give a fuck unless you get caught. I think the only crimes that would give people in the GOP power circles pause would be if we found out Frist was a violent drug abuser, or something of that ilk. So long as it’s strictly white collar, they simply won’t care unless he gets indicted, and even then they’ll only care about the political fallout. Unless he actually gets an indictment, he won’t get burnt to badly by this.

  • I’ve read that Frist started the process of selling much earlier, even getting Senate permission for the sale, and will use the defense that he sold the stocks BECAUSE he was thinking about running for president and that was raising the conflict of interest issues now as opposed to before as a senator.

    If you look at it from that angle it could make sense. I think he’ll get off for this and maybe even justly so. And it’s not this that actually irks me about him, it’s his gawdawful stupidity that makes him dangerous.

  • I hate to say it but Frist doesn’t have anywhere near the charm of Bush. (No I don’t find Bush especially charming, but I can’t sort of see how some people consider him likable, more like a real person than you average politician.) Frist is strait-laced, uptight and looks like he wouldn’t know what fun is if it jumped in his pants.

    • Comments are closed.