Friday, September 23, 2005
More righty doublespeak
Click the title for the story from MSNBC.
The part that gets me is the following quote from Frist spokesman Bob Stevenson: "Frist traded using only public information, and only to eliminate the appearance of a conflict of interest, Stevenson said."
I suppose the appearance of conflict of interest can be found in a following paragraph.
"For years, Frist was criticized for holding HCA stock while directing legislation on Medicare reform and patient issues. His office has consistently deflected criticism by noting that his assets were in a blind trust and not under his active control."
Ok... So we have years of criticism for holding stock in a business that has various issues that he votes on. But this is ok by his reasoning because the stock was in a "blind trust". Yet 2 weeks before a disapointing earning forecast tanked this stock, Frist orders the sale of said stock from a "blind" trust? The conflict of interest here is readily apparent! He's using insider information to pad his wallet pure and simple. Martha Stewart wound up crocheting doormats from table napkins while sitting in prison for selling her stock (which was not in a "blind" trust) prior to it tanking. I mean how blind is blind if the holder of the stock can order it sold? This whole story is obviously an example of insider trading and Frist needs to be held to account. But I dont think he will be, and you know why? Cause he's a superpowerfull Republican leader in Washington. If anything some flunky of his will take a fall and he'll wash his hands of the affair while living high on the hog from his ill gotten gains.
But hey... it's great to hear Frists office is finally admitting that holding all that stock was an "apparent conflict of interest" after all these years. How altruistic of him to finally get this taken care of!
The part that gets me is the following quote from Frist spokesman Bob Stevenson: "Frist traded using only public information, and only to eliminate the appearance of a conflict of interest, Stevenson said."
I suppose the appearance of conflict of interest can be found in a following paragraph.
"For years, Frist was criticized for holding HCA stock while directing legislation on Medicare reform and patient issues. His office has consistently deflected criticism by noting that his assets were in a blind trust and not under his active control."
Ok... So we have years of criticism for holding stock in a business that has various issues that he votes on. But this is ok by his reasoning because the stock was in a "blind trust". Yet 2 weeks before a disapointing earning forecast tanked this stock, Frist orders the sale of said stock from a "blind" trust? The conflict of interest here is readily apparent! He's using insider information to pad his wallet pure and simple. Martha Stewart wound up crocheting doormats from table napkins while sitting in prison for selling her stock (which was not in a "blind" trust) prior to it tanking. I mean how blind is blind if the holder of the stock can order it sold? This whole story is obviously an example of insider trading and Frist needs to be held to account. But I dont think he will be, and you know why? Cause he's a superpowerfull Republican leader in Washington. If anything some flunky of his will take a fall and he'll wash his hands of the affair while living high on the hog from his ill gotten gains.
But hey... it's great to hear Frists office is finally admitting that holding all that stock was an "apparent conflict of interest" after all these years. How altruistic of him to finally get this taken care of!
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