“It seems apparent from these recently published reports that Sen. Frist faced a genuine conflict of interest long before his recent sale of HCA stock,” Common Cause President Chellie Pingree wrote in a letter sent today to the Ethics Committee.
In today’s letter, Common Cause again called on the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate whether Senator Frist violated Senate ethics rules by directing trustees to sell stock held in a blind trust. Additionally, Common Cause asked the Committee to clarify how the reported numerous communications between Sen. Frist and trustees of his blind trust, during a period when he was working on legislation of interest to HCA, did not qualify as a conflict of interest.
The letter specifically asks the Ethics Committee to launch inquiries into Senator Frist’s handling of HCA stock and the possible conflicts of interest it might have created,
and to inform Common Cause about its plans to proceed with an investigation. Additionally, Common Cause asked that should the Committee dismiss this request, that it “state publicly the Committee’s reasons for not investigating.”
Click here to read the full text of the letter.
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