Frist's "Political Future Darkens"

Excuse me while I shed a tear.

From Bloomberg:

Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) -- At the start of this year, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist was looking at a bright political future. He led his party to an expanded majority in the Senate in November and emerged as a leading Republican hopeful for the 2008 presidential race.

Less than nine months later, that picture appears darker. Frist, 53, now faces inquiries into his stock sales by the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission that threaten to undermine him politically and provide Democrats fresh ammunition with which to question their opponents' ethics.

``If there is really any evidence of insider trading, then he's in very serious trouble, and so is his party,'' said Gary Jacobson, professor of political science at the University of California in San Diego. ``It adds another brick to Democrats' argument that Republicans are corrupt.''

Frist through his spokesmen has denied any wrongdoing in the sale of shares of HCA Inc. held in a blind trust earlier this year, one month before a weak earnings report sparked a drop in the company's stock. Nashville, Tennessee-based HCA, the biggest U.S. hospital chain, was founded by Frist's father and brother.

Frist's HCA stock holdings in one of his blind trusts surged more than 30-fold from 2000 to 2001, according to financial disclosure statements filed with the Senate. By the end of 2001 he reported owning $500,001 to $1 million in HCA shares within an entity called Bowling Avenue Partners, which was part of his blind trust. That holding had been valued at $1,001 to $15,000 at the end of 2000. The leap in valuation could not have been the result of changes in share price; in 2001 HCA shares fell 12.4 percent after gaining 50.3 percent in 2000.

Wow... even by Washington standards, that's SOME leap in stock value.