AP: Frist Accumulated Stock Outside Trusts

[Dinner]

Frist had claimed that all of his stocks were in a blind trust only it has been shown that this "blind trust" controlled by his family members very often bought stocks right before the senate approved major defense contracts to the public and sold stocks right before it was announced contracts would be cancelled. Now it turns out that Frist had other stocks which weren't in the blind trust which did deal with companies Frist wasn't supposed to own. Opps, can anyone say insider trading?

AP: Frist Accumulated Stock Outside Trusts
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 4:31 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Outside the blind trusts he created to avoid a conflict of interest, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist earned tens of thousands of dollars from stock in a family-founded hospital chain largely controlled by his brother, documents show.

The Tennessee Republican, whose sale this summer of HCA Inc. stock is under federal investigation, has long maintained he could own HCA shares and still vote on health care legislation without a conflict because he had placed the stock in blind trusts approved by the Senate.

However, ethics experts say a partnership arrangement shown in documents obtained by The Associated Press raises serious doubts about whether the senator truly avoided a conflict.

In that case, the HCA stock was accumulated by a family investment partnership started by the senator's late parents and later overseen by his brother, Thomas Frist. The brother served as president of the partnership's management company and as a top officer of HCA. Sen. Frist holds no position with the company.

More at link:

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Frist-Stock.html?pagewanted=print

It appears the Senate Majority leader and the House Majority leader have both been commiting crimes lately. Throw in Rove and Libby's coming indictments for the felony exposure of a CIA agent's identity, the White House procurement officer's arrest for money laundering, and I think it is safe to say that the Republican leadership has developed a culture of corruption.

[:) Smiley]

USA is looking more and more like a 3rd world country every day.

[Dinner]

As long as we're on the topic of stocks.

Cheney's Halliburton stock options rose 3,281% last year, senator finds

An analysis released by a Democratic senator found that Vice President Dick Cheney's Halliburton stock options have risen 3,281 percent in the last year, RAW STORY can reveal.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) asserts thatCheney's options -- worth $241,498 a year ago -- are now valued at more than $8 million. The former CEO of the oil and gas services juggernaut, Cheney has pledged to give proceeds to charity.


The above graph released by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) charts the value of the Vice President's holdings in Halliburton in the past year.

“Halliburton has already raked in more than $10 billion from the Bush-Cheney Administration for work in Iraq, and they were awarded some of the first Katrina contracts," Lautenberg said in a statement. "It is unseemly for the Vice President to continue to benefit from this company at the same time his Administration funnels billions of dollars to it. The Vice President should sever his financial ties to Halliburton once and for all.”

Cheney continues to hold 433,333 Halliburton stock options. The company has been criticized by auditors for its handling of a no-bid contact in Iraq. Auditors found the firm marked up meal prices for troops and inflated gas prices in a deal with a Kuwaiti supplier. The company built the American prison at Guantanamo Bay.

The Vice President has sought to stem criticism by signing an agreement to donate the after-tax profits from these stock options to charities of his choice, and his lawyer has said he will not take any tax deduction for the donations.

However, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) concluded in Sept. 2003 that holding stock options while in elective office does constitute a “financial interest” regardless of whether the holder of the options will donate proceeds to charities. CRS also found that receiving deferred compensation is a financial interest.

Cheney told "Meet the Press" in 2003 that he didn't have any financial ties to the firm.

“Since I left Halliburton to become George Bush's vice president, I've severed all my ties with the company, gotten rid of all my financial interest," the Vice President said. "I have no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and haven't had, now, for over three years.”

Cheney continues to received a deferred salary from the company. According to financial disclosure forms, he was paid $205,298 in 2001; $162,392 in 2002; $178,437 in 2003; and $194,852 in 2004.

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Cheneys_stock_options_rose_3281_last_1011.html

The really scary stuff is Cheney has repeatedly claimed he had no financial interest in Halliburton and didn't disclose these options until Sen. Lautenberg started digging around. I'd say $8 million is a huge financial interest for Cheney which very likely did sway his decision to great Halliburton $10 billion in no bid contracts.

Anyone still believe the Republicans don't have a culture of corruption?

[Q Classic]

Originally posted by Smiley
USA is looking more and more like a 3rd world country every day.

Oh, please.

Don't be so melodramatic. We still have things 3rd world countries don't have, such as paved infrastructure, clean water and indoor plumbing, and the internets!

[Dinner]

We're not a 3rd world country but we do have a party in power which has a culture of corruption and which isn't afraid to break the law in order to enrich themselves & their friends.

[Q Classic]

Exactly, Oerdin.

That just rates us as a developing nation. Not 3rd World. We've got standards.

[Patroklos]

Should I sell my stocks in Lockhead Martin because I joined the military?

[Dinner]

I'm not sure our standards are so good if the party in charge can be as corrupt as the Republicans have been over the last 5 years and still win elections. I believe Smiley was saying our politicians flaut the law just like they do in a banana republic and I'd say he's right in that. The Republicans most certainly have a culture of corruption and they've gotten away with it by and large.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Patroklos
Should I sell my stocks in Lockhead Martin because I joined the military?

It depends, do you control tens of billions of dollars in contracts which go to that company? Does that break all the ethics rules your employer has in place? Would you be violating those rules (read:laws) in order to gain millions of dollars? Did you repeatedly lie about your financial interest in that company?

[Patroklos]

I want you to ask yourself this question Oerdin. Do you think Haliburton's role in rebuilding Iraq would be any different without Cheney?

If you say Yes you are foolish, but at least you are a consistant fool.

[GePap]

Originally posted by Patroklos
I want you to ask yourself this question Oerdin. Do you think Haliburton's role in rebuilding Iraq would be any different without Cheney?

If you say Yes you are foolish, but at least you are a consistant fool.

Mr Strawman to the rescue.

BUt it figures you would try to make light of this. (the Frist charge)

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Patroklos
I want you to ask yourself this question Oerdin. Do you think Haliburton's role in rebuilding Iraq would be any different without Cheney?

If you say Yes you are foolish, but at least you are a consistant fool.

I believe there would not have been nearly as many no bid contracts, that their dollar value wouldn't have been any where near as large, nor would they have been set to be 5 years in length.

The original justification for the no bid contracts, which were a violation of all existing contract law until the Bushies changed the law, was that the regular 8 week bidding process was to long and quick action was needed. Why were the original 1 year no bid contracts extended for an additional 4 years then? Why could the regular bidding process not have taken place one year after the occupation began since the "crisis" (if it can be called that) was over?

Could it be that politically connected companies didn't want to face open and fair competition? If they had to bid as normal and still won then there wouldn't be a problem but not having to compete, getting those contracts at rates hugely in excess of what other companies claimed they could do the same job for, then seeing those contracts continually extended does smell like corruption.

[Q Classic]

Originally posted by Oerdin
I'm not sure our standards are so good if the party in charge can be as corrupt as the Republicans have been over the last 5 years and still win elections. I believe Smiley was saying our politicians flaut the law just like they do in a banana republic and I'd say he's right in that. The Republicans most certainly have a culture of corruption and they've gotten away with it by and large.

Pish posh. At least we can afford parties and thousand-dollar-plate fundraiser dinners. A lot of those third-world nations and banana republics don't even have that!

America
Developing world politics for everyone.

[Drake Tungsten]

You guys act like America is the only corrupt first-world nation...

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Oerdin
I'm not sure our standards are so good if the party in charge can be as corrupt as the Republicans have been over the last 5 years and still win elections. I believe Smiley was saying our politicians flaut the law just like they do in a banana republic and I'd say he's right in that. The Republicans most certainly have a culture of corruption and they've gotten away with it by and large.

You think the Republicans are the only corrupt ones?

Come on over to my state, sir Oerdin. Richard Daley and Rod Blagojevich can give you a quick refresher course on "When Democrats Are Corrupt" ... heck, Daley's father WROTE THE BOOK on being corrupt.