Frist Said He Would Skip Votes, Not Sell Stock, If Conflict Emerged

Bill Frist’s entire defense in the face of insider trading allegations against him is that he sold his stock to “avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.” But in 1994, in the middle of a tough election campaign where his challenger raised questions about the potential of such conflict of interest cases, Frist said he would recuse himself from from the votes, not sell his shares:

“If there is ever any potential of a conflict of interest, I will consult the Senate Ethics Committee and will recuse myself from the votes if that’s the case,” said Frist. [Knoxville News-Sentinel, 10/26/94]

So after holding onto his HCA stock for the last 11 years, Frist suddenly decided last month that he was going to change his own standard: rather than recuse himself from any votes that presented a conflict, he decided to sell off the stock completely. Coincidently, by selling the stock when he did, Frist avoided millions in loses.

A question for Bill Frist: instead of selling off your shares to avoid an appearance of conflict, why didn’t you simply follow-through on your 1994 pledge to recuse yourself from questionable votes?