Frist probe raises questions on blind trusts

0 Comments | USA TODAY, October, 2005 | by Andrea Stone

WASHINGTON -- Among the U.S. Senate's 40 or so millionaires, nearly half have stowed assets in blind trusts to eliminate conflicts of interest. But two -- with eyes on other offices -- have sold potentially troublesome holdings.

Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Sen. Jon Corzine, D-N.J., each recently told their trustees to end longtime financial interests in companies that made up a significant share of their personal wealth.

Frist, a possible presidential candidate in 2008, sold his holdings this summer in HCA, the hospital chain co-founded by his father and older brother. Corzine, who is running for governor of New Jersey, last month asked to sever all ties with Goldman Sachs, the New York investment-banking firm that he once ran.

Both men complied...