Reid puts his assets in blind trust

Monday, Sept. 26, 2005 | 10:58 a.m.

SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON -- Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid is putting his financial assets in a blind trust to try to avoid any ethics questions, a spokeswoman said today.

The trust would empower an as-yet-unnamed trustee to manage his holdings, shielding Reid from knowing what stocks had been bought or sold.

The arrangement would be similar to a blind trust held by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., although that didn't protect Frist from controversy.

Frist is now the focus of two probes by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice department for selling shares of HCA Inc. in June, about a month before the company's stock value fell sharply on news that quarterly earnings would be below expectations. The Tennessee-based HCA is a hospital chain founded by Frist's father and brother.

Frist held the company stock in his blind trust but under the rules of his trust, he was able to direct a trustee to sell it. Frist's office has denied Frist did anything inappropriate.

Reid had decided to put his holdings in a blind trust in early June -- before Frist's stock sale was called into question, Reid spokeswoman Tessa Hafen said. Reid wanted to "go that extra mile" to avoid any appearances of impropriety, she said.

The blind trust will be effective by the end of the year, Hafen said. The paperwork has not been finalized and the Senate Ethics Committee must approve the terms of the trust. Reid is a former chairman of that panel.

Reid is worth between $1.3 million and $3 million, according to financial disclosure reports filed with the Senate and released in May. His stocks include shares in a number of companies with issues before Congress, including Bank of America, Dell Inc., and Exxon Mobil Corp.

Reid also owned between $1,000 and $15,000 worth of HCA stock, but he sold it on April 6, 2004, according to the financial disclosure documents. The sale left him with less than $1,000 of the stock.

Reid defended Frist in comments made to the publication Roll Call, which reported Reid's new blind trust today.

"I know he wouldn't do anything intentionally wrong," Reid told the Capitol Hill newspaper of his GOP counterpart.