If Martha went to prison...

Send Sen. Bill Frist too. NYTimes:

Federal prosecutors contacted Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's office about his sale of stock in HCA Inc., the hospital operating company founded by his family. The Securities and Exchange Commission began an investigation, too, and prosecutors asked HCA to turn over documents about the transaction.

Prosecutors from the Southern District of New York contacted Frist's office ''to inquire about the sale,'' spokesman Bob Stevenson said Friday. He did not say when the office was contacted, but said neither the senator nor his office had received a subpoena.

Frist's office previously confirmed the SEC was looking into the sale.

''As with the SEC, the majority leader will provide the U.S. attorney's office with any information that it needs with respect to this matter,'' Stevenson said.

The Nashville-based company said Friday that federal prosecutors for the Southern District of New York had issued a subpoena for documents HCA believes are related to the sale of its stock by the senator.

The SEC also contacted HCA on Friday to informally request copies of the subpoenaed documents, HCA spokesman Jeff Prescott said. ''We of course will comply with that request,'' he said.

Frist traded using only public information, and only to eliminate the appearance of a conflict of interest, Stevenson said.

Frist spokeswoman Amy Call again declined to comment on the timing of the sale, saying, ''His only objective in selling the stock was to eliminate the appearance of a conflict of interest.''

HCA, the nation's largest for-profit hospital company, was founded by Frist's father. His brother was formerly its CEO and chairman and remains on the board of directors.

Frist asked a trustee to sell all his HCA stock in June, near a 52-week stock price peak of $58.40 and at the same time HCA insiders were selling off shares. Reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission showed insiders sold about 2.3 million shares, worth about $112 million, from January through June, said Mark LoPresti of Thomson Financial.

The sale came about two weeks before the company issued a disappointing earnings forecast that drove its stock price down almost 16 percent by mid-July. They still have not recovered, closing Thursday at $45.90.

The value of Frist's stock at the time of the sale was not disclosed. Earlier this year, he reported holding blind trusts valued at $7 million to $35 million.

Hm...

President George W. Bush
Vice President Richard Cheney
Representative Tom DeLay
Senator Bill Frist
Karl Rove (props to Monte) ^.-