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FEC hits Frist camp with $11,000 fine
By Jared Allen, jallen@nashvillecitypaper.com
June 02, 2006

The Federal Election Commission has fined Sen. Bill Frist’s re-election campaign $11,000 for failing to accurately report a $1.44 million bank loan taken out by the majority leader’s re-election committee.

News of the initial FEC complaint against Frist 2000 Inc. broke in June 2005, after it was filed by watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Denied hiding loan in July

In July, Frist addressed the media to deny that he had attempted to hide the $1.44 million loan, as the FEC complaint charged.

At the time, Frist told the Atlanta Journal Constitution the loan paperwork filed with the FEC was “all done within the FEC guidelines.”

On Thursday, Frist officials said they had reached a conciliatory agreement with the FEC.

“The Frist 2000 campaign settled a FEC complaint over a reporting matter about how a loan taken out by the 1994 campaign was reported,” said Jason Torchinsky, an attorney for the Frist 2000 campaign. “The loan was fully disclosed, but what the FEC ultimately suggested, we believe, would have resulted in double reporting of the loan.”

Tennessee Democrats came out charging upon hearing the news Thursday afternoon.

“How can Tennesseans trust Washington Republicans when we’re told once again that Bill Frist has attempted to keep his activities hidden from the public eye?” Bob Tuke, chairman of the Tennessee Democratic Party, said in a statement sent Thursday to reporters.

“His failure to report the flow of millions of dollars into his campaign coffers — reportedly to cover stock market losses — exemplifies the type of shady activity that has disgusted voters and become common practice in Washington during Frist’s time as leader of the Senate.”

Last year the FEC fined Frist’s Volunteer PAC — which raised $4 million in the 2004 election cycle — $10,000 for misreporting its finances.