Ooops

A campaign fund controlled by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has lost almost $460,000 in stock market investments since 2000 and now does not have enough to cover a sizable bank loan, according to federal election records and the manager of the Frist account.

[...]

Todd Webster, spokesman for outgoing Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.), said in an e-mailed statement that the losses raised questions about a Republican plan to let Americans invest a portion of their Social Security contributions in the stock market.

"He still thinks we should put seniors' Social Security funds in the stock market?!" Webster said.

[...]

[Linus Castignani, treasurer of "Frist 2000,"] said he was confident that "as the market improves, so will this account." He said he had "full confidence in the market between now and the time we close the account at the end of Senator Frist's term in 2007."

  WaPo article

Luckily for Mr. Frist, he's not needing it right now, but what if that had been his retirement account and he were retiring? And he didn't have any other shady money making schemes to fall back on?

Meanwhile, records show, Frist has continued to use money from the 2000 campaign account to cover various expenses.

Recent spending, for example, included $689.50 for flowers for a holding room for visiting dignitaries attending the funeral of former president Ronald Reagan, and $9,457 for "Senate gifts" from the Senate Gift Shop. Castignani said he did not know about the nature of the gifts, but he added that FEC rules allow federal officeholders to spend campaign money in support of official activities.

Should there perhaps be a little campaign finance reform?