Big Source of Clinton's Cash....questionable at least.

[Marley]

...China cash is flowing into Clinton campaign coffers again!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118826947048110677.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news


DALY CITY, Calif. -- One of the biggest sources of political donations to Hillary Rodham Clinton is a tiny, lime-green bungalow that lies under the flight path from San Francisco International Airport.

Six members of the Paw family, each listing the house at 41 Shelbourne Ave. as their residence, have donated a combined $45,000 to the Democratic senator from New York since 2005, for her presidential campaign, her Senate re-election last year and her political action committee. In all, the six Paws have donated a total of $200,000 to Democratic candidates since 2005, election records show.

It isn't obvious how the Paw family is able to afford such political largess. Records show they own a gift shop and live in a 1,280-square-foot house that they recently refinanced for $270,000. William Paw, the 64-year-old head of the household, is a mail carrier with the U.S. Postal Service who earns about $49,000 a year, according to a union representative. Alice Paw, also 64, is a homemaker. The couple's grown children have jobs ranging from account manager at a software company to "attendance liaison" at a local public high school. One is listed on campaign records as an executive at a mutual fund.

The Paws' political donations closely track donations made by Norman Hsu, a wealthy New York businessman in the apparel industry who once listed the Paw home as his address, according to public records. Mr. Hsu is one of the top fund-raisers for Mrs. Clinton's presidential campaign. He has hosted or co-hosted some of her most prominent money-raising events.


People who answered the phone and the door at the Paws' residence declined requests for comment last week. In an email last night, one of the Paws' sons, Winkle, said he had sometimes been asked by Mr. Hsu to make contributions, and sometimes he himself had asked family members to donate. But he added: "I have been fortunate in my investments and all of my contributions have been my money."

Mr. Hsu, in an email last night wrote: "I have NEVER asked a single favor from any politician or any charity group. If I am NOT asking favors, why do I have to cheat...I've asked friends and colleagues of mine to give money out of their own pockets and sometimes they have agreed."

DONATION DATA


See details on political donations5 from the Paw family, Norman Hsu and a handful of Mr. Hsu's business associates in New YorkLawrence Barcella, a Washington attorney representing Mr. Hsu, said in a separate email: "You are barking up the wrong tree. There is no factual support for this story and if Mr. Hsu's name was Smith or Jones, I don't believe it would be a story." He didn't elaborate.

A Clinton campaign spokesman, Howard Wolfson, said in an email: "Norman Hsu is a longtime and generous supporter of the Democratic party and its candidates, including Senator Clinton. During Mr. Hsu's many years of active participation in the political process, there has been no question about his integrity or his commitment to playing by the rules, and we have absolutely no reason to call his contributions into question."

Kent Cooper, a former disclosure official with the Federal Election Commission, said the two-year pattern of donations justifies a probe of possible violations of campaign-finance law, which forbid one person from reimbursing another to make contributions.

"There are red lights all over this one," Mr. Cooper said.

There is no public record or indication Mr. Hsu reimbursed the Paw family for their political contributions.

For the 2008 election, individuals can donate a maximum of $4,600 per candidate -- $2,300 for a primary election and $2,300 for a general election -- and a total of $108,200 per election to all federal candidates and national political parties.


Six members of the Paw family list this house in Daly City, Calif., as their address.
In the wake of a 2002 law that set those limits, federal and state regulators and law-enforcement officials said they have seen a spike recently in the number of cases of individuals and companies illegally reimbursing others for campaign donations. Those cases don't necessarily implicate the candidates, who sometimes don't even appear to be aware of such payments executed on their behalf.

The 2002 law also raised penalties for infractions and included the prospect of prison sentences for offenders for the first time. That increased incentives for the FEC and federal prosecutors to investigate and prosecute infractions. Since the law was enacted, the FEC has collected millions of dollars in fines for illegal donations, including its largest-ever penalty, a $3.8 million levy against Freddie Mac last year.

According to public documents, Mr. Hsu once listed his address at the Paw home in Daly City, though it isn't clear if he ever lived there. He now lives in New York, according to campaign-finance records, on which he also lists a half-dozen apparel companies as his employer. In the campaign-finance forms, Mr. Hsu lists his companies as Next Components, Dilini Management, Because Men's Clothes and others.

He is on the board of directors of the New School in New York. News stories in the mid-1980s said he criticized trade policies that made it harder to import goods from China.

Mr. Hsu is also a major fund-raiser for Mrs. Clinton and other Democrats. When Democrats won control of Congress in November, he threw a party at New York City hot spot Buddakan with many prominent party leaders. Press reports said that toward the end of the night, he grabbed the microphone from the deejay and shouted: "If you are supporters of Hillary for President 2008, you can stay. Otherwise, get out."

Mr. Hsu has pledged to raise $100,000 or more for Mrs. Clinton, earning the title of "HillRaiser" along with a few hundred other top financial backers of her campaign. Earlier this year, he co-hosted a fund-raiser that raised $1 million for Mrs. Clinton at the Beverly Hills, Calif., home of billionaire Ron Burkle. He is listed as a co-host for another Clinton fund-raiser next month in northern California.

The Paw family is just one set of donors whose political donations are similar to Mr. Hsu's. Several business associates of Mr. Hsu in New York have made donations to the same candidates, on the same dates for similar amounts as Mr. Hsu.

On four separate dates this year, the Paw family, Mr. Hsu and five of his associates gave Mrs. Clinton a total of $47,500. In all, the family, Mr. Hsu and his associates have given Mrs. Clinton $133,000 since 2005 and a total of nearly $720,000 to all Democratic candidates.


The Paw's Daly City home is a one-story house in a working-class suburb of San Francisco. On a recent day, a coiled garden hose rested next to a dilapidated garden with a half-dozen dried out plants. The din of traffic from a nearby freeway was occasionally drowned out by jumbo jets departing San Francisco International Airport.

William and Alice Paw are of Chinese descent. The entire family got their Social Security cards in California in 1982, according to state records. All but one of the Paws registered to vote as "nonpartisan." A San Mateo County elections official said that members of the Paw family vote "sporadically."

No one in the Paw family had ever given a campaign contribution before the 2004 presidential election, according to campaign-finance reports. Then, in July 2004, five members of the family contributed a total of $3,600 to the presidential campaign of Sen. John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat. Five of the checks were dated July 27, 2004. About the same time, Mr. Hsu made his first donations to a political candidate, contributing the maximum amount allowed by law to Mr. Kerry in two separate checks, on July 21, 2004, and on Aug. 6.

From then on, the correlation of campaign donations between Mr. Hsu and the Paw family has continued. The first donations to Mrs. Clinton came Dec. 23, 2004, when Mr. Hsu and one Paw family member donated the then-maximum $4,000 to her Senate campaign in two $2,000 checks, campaign-finance records show. In March 2005, the individuals gave a total of $17,500 to Mrs. Clinton.

Since then, Mr. Hsu, his New York associates and the Paw family have continued to donate to Democratic candidates. This year, Alice Paw and four of the Paw children have donated the maximum $4,600 to Mrs. Clinton's presidential campaign.

[bobbylien]

Why not limit donations to $1000 per household and eliminate donations from foundations, special interests and companies? I mean come on, when a candidate gets 100,000$ from someone, that person is going to want something in return and most likely get it. We all know which party that policy would help though.
Something tells me this article won't get past this stage, an investigation will be launched and it will find nothing.

[Truth_and_Power]

Why not limit donations to $1000 per household and eliminate donations from foundations, special interests and companies? I mean come on, when a candidate gets 100,000$ from someone, that person is going to want something in return and most likely get it. We all know which party that policy would help though.


SECOND THE MOTION!!

[Marley]

So, no concern at all for $45,000 donated to Hitlery from a 1200 sqft household where the patriarch pulls down $49,000 a year huh?

From Mr. "Hsu."

Or Huang, or Chung, or whoever.

Y'all got nothing to comment on there huh?

We should have all our presidents bought and paid for by other regimes, huh?

[Truth_and_Power]

So, no concern at all for $45,000 donated to Hitlery from a 1200 sqft household where the patriarch pulls down $49,000 a year huh?

From Mr. "Hsu."

Or Huang, or Chung, or whoever.

Y'all got nothing to comment on there huh?

We should have all our presidents bought and paid for by other regimes, huh?


Atleast it's not the saudi's this time!

Not that I plan to vote for her unless the other option is worse..

[Marley]

You mean like the Clinton Liebrary donations? THAT Saudi money?

[David Hume]

Hmmmmm. I haven't heard a lib on here address the article yet.

Why does this not surprise me.



Like Buck Laser, I thought it was another tired thread about Fast Freddie T & skipped by until I had nothin' better to do.

Not sure what the thread has to do with Fast Freddie T. Some truth in advertising would be nice, but with Repugs, I'm used to the bait-and-switch tactic.

Regarding Clinton, she's just the flip side of the same coin Bush is on. The Clinton's & Bush's never met a Saud they didn't like.

Regarding financing of campaigns, just get rid of all donations & go straight to public financing. In the end, we'd get better quality (and less wealthy, connected) politicos and end up paying a LOT LESS in the end.

[Stoner]

Still haven't seen anyone address the article without using mirror and deflection tecniques. You know stuff like, "Well Bush did it!" or "Well *insert Republican name here* did it!"

Can anyone address the issue of Hillary and these donations without deflecting or mirroring?

[lily]

Still haven't seen anyone address the article without using mirror and deflection tecniques. You know stuff like, "Well Bush did it!" or "Well *insert Republican name here* did it!"

Can anyone address the issue of Hillary and these donations without deflecting or mirroring?


Hillary should be publicly flogged and made to give the money back.....is that better?

Stoner........first we get a title that has nothing to do with the article posted and then you're upset that Hillary got caught doing something that every candidate before her did.

I'll tell you what..........I'll post another.:D

Surprise! The Democrats have thieves and the Rupublicans have closeted gays! Who'd of thunk that things like this happen in DC???? (http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070824/UPDATE/708240435)

Fieger indicted in campaign finance case

Fieger responds and accuses the Justice Department of becoming a political
arm of the Republican Party

DETROIT -- A federal grand jury has indicted Southfield attorney Geoffrey
Fieger and his law partner Vernon (Ven) Johnson of conspiring to make more
than $125,000 in illegal contributions to presidential candidate John
Edwards' 2004 campaign.

Fieger issued a statement denying the charges and accusing U.S. Attorney
General Alberto Gonzales of waging "an unprecedented campaign to turn the
United States Justice Department into a political arm of the Republican
Party."

The indictment was unsealed today in U.S. District Court in Detroit. A grand
jury, which works in secret, had returned it under seal on Tuesday,
officials said.

"It's going to be the battle of the titans," Detroit lawyer Richard L.
Steinberg, who has represented Fieger in the past, said of the confrontation
between Fieger and the U.S. Justice Department. "It will be the trial that
Detroit has never seen before."

The 30-page, 10-count indictment charges Fieger with conspiracy, obstruction
of justice, making illegal campaign contributions and causing false
statements. Johnson, 45, of Birmingham, is charged with conspiracy, causing
false statements, and making illegal campaign contributions.

Steve Fishman, Johnson's lawyer, said Johnson has done nothing wrong.

"In America, despite what the attorney general might think, people have the
right to support political candidates who share their views," Fishman said.

"If that is a crime, citizens should be even more afraid of this
administration than they already are."

Obstruction of justice carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. The
other charges carry a maximum penalty of five years.

Fieger, 56, of Bloomfield Hills, has waged an aggressive battle against an
ongoing federal grand jury investigation of him and his firm, suing
Gonzales, the FBI agent who headed the investigation, and others. Fieger, a
Democratic candidate for governor in 1998, has repeatedly claimed the
investigation is politically motivated, a charge Justice Department
officials have denied.

The bombastic Southfield attorney rose to national prominence as the lawyer
for Royal Oak suicide doctor Jack Kevorkian. He built a reputation for
winning massive personal injury judgments against municipalities and
corporations while receiving reprimands for his outspoken criticism of
Michigan Court of Appeals and Supreme Court judges.

In an unusual twist, Fieger's criminal case was assigned by random draw to
U.S. District Judge Sean Cox, the brother of Michigan Attorney General Mike
Cox. Fieger and Mike Cox have also sparred publicly, with the attorney
general holding a news conference last year at which he confessed infidelity
to his wife and accused Fieger of trying to use knowledge of the affair to
blackmail him into ending a criminal investigation of Fieger.

Judge Sean Cox could not immediately be reached to say whether he would
recuse himself from the case.

The indictment alleges Fieger illegally circumvented limits on individual
campaign contributions by recruiting "straw donors" to purport to make the
then-maximum contribution of $2,000 to Edwards, when the more than $125,000
in donations were actually paid for by the Fieger firm.

The use of conduits caused the Edwards campaign to make false statements
about the source of the donations, the indictment alleges. But Edwards and
his campaign officials were unaware of the illegal nature of the
contributions and the Edwards campaign cooperated fully with the
investigation, the U.S. Justice Department said in a news release.

On the obstruction of justice charge, Fieger tried to impede the grand jury
investigation by shifting responsibility for the contributions to a decease
officer of the Fieger firm, attempted to mislead the grand jury by telling
witnesses false information which he expected to be repeated, and attempting
to conceal an incriminating document, the indictment alleges.

In his statement, Fieger said federal officials have "repeatedly threatened
to prosecute my employees unless they lie about me."

Edwards is again a Democratic presidential candidate for 2008.

Fieger has retained famed criminal defense attorney Gerry Spence of Wyoming
to defend him in the criminal case, an associate said. Spence successfully
defended former Filipino First Lady Imelda Marcos on federal racketeering
charges and defendant Randy Weaver on murder and other charges in the Ruby
Ridge case, among other high-profile cases.

A call to Spence's office was not immediately returned.

The FBI and Internal Revenue Service agents raided Fieger's law offices in
November 2005 and carted away boxes of records.

[Marley]

Fred doesn't "figure" into this, he "figured" -- past tense -- into it.

Fred ran the committee investigating the LAST time Clinton's main donor -- the Communist Chinese government -- was noticed breaking US campaign finance law.


And this is just fine right here in the current events forum, this forum and the Hillary Clinton forum aren't mutually exclusive.

And gee, I'd love to see a single comment from a liberal about this OBVIOUS corruption and fraud.

The Los Angeles Times reports on this website tonight and in Wednesday's print editions that a major Democratic Party fundraiser named Norman Hsu is wanted by authorities for skipping out on an agreement to serve up to three years in prison after pleading no contest to grand theft swindling charges.

In a story by Chuck Neubauer and Robin Fields, The Times reports that for three years Hsu has been carving out a place of political and financial influence by funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions into Democratic Party coffers, much of the money earmarked for Sen. Hillary Clinton. He has earned the ranking of Hillraiser for pledging to raise at least $100,000 for her.

In just the last 36 months Hsu has been involved in raising more than $1 million for Clinton and other Democrats. Howard Wolfson, a spokesman for the Clinton campaign, confirmed today that Hsu had been a "longtime and generous supporter" of the party including Clinton. "We have no reason to call his contributions into question or to return them," Wolfson added.

Hsu has developed a specialty of bundling hefty campaign contributions from obscure citizens who live modest lives and have never before given money to campaigns. Many are not even registered to vote.

Over the years other recipients of Hsu donations have included Sens. Dianne Feinstein, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Edward Kennedy.

Hsu's lawyer confirmed today that his client was the one involved in the California case but said he did not remember pleading to a criminal case nor facing jail time.

"He is a fugitive," said Ronald Smetana of the California attorney general's office. "Do you know where he is?"

Gee, here's a guy showing an HONEST living of only $49,000 a year pledging $100,000 to Hitlery and the left is...






















...silent. Like a good flock.

[Stoner]

Uh oh. More developing news. This keeps getting better. Here's a picture of the donor. That ugly dude on the right looks familiar.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/08/30/us/30bundler-190.jpg

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign said yesterday that it would give to charity $23,000 it had received from a prominent Democratic donor, and review thousands of dollars more that he had raised, after learning that the authorities in California had a warrant for his arrest stemming from a 1991 fraud case.

The donor, Norman Hsu, has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Democratic candidates since 2003, and was slated to be co-host next month for a Clinton gala featuring the entertainer Quincy Jones.

The event would not have been unusual for Mr. Hsu, a businessman from Hong Kong who moves in circles of power and influence, serving on the board of a university in New York and helping to bankroll Democratic campaigns.

But what was not widely known was that Mr. Hsu, who is in the apparel business in New York, has been considered a fugitive since he failed to show up in a San Mateo County courtroom about 15 years ago to be sentenced for his role in a scheme to defraud investors, according to the California attorney general’s office.

Mr. Hsu had pleaded no contest to one count of grand theft and was facing up to three years in prison.

The travails of Mr. Hsu have proved an embarrassment for the Clinton campaign, which has strived to project an image of rectitude in its fund-raising and to dispel any lingering shadows of past episodes of tainted contributions.

Already, Mrs. Clinton’s opponents were busy trying to rekindle remembrances of the 1996 Democratic fund-raising scandals, in which Asian moneymen were accused of funneling suspect donations into Democratic coffers as President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore were running for re-election.

Some Clinton donors said yesterday that they did not expect the Hsu matter to hurt Mrs. Clinton unless a pattern of problematic fund-raising or compromised donors emerged, which would raise questions about the campaign’s vetting of donors. Mr. Hsu’s legal problems were first reported yesterday by The Los Angeles Times; The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday about his bundling of questionable contributions.

“Everyone is trying to make the implications that it’s Chinese money, that it’s the Al Gore thing all over again, but I haven’t seen any proof of that,” said John A. Catsimatidis, a leading donor and fund-raiser for Mrs. Clinton in New York.

Some donations connected to Mr. Hsu raise questions about his bundling activities, although there is no evidence he did anything improper. The Wall Street Journal reported that contributors he solicited included members of an extended family in Daly City, Calif., who had given $213,000 to candidates since 2004, even though some of them did not appear to have much money.

A lawyer for Mr. Hsu, E. Lawrence Barcella Jr., has said that Mr. Hsu was not the source of any of the money he raised from other people, which would be a violation of federal election laws.

On his own, Mr. Hsu wrote checks totaling $255,970 to a variety of Democratic candidates and committees since 2004. Even though he was a bundler for Mrs. Clinton, his largess was spread across the Democratic Party and included $5,000 to the political action committee of Senator Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois.

Last month, Mr. Hsu was among the honored guests at a fund-raiser for Representative Patrick J. Kennedy, Democrat of Rhode Island, given by Stephen A. Schwarzman of the Blackstone Group at the New York Yacht Club.

Al Franken, a Democratic Senate candidate in Minnesota, said he would divest his campaign of Mr. Hsu’s donations, as did Representatives Michael M. Honda and Doris O. Matsui of California and Representative Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania, all Democrats.

Mr. Hsu’s success on the political circuit was not always matched by success in business.

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Mr. Hsu came to the United States when he was 18 to attend the University of California, Berkeley, as a computer science major. He later received an M.B.A. at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, according to a brief biography that appeared in apparel industry trade publications in 1986.

With a group of partners from Hong Kong, Mr. Hsu started a sportswear company in 1982 called Laveno that went bankrupt two years later, not long after he left the company. From that, he cycled through several other enterprises, mostly men’s sportswear, under the Wear This, Base and Foreign Exchange labels.

Mr. Hsu’s career hit a low in 1989, when he began raising $1 million from investors as part of a plan to buy and resell latex gloves.

Ronald Smetana, a lawyer with the California attorney general’s office, said Mr. Hsu was charged with stealing the investors’ money after it turned out he never bought any gloves and had no contract to resell them.

When Mr. Hsu was to attend a sentencing hearing, he faxed a letter to his lawyer saying he had to leave town for an emergency and asking that the court date be rescheduled, Mr. Smetana said.

He failed to show up for the rescheduled appearance, and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. That was the last that prosecutors saw of Mr. Hsu.

“We assumed he would go back to Hong Kong, where he could recede into anonymity,” Mr. Smetana said.

The California attorney general’s office declined to comment on how it intends to pursue Mr. Hsu.

Mr. Hsu issued a statement yesterday, saying he was “surprised to learn that there appears to be an outstanding warrant” and insisting that he had “not sought to evade any of my obligations and certainly not the law.”

“I would not consciously subject any of the candidates and causes in which I believe to any harm through my actions,” he said.

At some point, Mr. Hsu resurfaced in New York, where he was connected to several clothing-related businesses, according to campaign finance records, which list his occupation variously as an apparel consultant, clothing designer, retailer or company president. He also began to donate to the Democratic Party, and arranged for friends to do the same.

He has been referred to in news accounts of campaign fund-raising events as an “apparel magnate” and his quick rise in the New York political and social scene — as well as his open checkbook — catapulted him into the big leagues.

He became a trustee at the New School and was elected to the Board of Governors of Eugene Lang College there. He endowed a scholarship in his name at the college and was co-chairman of a benefit awards dinner in 2006 that featured Mrs. Clinton, who had secured a $950,000 earmark for a mentoring program at the college for disadvantaged city youths.

Asked yesterday about Mr. Hsu, Brian Krapf, a spokesman for the New School, said in a statement that “it is inappropriate to talk about a matter involving one of our trustees, particularly while we are still gathering all the facts.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/30/us/politics/30bundler.html?ex=1189051200&en=00ee337c9e083c5f&ei=5099&partner=TOPIXNEWS

[AnnEsthesia]

Why is this amazing? Are you saying that there have never been controversies with donors on the Republican side?

[maineman]

Why is this amazing? Are you saying that there have never been controversies with donors on the Republican side?


precisely!

[AnnEsthesia]

Here ya go, I did not have to open more than one link.

Accused Terrorist Is Big GOP Donor

February 19, 2007 1:51 PM

Justin Rood Reports:

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) won't say what it plans to do with thousands of dollars in campaign donations it received from an accused terror financier.

Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari gave $15,250 to the NRCC since 2002, according to FEC records published on the Web site opensecrets.org.

On Friday, Alishtari pled not guilty to funding terrorism and other crimes, including financial fraud.

The NRCC is the main political group dedicated to helping the Republican party win seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Reached Monday morning for comment, an NRCC spokeswoman declined to discuss the matter on the record.

The indictment against Alishtari unsealed in Manhattan federal court Friday charges him with providing material support to terrorists by transferring $152,000 between banks to allegedly be used to purchase night-vision goggles and other equipment needed for a terrorist training camp.

Alishtari, aka Michael Mixon, was paid for his efforts to collect and transfer the funds, which included $25,000 sent from a bank in New York to a bank in Montreal, Canada, the indictment alleges.

Police and FBI agents arrested Alishtari in New York City on Friday. A day earlier, agents raided his Ardsley, N.Y. home, according to the "Lower Hudson Journal News." When a reporter for the paper reached a woman claiming to be Alishtari's wife on Friday and informed her of the charges, she cried and said he was innocent, the paper reported.

The NRCC would not confirm it had received donations from Mr. Alishtari, or that he had received numerous awards from the organization, as is claimed by an online list of personal accomplishments that appears to have been posted by Mr. Alishtari.

The list says he was made a life member of the NRCC's "Inner Circle" and was named New York State Businessman of the Year by the group in 2003 and 2004.

The NRCC "Businessperson of the Year" fundraising campaign, which gave such "awards" to at least 1,900 GOP donors, has been derided as a telemarketing scam by political watchdogs.

The online list also claims Alishtari was appointed to the president's "USNRCC White House Business Advisory Group."

An archived Web site for one of Alishtari's companies, GlobalProtector.net, claims it had demonstrated a "Web filter" technology for officials at the Department of Defense's Miami, Fla.-based Southern Command (SouthCom), which coordinates U.S. military operations in Central and South America and the Caribbean and oversees the controversial Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

SouthCom spokesman Steve Lucas would not confirm or deny any contacts between Alishtari and officials there. SouthCom personnel he spoke with said SouthCom does not use the company's software, and could not rule out the possibility they had received a sales pitch from him or another company representative.

A database of unclassified federal contracts at FedSpending.org does not show SouthCom or any other government branch awarded business to Alishtari's company.

A call to the telephone number which had been listed on GlobalProtector's site connects to a recorded message offering the caller to "spark up your days and nights" by calling a 1-800 phone chat line.

link (http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/02/accused_terrori.html)

It happens and at least she is returning the money. According to this story, the RNC was not sure what they would do.

[Jaaaman]

What's amazing is how several of you 'clam up' when one of your beloved democrats is shown to be taking campaign donations from a known felon. What's wrong... cat got your tongue? :)

[AnnEsthesia]

Clam up? Or maybe just see you spinning and looking for a way to bash the other side?

Oh look, here is another RNC scandal re: donors.

Weakened GOP faces massive fundraiser scandal

We've already seen and heard how much trouble the GOP has had keeping up with the Democratic Party in this cycle's fund raising race. The Democrats are so flush with cash that they have begun running ads on CNN celebrating the victories of Reid and Pelosi in Congress and promising more change and reform.

The Republican Party, on the other hand, has seen its fund raising dry up and even took the drastic step of laying off its telemarketers because they simply weren't raising enough to justify the expense. Last week shocking news injected itself into this already troubled scenario: a major Republican fund raiser and donor was indicted on 23 charges including bankruptcy fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice and perjury:

The donor, Alan Fabian, is the CEO of the Centre for Management and Technology, a Baltimore-based company. Until last week, he was also a co-chairman of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s national finance committee.

A federal grand jury has indicted Fabian for allegedly making $32 million in false purchases of computer equipment to pay for his lavish spending habits. Prosecutors are seeking $32 million worth of Fabian’s assets, including beach real estate in North Carolina, property in Maryland and a yacht.

How high did Fabian's influence reach? Right to the tippy-top my friends:

Maryland donors included huge corporations and at least one deep-pocketed individual: Alan B. Fabian of Cockeysville gave $100,000 to the Presidential Inaugural Committee and got tickets to many of the day's activities, including the swearing-in and the inaugural balls, in return.

"This is really special for us," said Mr. Fabian, chief executive officer of the Centre for Management and Technology.[1]

In a pattern that we are all too familiar with from the Abramoff case, it appears that Fabian was extremely generous with the money he stole and the Republican Party was the beneficiary. As noted above, Fabian was a co-chairman of Mitt Romney's national finance committee. Fabian also gave $1,000 to Giuliani, who returned the money this week and pointedly reminded the press of Fabian's relationship with Romney.

But Fabian's tentacles extended throughout the Republican Party:

Reps. Steve Chabot (Ohio), Jim Gerlach (Pa.), Michele Bachmann (Minn.), Jon Porter (Nev.), Heather Wilson (N.M.), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.), and Dave Reichert (Wash.) have each accepted $1,000 or more from Fabian in the last three years, according to records on file at the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

What about the Senate and the Republican National Committee?

Fabian has given generously to Republican candidates in recent years. During the first six months of 2007 he gave $25,000 to the Republican National Committee and $4,600 to Sen. Elizabeth Dole (N.C.), according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that tracks fundraising.

Fabian also gave $25,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee during the 2004 election cycle.

First Abramoff and now Fabian: the Republican Party is becoming synonymous with crooked donors.

Read more about the Republican fund raising scandal at The Hill.

link (http://richmonddemocrat.blogspot.com/2007/08/weakened-gop-faces-massive-fundraiser.html)

[AnnEsthesia]

Oops! Here is the GOP spending taxpayer money to boost their candidates. No need to follow the hatch act for the Bush administration. ;)

Commerce, Treasury funds helped boost GOP campaigns
By Marisa Taylor and Kevin G. Hall | McClatchy Newspapers
Millions in federal money went to battleground congressional states and districts. | View larger image

WASHINGTON — Top Commerce and Treasury Departments officials appeared with Republican candidates and doled out millions in federal money in battleground congressional districts and states after receiving White House political briefings detailing GOP election strategy.

Political appointees in the Treasury Department received at least 10 political briefings from July 2001 to August 2006, officials familiar with the meetings said. Their counterparts at the Commerce Department received at least four briefings — all in the election years of 2002, 2004 and 2006.

The House Oversight Committee is investigating whether the White House's political briefings to at least 15 agencies, including to the Justice Department, the General Services Administration and the State Department, violated a ban on the use of government resources for campaign activities.

Under the Hatch Act, Cabinet members are permitted to attend political briefings and appear with members of Congress. But Cabinet members and other political appointees aren't permitted to spend taxpayer money with the aim of benefiting candidates.

During the briefings at Treasury and Commerce, then-Bush administration political director Ken Mehlman and other White House aides detailed competitive congressional districts, battleground election states and key media markets and outlined GOP strategy for getting out the vote.

Commerce and Treasury political appointees later made numerous public appearances and grant announcements that often correlated with GOP interests, according to a review of the events by McClatchy Newspapers. The pattern raises the possibility that the events were arranged with the White House's political guidance in mind.

The briefings are part of the legacy of White House political adviser Karl Rove, who announced this week that he's stepping down at the end of the month to spend more time with his family. Despite Rove's departure, investigations into the briefings are expected to continue.

One congressional aide, who asked to remain anonymous, said the investigation was revealing "a number of remarkable coincidences" similar to how Treasury and Commerce events appeared to coincide with the strategy in the political briefings. However, it remains to be seen whether the subsequent department actions were intentional, said the aide, who asked not to be named because the investigation is ongoing.

As part of the probe, committee investigators found that White House drug czar John Walters took 20 trips at taxpayers' expense in 2006 to appear with Republican congressional candidates.

In a separate investigation, the independent Office of Special Counsel concluded that GSA Administrator Lurita Alexis Doan violated the Hatch Act, which limits the political activities of government employees. Witnesses told investigators that Doan asked at the end of one political briefing in January 2007 what her agency could do to help GOP candidates. Doan has said she doesn't recall that remark.

Violations of the Hatch Act are treated as administrative, not criminal, matters, and punishment for violations ranges from suspension to termination. The administration has not taken any action against Doan.

Even so, the Hatch Act "is an important statute and it needs to be enforced," said James Mitchell, spokesman for the Office of Special Counsel. "One of the effects we hope our investigations will have is to deter violations during the upcoming election cycle."

In the months leading up to the 2002 election, then-Commerce Secretary Don Evans, Bush's former campaign finance chairman, made eight appearances or announcements with Republican incumbents in districts deemed by White House aides either as competitive districts or battleground presidential states.

During the stops, he doled out millions of dollars in grants, including in two public announcements with Rep. Heather Wilson, a New Mexico Republican in a competitive district.

Republicans ultimately regained control of the Senate and expanded their majority in the House of Representatives in the 2002 elections.

In 2004, Evans and his aides significantly scaled back appearances with candidates, but an assistant treasury secretary returned to New Mexico to announce with Republicans Sen. Pete Domenici and Rep. Steve Pierce the release of $2.5 million in economic development funds.

Evans, who now heads the Financial Services Forum, a trade association for financiers, declined comment, a Forum spokesman said.

In 2006, Evans' successor, Carlos Gutierrez, and his aides also made public announcements with several Republican congressional incumbents, including in the battleground states of Missouri, Pennsylvania and New Mexico. Weeks before the 2006 election, Gutierrez and Congresswoman Wilson announced $3.45 million in grants for Albuquerque organizations. Also in the weeks before the election, a deputy secretary and Republican Sen. Rick Santorum announced that the department would be investing $2.25 million in Philadelphia.

The same year, then-Treasury Secretary John Snow and Santorum announced an award of millions in tax credits to Pennsylvania organizations. Santorum later lost his seat.

Snow and his aides also made appearances in 2006 with Republican incumbents or doled out grants in Virginia, Iowa and Ohio, states seen as crucial to the GOP retaining control of Congress.

Bush's first treasury secretary, Paul O'Neill, stuck mainly to giving speeches praising President Bush's economic policies rather than appearing with candidates. O'Neill was unceremoniously dumped after disagreeing repeatedly with the White House.

Current Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. was sworn in shortly before the 2006 elections. He and his aides have made few grant announcements.

Administration officials denied that any Treasury and Commerce events were orchestrated to help the Republican Party win elections. The officials said White House aides who briefed the departments were careful not to encourage the appointees to act on behalf of the Republican Party on government time.

Commerce Department spokesman Dan Nelson described the meetings as merely "informational."

"They were not a call to action," he said.

Nelson said grants are awarded after a competitive process and aren't selected based on political considerations.

Ted Kassinger, the Commerce Department's former general counsel and a deputy secretary in the Bush administration, said the department was especially careful about avoiding the appearance of political favoritism during Evans' tenure because of the former secretary's close ties to President Bush.

Kassinger, who left in 2005, said the department turned down several requests from political candidates to make appearances because they seemed to be campaign events.

"It was certainly a concern of mine that the work in the department be separated from campaign activities," he said. "At the top level there was never a discussion of 'What can you do to help these guys?'"

One former political appointee who attended a briefing said for all the hoopla over the briefings, he wasn't impressed with them at the time.

"It wasn't rocket science," said the appointee, who asked to remain anonymous because he didn't want to be publicly linked to the controversy. "It's like, 'Yeah, no kidding. We know.'

But John D. "Jerry" Hawke, who served as Treasury undersecretary for domestic finance in the Clinton administration, said the campaign-style briefings for Treasury appointees were unusual.

"Nothing remotely like that happened," during the Clinton administration, Hawke said. "I never experienced anything like that. The notion that the White House would be holding meetings with Treasury appointees just didn't fit."


link (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/19034.html)

[AnnEsthesia]

Discuss what? That sometimes bad people donate and when it is discovered, the money is returned? What is there to discuss? Both sides have it happen.

[Jaaaman]

None of these examples change the fact that Mrs. Clinton took donations for her campaign from a known fugitive of the law. Puts a smudge in her image as the shining star of the Democratic Party doesn't it? Even more reason not to even remotely consider voting for her in her POTUS campaign.

[AnnEsthesia]

By the way, do you also bitch when people get large money donations from Italian families or Irish families or, god forbid, English families? Is it the fact that they are of Chinese decent that bothers you?

[AnnEsthesia]

As opposed to the RNC taking donations from an accused terrorist? lol It is part of politics.

[Jaaaman]

As opposed to the RNC taking donations from an accused terrorist? lol It is part of politics.


That money was not taken by the RNC Anne.

Mirroring and deflection once again... is that the best you got Anne? :shame:

[AnnEsthesia]

I see, so Clinton is the only person in politics to not thoroughly do a background check on every last donor? No Republican candidate has ever taken bad money they had to return? Really?

And why is this smear thread not in the Hillary Clinton forum? It is mislabeled and misplaced. Typical.

[bobbylien]

Even more reason not to even remotely consider voting for her in her POTUS campaign.
Not that Hillary cares, you never would have voted for her anyways. The ones expressing outrage here are those who wouldn't ever stray from their beloved social conservatives anyways. So I have just one question for you Ann, why do you care what the likes of stoner, jaaaman and marley think? Their histories show a clear pattern of rabid partisanship, you can't expect them to look at this rationally.

[Labrocca]

Why is this amazing? Are you saying that there have never been controversies with donors on the Republican side?


But aren't the Republicans already known for their corruption. The dems were elected to fix that with their platform of "accountability". So I don't see the relevance of the Republicans in this. Unless of course you believe that two wrongs make a right. If you believe that then when Clinton gets in office she will probably start a war and your excuse will be.."well the Republicans did it".

So full of contradiction it's frightening. Wrong is wrong.

The money she has recieved should be returned immediately.

[lily]

[quote=AnnEsthesia]


So full of contradiction it's frightening. Wrong is wrong.

The money she has recieved should be returned immediately.


How immediate do you want it to be, Labrocca.......the article stated that when she found out, she gave the money to charity and now all donations are being looked at.

I can understand the "get the candidate" mentality but be reasonable. It's been shown that she's not the only one that's doing it.....I even posted an article about Edwards and Anne posted articles about Republicans.

[nevadamedic]

...China cash is flowing into Clinton campaign coffers again!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118826947048110677.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news


DALY CITY, Calif. -- One of the biggest sources of political donations to Hillary Rodham Clinton is a tiny, lime-green bungalow that lies under the flight path from San Francisco International Airport.

Six members of the Paw family, each listing the house at 41 Shelbourne Ave. as their residence, have donated a combined $45,000 to the Democratic senator from New York since 2005, for her presidential campaign, her Senate re-election last year and her political action committee. In all, the six Paws have donated a total of $200,000 to Democratic candidates since 2005, election records show.

It isn't obvious how the Paw family is able to afford such political largess. Records show they own a gift shop and live in a 1,280-square-foot house that they recently refinanced for $270,000. William Paw, the 64-year-old head of the household, is a mail carrier with the U.S. Postal Service who earns about $49,000 a year, according to a union representative. Alice Paw, also 64, is a homemaker. The couple's grown children have jobs ranging from account manager at a software company to "attendance liaison" at a local public high school. One is listed on campaign records as an executive at a mutual fund.

The Paws' political donations closely track donations made by Norman Hsu, a wealthy New York businessman in the apparel industry who once listed the Paw home as his address, according to public records. Mr. Hsu is one of the top fund-raisers for Mrs. Clinton's presidential campaign. He has hosted or co-hosted some of her most prominent money-raising events.


People who answered the phone and the door at the Paws' residence declined requests for comment last week. In an email last night, one of the Paws' sons, Winkle, said he had sometimes been asked by Mr. Hsu to make contributions, and sometimes he himself had asked family members to donate. But he added: "I have been fortunate in my investments and all of my contributions have been my money."

Mr. Hsu, in an email last night wrote: "I have NEVER asked a single favor from any politician or any charity group. If I am NOT asking favors, why do I have to cheat...I've asked friends and colleagues of mine to give money out of their own pockets and sometimes they have agreed."

DONATION DATA


See details on political donations5 from the Paw family, Norman Hsu and a handful of Mr. Hsu's business associates in New YorkLawrence Barcella, a Washington attorney representing Mr. Hsu, said in a separate email: "You are barking up the wrong tree. There is no factual support for this story and if Mr. Hsu's name was Smith or Jones, I don't believe it would be a story." He didn't elaborate.

A Clinton campaign spokesman, Howard Wolfson, said in an email: "Norman Hsu is a longtime and generous supporter of the Democratic party and its candidates, including Senator Clinton. During Mr. Hsu's many years of active participation in the political process, there has been no question about his integrity or his commitment to playing by the rules, and we have absolutely no reason to call his contributions into question."

Kent Cooper, a former disclosure official with the Federal Election Commission, said the two-year pattern of donations justifies a probe of possible violations of campaign-finance law, which forbid one person from reimbursing another to make contributions.

"There are red lights all over this one," Mr. Cooper said.

There is no public record or indication Mr. Hsu reimbursed the Paw family for their political contributions.

For the 2008 election, individuals can donate a maximum of $4,600 per candidate -- $2,300 for a primary election and $2,300 for a general election -- and a total of $108,200 per election to all federal candidates and national political parties.


Six members of the Paw family list this house in Daly City, Calif., as their address.
In the wake of a 2002 law that set those limits, federal and state regulators and law-enforcement officials said they have seen a spike recently in the number of cases of individuals and companies illegally reimbursing others for campaign donations. Those cases don't necessarily implicate the candidates, who sometimes don't even appear to be aware of such payments executed on their behalf.

The 2002 law also raised penalties for infractions and included the prospect of prison sentences for offenders for the first time. That increased incentives for the FEC and federal prosecutors to investigate and prosecute infractions. Since the law was enacted, the FEC has collected millions of dollars in fines for illegal donations, including its largest-ever penalty, a $3.8 million levy against Freddie Mac last year.

According to public documents, Mr. Hsu once listed his address at the Paw home in Daly City, though it isn't clear if he ever lived there. He now lives in New York, according to campaign-finance records, on which he also lists a half-dozen apparel companies as his employer. In the campaign-finance forms, Mr. Hsu lists his companies as Next Components, Dilini Management, Because Men's Clothes and others.

He is on the board of directors of the New School in New York. News stories in the mid-1980s said he criticized trade policies that made it harder to import goods from China.

Mr. Hsu is also a major fund-raiser for Mrs. Clinton and other Democrats. When Democrats won control of Congress in November, he threw a party at New York City hot spot Buddakan with many prominent party leaders. Press reports said that toward the end of the night, he grabbed the microphone from the deejay and shouted: "If you are supporters of Hillary for President 2008, you can stay. Otherwise, get out."

Mr. Hsu has pledged to raise $100,000 or more for Mrs. Clinton, earning the title of "HillRaiser" along with a few hundred other top financial backers of her campaign. Earlier this year, he co-hosted a fund-raiser that raised $1 million for Mrs. Clinton at the Beverly Hills, Calif., home of billionaire Ron Burkle. He is listed as a co-host for another Clinton fund-raiser next month in northern California.

The Paw family is just one set of donors whose political donations are similar to Mr. Hsu's. Several business associates of Mr. Hsu in New York have made donations to the same candidates, on the same dates for similar amounts as Mr. Hsu.

On four separate dates this year, the Paw family, Mr. Hsu and five of his associates gave Mrs. Clinton a total of $47,500. In all, the family, Mr. Hsu and his associates have given Mrs. Clinton $133,000 since 2005 and a total of nearly $720,000 to all Democratic candidates.


The Paw's Daly City home is a one-story house in a working-class suburb of San Francisco. On a recent day, a coiled garden hose rested next to a dilapidated garden with a half-dozen dried out plants. The din of traffic from a nearby freeway was occasionally drowned out by jumbo jets departing San Francisco International Airport.

William and Alice Paw are of Chinese descent. The entire family got their Social Security cards in California in 1982, according to state records. All but one of the Paws registered to vote as "nonpartisan." A San Mateo County elections official said that members of the Paw family vote "sporadically."

No one in the Paw family had ever given a campaign contribution before the 2004 presidential election, according to campaign-finance reports. Then, in July 2004, five members of the family contributed a total of $3,600 to the presidential campaign of Sen. John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat. Five of the checks were dated July 27, 2004. About the same time, Mr. Hsu made his first donations to a political candidate, contributing the maximum amount allowed by law to Mr. Kerry in two separate checks, on July 21, 2004, and on Aug. 6.

From then on, the correlation of campaign donations between Mr. Hsu and the Paw family has continued. The first donations to Mrs. Clinton came Dec. 23, 2004, when Mr. Hsu and one Paw family member donated the then-maximum $4,000 to her Senate campaign in two $2,000 checks, campaign-finance records show. In March 2005, the individuals gave a total of $17,500 to Mrs. Clinton.

Since then, Mr. Hsu, his New York associates and the Paw family have continued to donate to Democratic candidates. This year, Alice Paw and four of the Paw children have donated the maximum $4,600 to Mrs. Clinton's presidential campaign.


Everything Cinton does is questionable.

[Labrocca]

How immediate do you want it to be, Labrocca.......the article stated that when she found out, she gave the money to charity and now all donations are being looked at.

I can understand the "get the candidate" mentality but be reasonable. It's been shown that she's not the only one that's doing it.....I even posted an article about Edwards and Anne posted articles about Republicans.


I don't see that in the original article...where does it say what she has done with the money. And I personally don't want to "get the candidate"..my criticism is simply that she should return the money. I don't believe it should go to charity either why should these guys get a tax break from this?

[lily]

I don't see that in the original article...where does it say what she has done with the money.

In the article stoner posted.

And I personally don't want to "get the candidate"..my criticism is simply that she should return the money. I don't believe it should go to charity either why should these guys get a tax break from this?

Now you've got me confused......if she returns the money he's not going to get taxed on it and if she gives it to charity he's not going to be taxed on it. I'd rather he be out the money and some charity benefits.

........and my "get the candidate" remark is just that. Between this and the Craig story, I can't wait for congress to get back, so there is something with some substance to discuss, not petty back and forth bullshit that both parties are guilty of.

[bobbylien]

So what is the point of your post here Marley? Are you accusing Hillary of something in this case?

[Marley]

You all might note the current three card Monte scheme Hillary et al is pulling off.

This guy Hsu is funneling money through straw donors -- these PAw folks for example -- waaaaaaaaaay in excess of campaign finance laws, you know, all that corrupt money corrupting politics?

But when Hitlery, who was so quitely taking the money, issues a press release that she's returning it (like if you robbed some one and gave to loot back, some how you never committed robbery in the first place LOL don't try this yourself, THIS is the REAL "2 Americas" we're hearing of) she's only returning the DIRECT LEGIT contributions and keeping all the straw donor dollars.

What a joke.

Marley........plese read the new rules. http://www.democracyforums.com/showthread.php?tid=7423

[Marley]

Hillary is corrupt, always was, always will be.

Good enough for ya Bob?

[bobbylien]

How does this prove she is corrupt? You must first prove that she knew that this money was tainted and accepted it anyways or that she told her staff members to accept tainted money. Do that for me now and you've proven your point.

This guy Hsu is funneling money through straw donors -- these PAw folks for example -- waaaaaaaaaay in excess of campaign finance laws, you know, all that corrupt money corrupting politics?
Even if that is proven and he goes to jail for it, you must prove hillary had some knowledge of this when her staff accepted the donation. Don't worry, I'm sure the justice department has PLENTY of people looking at this case.

[Marley]

How does this prove she is corrupt??????

NAH Bob! Taking ILLEGAL money isn't corrupt!

And dude, get a clue, a CANDIDATE is "innocent until prven guilty!"

LMAO

You're confusing people charged with crimes with people seeking political office.

Concentrate!

Draw little pictures and graphs if you have to!

BTW, you just gotta love a guy who claims to be Republican and puts pictures of Castro in his ID, it just reeks honesty and sincerity Bob!

[Stoner]

Looks like Mrs. Bill Clinton's criminal donator has turned himself in.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/08/30/us/30bundler-190.jpg

http://img.breitbart.com/images/2007/8/31/D8RC5T7G0/D8RC5T7G0_preview.jpg

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP) - A top Democratic fundraiser wanted as a fugitive in California turned himself in Friday to face a grand theft charge.
San Mateo County Superior Court Judge H. James Ellis ordered Norman Hsu handcuffed and held on $2 million bond. A bail hearing was scheduled for Sept. 5, at which the judge will consider reducing his bail to $1 million.

Hsu appeared in court accompanied by a lawyer and publicist, both of whom declined to say whether the New York apparel executive would immediately post bail. A warrant was issued for his arrest after he skipped the sentencing for a 1991 grand theft charge.

In the ensuing years, Hsu became a top donor to numerous Democratic candidates and was a fundraiser for presidential contender Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. He also had contributed to Sen. Barack Obama's past Senate campaign and his political action committee.

On Friday, Hsu, who has an apparel business in New York, also resigned from the board of trustees of The New School and from the board of governors of The New School's Eugene Lang College. The college received a federal appropriation secured by Clinton last year, but a spokesman for the school said Hsu was not involved in seeking money for the school.

After reports surfaced this week of Hsu's fugitive status in California, Clinton joined other candidates in returning thousands of dollars he raised, but the allegations distracted her campaign just as it prepared to ramp up for the intense post-Labor Day stretch.

The campaign announced Wednesday it would return $23,000 in contributions that Hsu made to her presidential and senatorial campaigns and to HillPac.

On Thursday, Obama's campaign said he would give to charity the $2,000 Hsu contributed to his 2004 Senate campaign and the $5,000 Hsu gave to his political action committee, Hopefund. Hsu's $43,700 in donations to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and $2,500 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee also will go to charity, both groups announced Thursday.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8RC5T7G0&show_article=1

[Marley]

Yeah, there's a winner huh?

Let's vote into POWER the candidate of the crooks!

Again, note that this crook is funneling tens or even hundreds of thousands (no full investigation or accounting yet) of illegal dollars through straw donors, but when Hillary issues a press release of how she's returning money, the numbers I;m seeing can only account for the legal within-limits money directly tied to this Hsu guy, not any of the straw donor money.

We're supposed to be too stupid to notice I guess.

Hillary, the candidate of the corrupt and the stupid.

[bobbylien]

You must first prove that she knew these donations were illegal when she accepted them. Then she is corrupt, its quite simple really. I won't sink down to personal attacks like you always have.

[Marley]

No, I "must" not do anything Bob.

I reject her bid to be elected to power for her blatant APPEARANCE of CORRUPTION Bob.

And I haven't "attacked" anything Bob.

When I see some guy claiming to be Republican sporting a picture of Castro, appearances is all I need there too.

And if you really really concentrate, you won't find any "attacking" langauge anywhere at all, only true accurate observation.

If that bothers you Bob, you have issues.

[bobbylien]

I reject her bid to be elected to power for her blatant APPEARANCE of CORRUPTION Bob.
Thats fine, you can say whatever you want but everybody knows its a bunch of bullshit because you can't prove it. She never stood a chance at winning your vote anyways so whats the big deal? Opinions are cheap, give me facts.

[Marley]

Yeah Bob, that's why the guy gave himself up to CA, because it's all "bullshit."

This is the same scam she pulled before with Lippo Group.

Hey, no "big deal" Bob, we'll elect a corrupt president and see what else besides the Panama Canal she can give her patrons.

[Stoner]

More developing news on this. It keeps getting better. Hillary may have know all along. Seems another lib did, Bob Kerrey. Kerrey also thinks there's nothing wrong with what Hsu did. Maybe that's because he worked for Kerrey!

But he has powerful defenders. Former Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) said in an interview that Hsu was being pilloried unfairly.

"This isn't Osama bin Laden or some drug kingpin," Kerrey said. "What he's done is he's volunteered to help people raise money for their campaigns. That doesn't make him either unique or bad."

Kerrey said he recruited Hsu to serve on a board of directors at New York City's New School university, of which Kerrey is president. Kerrey said Hsu had called him earlier this week to warn him about coming media coverage. Kerrey added that Hsu had been "a terrific member" of the New School board and had not been asked to step down.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-na-hsu31aug31,1,487411.story?track=rss&ctrack=1&cset=true

[preservanation]

If Hillary says she is going to give back the $850,000, who's she going to give it back to?
I don't believe her at all.
I need proof to trust absolutely anything she says.
I hope someone is on this and makes sure she does forfeit this illegal money.

[preservanation]

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Sep. 29, 2007 - A lawyer for onetime Democratic donor Norman Hsu argued Friday that his client's high-flying years on the political fundraising circuit should have made him easy for authorities to find during Hsu's 15 years as a fugitive.

"He was public, he was visible," Hsu's defense attorney, James Brosnahan, told reporters after Hsu made a brief court appearance. Politicians often hosted Hsu at their cocktail parties, had their photos taken with him, and they "rather enjoyed being in his presence," Brosnahan said.


During that period, anyone searching for Hsu "could find him literally in one minute" using an Internet search engine, Brosnahan said. http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=politics&id=5682026
So Hsu me! We’re happy to vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton, but only if she promises to give all Americans a cut of the international fugitive funny money she unloads by the truckload! Ka-ching! http://www.nyobserver.com/2007/wednesday-october-3rd-0
Clinton's third-quarter success came amid a scandal involving one of her top fundraisers, Norman Hsu, who turned out to be a fugitive from the law. As the case against Hsu mounted in early September, the Clinton campaign returned $850,000 to 260 donors whose contributions were associated with him, much of it money raised in the first and second quarters.http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2003920990_fund03.html?syndication=rss
I don't believe Hilary returned a dime!
I need to see the records.
Where did all that money go and who got it?
I can't find it, someone please tell me!

[preservanation]

Stopping Hillary from the left


A newly formed political action committee is aiming to stop Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary by calling into question her progressive credentials.

"We think there are other Democratic presidential candidates who are both more progressive and have a better chance of beating the Republicans than she does," said the president of Democratic Courage, Glenn Hurowitz.

He declined to tip his hand on the group's case against Clinton, but said the PAC plans a paid media campaign in the early primary states to make its position clear.

"We’ll definitely have sufficient resources to make a significant media buy," he said, adding that their campaign against Clinton would be "edgy" enough to get attention. "We don’t need to raise an immense amount of money to make a big difference."

Hurowitz, 29, is a Washington-based writer and activist. (He has written freelance Ideas articles for Politico, including this piece criticizing Clinton's and Obama's energy plans.) The group's two other officers are Sam Goldman and David Lipowicz, both of whom have worked for liberal and environmental groups in Washington.

Hurowitz and Goldman have both contributed to the campaign of former North Carolina Senator John Edwards, but Hurowitz said their effort is independent of any campaign.

"We have no plans right now to back any particular candidate," Hurowitz said.

As a federal political action committee, Democratic Courage is raising money only in contributions of $5,000 or less. This allows the group to politick more directly than the independent groups known as 527s, which can raise money in unlimited quantities but which have limits on their direct support for candidates.

Their effort follows a long line of lackluster "Stop Hillary" campaigns on the right, which began before her election to the Senate in 2000, and have largely failed to raise large sums of money or attract widespread attention. But Hurowitz distinguished his group from those.

"I'm definitely not a Hillary hater — I think there are other candidates who are better for the progressive movement," Hurowitz said. "Most of the people involved in our PAC will be happy to support her if she does become the nominee."

A spokesman for Clinton declined to comment on the effort.http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1007/Stopping_Hillary_from_the_Left.html

[preservanation]

Fundraiser Hsu's lawyers want his conviction from '92 thrown out
John Coté, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, November 2, 2007

Attorneys for Norman Hsu are prepared to argue in a Redwood City courtroom Friday that the disgraced Democratic fundraiser's 1992 grand theft conviction should be dismissed because prosecutors didn't try hard enough to find him after he skipped out on sentencing 15 years ago.

Hsu failed to show up for sentencing in 1992 after pleading no contest to a $1 million fraud scheme in San Mateo County. He fled to Asia, where he lived for several years, and eventually returned to the United States.

Since 2003, he has lived a public life despite his fugitive status, hosting major fundraisers in California and New York and raising $2 million in political campaign contributions, including more than $850,000 for New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Photos of him with candidates were an Internet search away. His address was listed on the Federal Election Commission Web site, Hsu's attorney James Brosnahan wrote in papers filed in San Mateo County Superior Court.

"Mr. Hsu lived an open and public life, and the government made no apparent efforts to arrest him," Brosnahan wrote. "The case must be dismissed because the delay in sentencing violates Mr. Hsu's Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial."

Brosnahan also argues Hsu should be allowed to withdraw his no-contest plea to a single count of grand theft because he has a right to be sentenced by the same judge who accepted the plea in 1992. That judge has since retired.

Deputy Attorney General Ron Smetana, the prosecutor who has handled the case since it began, rejected those arguments.

"He has been gone for 15 years. Now he wants to have things the way they were or to call the deal off," Smetana wrote in court documents. "To allow Hsu to profit from his own misconduct would stand the criminal justice system on its head, allow a defendant to manipulate the process for his own benefit and make bad public policy."

Prosecutors sought to track down Hsu in the years after his disappearance, having agents periodically check his last address, his wife's address and his son's school, Smetana wrote. But he said he lacked the ability to track Hsu in Asia. He also noted the sheer number of fugitives in the state.

"I believe that at any given time there are more than 100,000 arrest and bench warrants outstanding in California," Smetana wrote.

Hsu surrendered Aug. 31 after news accounts revealed that the high-flying political fundraiser was a fugitive. After posting $2 million in bail, he was free again - only to flee a second time when he failed to show up in court Sept. 5.

Days later, Hsu was arrested in Grand Junction, Colo., after taking pills in what his attorney said was a suicide attempt aboard Amtrak's eastbound California Zephyr. After nearly a week in the hospital, he was returned to California for sentencing.

Hsu faces up to three years in prison in the San Mateo County case, in which he was accused of bilking investors out of $1 million in a scheme to sell latex gloves that didn't exist.

Even that sentence is a matter of dispute. Brosnahan contends the court documents are ambiguous but appear to show the sentence Hsu agreed to was up to three years in prison. Smetana says the agreed sentence under the plea deal was a straight three years.

Hsu is also seeking to have his $2 million in bail - forfeited after his most recent flight - transferred to federal authorities as part of a looming federal criminal case. Smetana wants the court to retain $1.1 million of the bail money to pay back victims in the San Mateo County case before any funds are transferred.

The sentencing issue has to be resolved before Hsu can be taken to Manhattan to face federal criminal charges for allegedly running an elaborate $60 million Ponzi scheme in recent years. Federal prosecutors contend Hsu paid initial investors with funds from later ones, all the while siphoning off money for a lavish lifestyle, funneling funds to political campaigns to increase his clout, and pressuring investors to donate to designated candidates.

Hsu also faces lawsuits from investors in New York and Orange County.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/02/BALRT4REO.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea[hr]Gaunt and glancing nervously at reporters, disgraced Democratic moneyman Norman Hsu appeared in a California court yesterday and agreed to spend another 10 weeks behind bars while his lawyers do “research.”

The surprise delay raised eyebrows because Hsu’s lawyers had filed motions asking the court to refund the $2 million bail he skipped out on in September and toss his 1992 fraud conviction altogether…

…Columbia law Prof. Daniel Richman said California and New York authorities could be in “some sort of negotiation toward a global resolution” of Hsu’s cases.

“It might also serve [Hsu’s] purposes to stall until the presidential campaign is over,” Richman said.

“It’s not because the federal charges will go away, but it might be a more hospitable environment.“http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/2007/11/03/2007-11-03_norman_hsu_case_on_ice_amid_rumors_of_a_.html