Hillary And Hsu
The Boston Globe provides a pretty solid rundown of the amount of cash Hillary's campaign asked Norman Hsu to funnel to other candidates around the country. It is not as thorough a Flip Pidot's digging, but it is a start – and it is a sign that major media is not letting go of this story.
In at least some cases, Clinton or her aides directly channeled contributions from Hsu and his network to other politicians supportive of her presidential campaign, according to interviews and campaign finance records. There is nothing illegal about one politician steering wealthy contributors to another, but the New York senator's close ties to Hsu have become an embarrassment for her and her campaign.
Last fall, as the Nevada governor's race was heating up, Clinton agreed to help raise money for Democrat Dina Titus, a prominent party leader in a state that holds a key early presidential caucus. Clinton arranged for Hsu, at the time a little-known New York apparel executive with no apparent reason to take interest in Nevada politics, to give Titus $5,000 on Nov. 3, according to a person with knowledge of Clinton's fund-raising.
And in February, when former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack ended his own White House bid, he was about $450,000 in the red. A month after dropping out, Vilsack endorsed Clinton, and Clinton agreed to help him retire his debts. (Both insisted there was no quid pro quo.)
Over the next few months, some of Clinton's biggest fund-raisers gave Vilsack checks, including Hsu, who kicked in the maximum allowable contribution, $2,300, on May 3 after attending an event organized by Clinton's campaign, Newsweek reported this month. An associate of Hsu's, Paul Su, chipped in $1,000 on the same day.
In other cases, Clinton helped direct Hsu's money to influential politicians who have yet to endorse her but hail from key presidential primary states. Clinton raised at least $6,000 from Hsu and his network last year for Governor John Lynch of New Hampshire, according to Lynch aides. Lynch has no plans to endorse anyone before the state's crucial January primary, aides said.
The evidence points pretty strongly toward Hsu being a major figure in Clinton fundraising? Since he also appears to be a major figure in a massive Ponzi scheme, this could be a major problem for Hillary!. As far as I know there is nothing illegal about funneling money to someone you hope to buy get an endorsement from, but if the money is dirty, this could be another backfire for the campaign.
By Uncle Pinky, September 26, 2007 @ 2:57 pm
Can’t help but think that Hillary!’s non-response on this is telling. Shouldn’t a wise politico try to quash this? Judging by the MSM response it’s a non-event, so why not have Hillary! get in front of the story?
What with the GQ quashing being bruited about and the lingering embarrassment of Eason Jordan’s admission that journalistic enterprise can be bought off, shouldn’t the press be digging hard? Asking questions?
Kind of looks like, for the most part, they’re in the tank. Say it ain’t so.