The Department of Justice has opened an investigation into the fundraising activities of Norman Hsu, the man who put over a million dollars into Democratic coffers while remaining a fugitive con man. They want to find out whether more than just coincidence linked heavy donation activity between Hsu and at least two households of more modest means — and the answers could prove very embarrassing for top Democrats:
The U.S. Justice Department is investigating possible campaign-finance violations by top Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu, according to people familiar with the probe. On Friday, Mr. Hsu surrendered to California officials on an unrelated grand-theft charge dating to the early 1990s.
Mr. Hsu, who, until earlier this week was one of the biggest fundraisers for Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton, was booked at the San Mateo County jail, where he was handcuffed and later released on $2 million bail. Wearing a black suit and white shirt, Mr. Hsu rushed to a waiting black Chevy Suburban outside the jail lobby Friday afternoon without answering any questions from reporters.
Mrs. Clinton’s campaign declined to comment yesterday. The New York senator, along with other Democrats, has said she would turn over donations received from Mr. Hsu to charity.
But Mr. Hsu’s legal woes are a political blow to the many prominent Democrats who accepted his funds, in particular Mrs. Clinton. While there is no sign any of them were aware of Mr. Hsu’s actions and prior record, they could be embarrassed by the probe of his fundraising.
It may prove more than just embarrassing. No one can determine where Hsu got his money — and that’s just the cash he personally donated. If the Justice probe shows that he used other people as fronts to move money illegally to Democratic candidates, that will deepen the mystery of the source of Hsu’s funds even further.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Hsu fled to China after his fraud conviction. Records show him working for a Hong Kong exporter for the two years after jumping bail. If Hsu turns out to have gotten his funds from international sources hostile to the US, giving the money to charity will do little to restore reputations.
Even just for using fronts like the Paw family, Hsu faces some stiff prison time. In 2002, Congress made such activities criminal, and Hsu could get 5 years and a $250,000 fine on each count. That’s federal prison time, where parole doesn’t exist and good behavior gets at best a 15% reduction in time served.
If the DoJ finds a foreign source for those funds, Hsu’s sentencing will take a back seat to the sentence of the American people on those who took his money without checking him out. This could get very ugly for the Democrats.
UPDATE: You have to give credit to the LA Times. They haven’t let up on this case. In today’s edition, they demonstrate how easy it would have been to discover the con man behind the shower of cash:
Clinton and her aides said there was little they could have done to protect themselves, but fundraising experts from both parties pointed to warning signs that should have given aides pause. …
The most obvious red flag: A check of a commonly used database produces a 1990 San Francisco Chronicle news story detailing how Norman Hsu had been kidnapped by gang members in the San Mateo County suburb of Foster City. A second widely used database discloses that Norman Yuan Yuen Hsu of Foster City had a bankruptcy in 1990.
Having established that he lived in San Mateo County, a check of the San Mateo County Superior Court’s website reveals that Norman Yuan Yuen Hsu had a criminal case.
The LAT quotes “aides to Clinton” as saying that Hsu never asked any favors and just liked having his picture taken with politicians. Uh, riiiiiiiiiight. And he committed the latex-glove fraud because he likes shaking hands with doctors. I suspect the FBI may have more information on whether Hsu asked for a favor or two every hundred thousand dollars by the time they complete their investigation.
UPDATE II: Gateway Pundit noticed that Hsu’s name came up in the 1996 campaign finance scandal involving Charlie Trie and connections to China. It’s tangential — Hsu’s name comes up in relation to a donation made to “Friends of Norman Hsu” by Sioeng San Wong. Even tangential, it connects the two scandals, and it could explain the FBI’s interest in the case. Good work by Gateway Pundit in digging this one out.
UPDATE III: Commenter Lucky Bogey says GP wasn’t the first to make the connection. Check the comments for the links.
This will probably turn out like all the other Democrat scandals. Mrs. Clinton will not have anything stop her from getting the highest office in the land.
If Hillary wins, we are in for 4/8 more years of this. So weary of all this corruption, money and power hunger.
Mr. Hsu…was booked at the San Mateo County jail, where he was handcuffed and later released on $2 million bail.
This begs the question of whom put up the bail money? Even on a cash bond, that’s $200,000. Was Representative William “Cold Cash” Jefferson in California yesterday?
But in any case, I tend to agree with Kay: it’ll get swept under the rug, and Hsu and perhaps his front people will be the only ones to pay a price for this corruption.
Hey, maybe it will turn into a Hsu-nami.
More likely, it will go the way of Whitewater, the Rose Law firm records, the White House travel agency, her stock market wins and on and on and on.
Its all part of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy,
ChiCom edition.
We can only hope your right Captain, but given the outcome of the Sandy Burger affair, I doubt much will come of this investigation. After all, who really controls the Justice Department, the CIA and the rest of the federal bureaucracy, along with the MSM, Judiciary, trial lawyers, unions etc.?
Other commenters have expressed their lack of faith in ANYTHING sticking to Madame Teflon and the filthy democrats. I am also very cynical about this. If the Jefferson case is any indication, DoJ will be as eager to pursue charges against a democrat as I would be to enter a public restroom with Larry Craig. Further, don’t expect the media to pursue this or, if they do, it will be to put democrat talking heads like Carville and Begala front and center to wail about “politics of hate” and “Republican witch hunts” (a VERY apt metaphor in this case!). Oh, a few outlets might raise an eyebrow, but the rest of the media will bury anything embarrassing to the candidate who will be our first female president AND will bring the Dark Age of Bush to a close.
Just to join in with the rest of the cynics, every person I’ve ever met who votes Democrat has uttered the phrase, “I’ll take a corrupt Democrat over an honest Republican any day.”
How do you think IL ended up with Blagojevich a second time?
This raises some very nasty echoes from past Clinton funding scandals, in particular from 1996. If I was feeling particularly evil, I would suspect the same players.
A couple of high-profile deaths helped divert attention from the scandals back then… I don’t see that happening now, though MSNBC’s recycling old news might help Hsu’s clients now.
It’s a safe bet that the MSM is *not* happy about having to reveal Hsu’s activities.
Gateway Pundit points out that Norman Shu is mentioned in the 1998 Congressional investigative report on the Clinton-Communist China donations scandal at http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/1998_rpt/sgo-sir/1-12.htm.
Sioeng San Wong, whom the report said was employed by the Communist Chinese governmnt, handed a lot of money around, including $7,500 on 3/11/95 to “The Friends of Norman Hsu.”
Gateway Pundit quotes from the Congressional report some items about Sioeng San Wong: “Sioeng regularly communicated with PRC embassy and consular officials at various locations in the United States, and, before the campaign finance investigation broke, he traveled to Beijing frequently where he reported to and was briefed by Chinese communist party officials.”
The People’s Republic of China, Sioeng San Wong, Norman Hsu, the Clintons, Ed Rendell, etc., etc. All an honest misunderstanding, I’m sure.
I have to agree with the sentiment of most of the posts here. Hilly the Hun has already easily survived scandals that would have long ago sunk a GOP lawmaker.
And we can count on the MSM to continue to do what they do so very well – lie to protect their Democrat pets. Get ready for the everybody-does-it-only-Republicans-are-much-much-worse dodge the MSM is so fond of.
I’m with John; so weary of the corruption, lack of principled behavior, lack of morals, lack of protecting the American people due to a complete lust for power, on & on….
If and when Jefferson and Berger actually get punished for the crimes they committed; if and when the likes of Murtha gets punished for accepting potential bribe money in return for favors; then and only then will I have any hope that our laws apply to all Americans rather than just regular tax paying folks like you and me…
Hillary Clinton is the head of the snake; the eyes of the beast. What damage did her husband do to our country with his corruption as it relates to the Chinese? The Clinton’s have proved one thing for sure; they will do anything for power. I say, get these damn primaries over with; bring on the real battle and let’s watch as Hillary and Bill get exposed in front of the world. The Republicans had better elect someone that has the internal strength to battle this beast to the bitter end; there will be no giving in with Hillary, she will pull out every tool in the scumbag players manual. Bill used the IRS to attack his opponents and critics, as well as his former lovers. These Clinton’s will use every dirty trick possible, and the MSM will provide cover at every turn. A war is brewing; is there a Republican that will put on the battle gear and get down in the sewers to fight this fight?
We’ll see… The Republican that appears to be best suited for the battle will get my vote.
We can hope for one thing out of this: That the public will be reminded that the name Clinton is synonymous with scandal. She may be able to worm her way out of this, but that will also remind voters of how often the Clintons have to worm out of things. Voters know you cannot trust anything they say, their history is too filled with examples.
After a while, if you have to keep defending yourself from rumors, those rumors start to appear to be true. At least that was the case with Larry Craig.
Mellow out Keemo…
To me the only answer to all of is “Term Limits”
I have no faith that any group of politicians will vote on anything that will clean up corruption.
And I know MSM will do as little as possible to expose anyone on the left.
Our strength lies in the ballot booth – make everyone count.
Why did this fugitive felon get any bail after he surrendered. It’s not like he’s not a flight risk having gone to China once after being convicted. It’s not like he’s presumed innocent after he’s been convicted and then absconded. The man should have been immediately sent to the hoosegow and while there to commiserate with other dem fundraisers of ill repute, while charges of escape are filed against him. Jeez with this kind of injustice system it’s no wonder OJ got off.
“It’s a safe bet that the MSM is *not* happy about having to reveal Hsu’s activities.”
Let’s just say that newsrooms are probably not breaking out in cheers over this story.
The coverage will now turn away from Hsu, and focus on how Democrats are distancing themselves from him. Instead of tracing the sources of Hsu’s money, the MSM will report on the various Democrats giving the money to charity, expressing shock that such a fine man could have been involved in alleged unpleasantness, and vowing greater diligence in future background checks.
There will be follow-up reports about how Republicans tried to quietly keep the story alive in the media. The moonbatosphere will condemn the wingnuts for their racism towards asians, red-baiting, and general hatefulness.
There will be no attempt to place this story in the context of previous scandals related to the bankrolling of the Clinton machine by shady Chinese and Indonesian sources. The investigative series will conclude with some high-minded bromides about the “broken system,” and the need for campaign finance reform. Then, the LAT will pat themselves on the back, put this to bed, and spend the months leading up to the Presidential elections hammering away at the Republican nominee, secure in their knowledge that they have proven their objectivity once again.
I have more faith in the bloggers than I do in the Justice Department. I think they will do the digging,connect to and tie up loose ends, link to the previous chicom donor scandal and bring up the secrets turned over by the Clinton clique-claque. The internet is much stronger than it was during the Clinton regime and as yet cannot be contained (although I’m sure the Clintons will try if the Hill/Billy duo[ver] takes over the country.
It looks like Gateway Pundit may stepping away a bit from the 1996 connection, in an update built on a comment from Politico that there are two different men named Norman Hsu. FWIW
Anyone think it strange that Hsu would have been kidnapped by “gang leaders” rather than simply “gang members?”
What would gang leaders be doing their own dirty work for? And what would they be doing cooperating in kidnapping a nobody businessperson?
Coud Hsu have been one of those “gang leaders” too?
More here:
http://rightwingnuthouse.com/archives/2007/09/01/who-is-mr-hsu-part-ii/
The hypocrisy of this is if Mr. Hsu were a fundraiser for a top tier Republican candidate, Woody and Bernie would be in hog heaven working on another Pulitzer for Wapo. The MSM would be relentless for months. The good thing is Willy is in no position to fire anything at a pill factory. Hillary will be holding her breath waiting for the Petraeus report to take over the front pages that the sanctimonious MSM will only be too glad to accommodate.
The source of Hsu’s money has been partially explained by his Washington, D.C. attorney, Lawrence Barcella. Barcella explained that Hsu invested greatly in Silicon Valley after he returned from Hong Kong in 1996.
Barcella also explains in a written statement, dated Aug. 28th, the same day the WSJ first broke the story about the Paw family of Daly City, California, that he had the Paws’ personal financial info that proves the Paws had the money to donate to Democratic politicians, as opposed to the WSJ’s implication that they were poor and couldn’t afford it.
As far as I can see, there is nothing to the charge that Hsu got his money from shady foreign sources who want to influence U.S. politics, and there is nothing to the charge that Hsu reimbursed the Paws for their campaign contributions.
This whole Hsu story looks like it’s shaping up to be another one of those stories that anti-Clinton people are going to obsess over, but others are not.
Rovin wrote:
“The hypocrisy of this is if Mr. Hsu were a fundraiser for a top tier Republican candidate, Woody and Bernie would be in hog heaven working on another Pulitzer for Wapo. The MSM would be relentless for months. The good thing is Willy is in no position to fire anything at a pill factory. Hillary will be holding her breath waiting for the Petraeus report to take over the front pages that the sanctimonious MSM will only be too glad to accommodate.”
I feel I must point out that there have been recent Republican scandals that resemble the Hsu scandal, but the MSM hasn’t reported on them. An example: Mitt Romney’s national finance co-chair, Alan Fabian, was indicted on fraud and money laundering charges.
Extremely good of the Paws to have that at hand and to provide it to somebody else’s attorney within twenty-four hours.
Joshua,
The very same Los Angeles Times article that contains the quote you referred to in your comment (about Silicon Valley investments) casts doubt on that explanation in the very next sentence:
A few paragraphs further down the Los Angeles Times quotes one of Hsu’s business associates saying that Hsu traveled to China frequently during that time period.
The Yell wrote:
“Extremely good of the Paws to have that at hand and to provide it to somebody else’s attorney within twenty-four hours.”
The Paws’ adult son, Winkle Paw, works for Hsu in New York, and the Aug. 28th written statement from Barcella was released on hehalf of both Hsu and Paw. So it doesn’t appear unusual. Hsu and the Paws obviously have a personal relationship.
Aldo wrote:
“The very same Los Angeles Times article that contains the quote you referred to in your comment (about Silicon Valley investments) casts doubt on that explanation in the very next sentence:
Barcella said Hsu returned to California in 1996 and made a series of successful investments in Silicon Valley — which accounts for Hsu’s ability to contribute so heavily to Democratic causes in recent years, Barcella said. Hsu also continued to be involved in the apparel business, Barcella said.
But details about Hsu’s activities since 1996 are elusive. Unlike in the 1980s, when Hsu’s name appeared in a flurry of business and court records, there is scant evidence that he was actively launching businesses or making contributions to politicians.
A few paragraphs further down the Los Angeles Times quotes one of Hsu’s business associates saying that Hsu traveled to China frequently during that time period.”
The LA Times article only casts doubt on Barcella’s claim that Hsu continued in the apparel business after he returned in 1996. The article doesn’t address Barcella’s claim that Hsu invested in Silicon Valley. I personally find personal investments to be a more plausible explanation of Hsu’s wealth than shady international sources trying to influence politics in the United States.
Capt Ed: You are not reading comments on CQ. This connection has been posted on CQ for several days now. I first posted on CQ
here and here beginning at 0643 am on Aug 29 when this story first broke concerning the Hsu and Sioeng connection. Commenter “Comment Guy” was also posting these connections shortly thereafter on HotAir and I believe “CommentGuy was the first to list all the DNC and Dem donations on the internet. Sorry, Gateway was not the first to find this connection.
“I personally find personal investments to be a more plausible explanation of Hsu’s wealth than shady international sources trying to influence politics in the United States.” LiberalJ
LMAO. Yup, the Clintonistas could NEVER be connected to corruption. Bill wasn’t impeached, either. (fingers in ears) LA lA LA LA lA lA lA LA ….
La Mano wrote:
“LMAO. Yup, the Clintonistas could NEVER be connected to corruption. Bill wasn’t impeached, either. (fingers in ears) LA lA LA LA lA lA lA LA ….”
All I said was that it’s more playsible that Hsu got his money from personal investments rather than other theories about Hsu’s money. I didn’t say that the Clintons aren’t corrupt or that he was impeached. Mischaracterize what I say much?
LiberalJoshua said:
“I feel I must point out that there have been recent Republican scandals that resemble the Hsu scandal, but the MSM hasn’t reported on them. An example: Mitt Romney’s national finance co-chair, Alan Fabian, was indicted on fraud and money laundering charges.”
To the contrary, grasshopper. It was reported widely at the time:
Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/13/AR2007081301016.html
Boston Globe:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/08/12/romney_fund_raiser_quits_after_indictment/
Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/08/09/ap4006058.html
And many of the MSM outlets are also prominently mentioning Fabian’s indictment in their stories about the Larry Craig scandal, vecause Craig was Idaho chair for Romney’s campaign.
Like Mr. Hsu, I invested heavily in Silicon Valley in the period 1997-2000.
Then there was this thing some have called the dot.com meltdown. It’s the reason I’ve put off retirement for about 10 years.
Even if the Paw FAMILY had the resources to give $100,000 per year to Democratic candidates while living in a small bungalow beneath the flight path, I think it unlikely that EACH member of the family had $20,000 per year to give away, without being reimbursed – illegal even if the reimbursement comes from within the family. If they did, then why, for example, is one of the grown Paw children working as a high school attendance liaison?
Face it, if the Democratically appointed Director of the CIA can steal secret documents in his underpants, and Democratic politicians can have stacks of cash stored in their freezers and 100 Asian donors to the Democrats can flee the country after funnelling bribes from the Chinese communist government — and the MSM yawns and lets it all slide — don’t expect that anything whatsoever will come of this.
As someone else pointed out, the lefties running the AP are probably apoplectic at this point trying to scrounge up a scandal to lay at the feet of a Republican. That, of course, will get unrelenting media coverage until the election.
The country is doomed and the MSM is killing it. They don’t even care if Beijing commies are pulling the strings behind our nuclear arsenal, just so long as we all get Hillary-care.
La Mano, get your metaphors straight. It’s not “Clintonistas”—–it’s Clintonese.
Reality is a question of perspective; the further you get from the past, the more concrete and plausible it seems — but as you approach the present, it inevitably seems incredible. — Salman Rushdie
“This whole Hsu story looks like it’s shaping up to be another one of those stories that anti-Clinton people are going to obsess over, but others are not.”
On this, you are probably right. In this case, however, that says more about the sycophant defenders (who would be apoplectic if the parties were reversed, and everyone knows it) than it does about those who are tired of corruption.
I am sure the Paws preferred living in their tiny, run-down shack instead of a nice home. They much preferred giving away a small fortune to Democrats. They are just nice, concerned citizens. That’s all.
An investigation this important demands a Special Prosecutor. I hear Alberto Gonzales is available.
ok, just kidding, but it would be nice to watch the Dems react wouldn’t it? Ah c’mon sure it would 🙂
LuckyBogey
I know who “CommentGuy” is and he is one of those people who scour the net when situations become high profile and gathers up the data to feed to various bloggers.
Since he comments on a lot of blogs under different names on each blog, even a h/t to him would not mean much.
I happen to also know GP is one of those he feeds.
Excellent catch by you anyhow.
Ripper wrote:
“Like Mr. Hsu, I invested heavily in Silicon Valley in the period 1997-2000.
Then there was this thing some have called the dot.com meltdown. It’s the reason I’ve put off retirement for about 10 years.
Even if the Paw FAMILY had the resources to give $100,000 per year to Democratic candidates while living in a small bungalow beneath the flight path, I think it unlikely that EACH member of the family had $20,000 per year to give away, without being reimbursed – illegal even if the reimbursement comes from within the family. If they did, then why, for example, is one of the grown Paw children working as a high school attendance liaison?”
On the Silicon Valley investments, how the dot com bubble burst affected Hsu and his money is speculation beyond what Barcella has confirmed. Even with the bubble burst though, it’s still more plausible that Hsu got his money from investments than the competing theories of him getting it from the People’s Republic of China or some other government or entity that wants to influence the U.S. through campaign contributions.
On the Paw family, Winkle Paw is the source for half of the $200,000 that the Aug. 28th WSJ article says the Paws donated to politicians and causes since 2005. So the Paw family did not give “$100,000 per year” as you suggest. Rather, Winkle, the adult son who works for Hsu in New York, gave roughly $100,000 over a period of 2-3 years, while the other five members of the Paws also collectively gave about $100,000 over a period of 2-3 years. That doesn’t sound impossible to me, especially if the Paws have another adult child that makes similar money as Winkle.
“made a series of successful investments in Silicon Valley — ” With what? He didn’t have any money to pay his creditors with earlier, which was why he got sentenced to 3 years and then skipped. So, he went to Hong Kong, hung out for a couple of years, then came back and made a huge bundle in Silicon Valley, right? Now, where could he have gotten large amounts of money to invest and make this bundle *EVEN* though the dot.com bust? Hmmmmmm, “Could it be Satan?” No, but could it have been the Chinese commies? Sure, but there is no proof.
However, having a lawyer step up and assure us that all that money exists legitimately convinces me. Not. Has anyone else seen this evidence, or is it like Kerry’s military records — often referred to as proof but never seen?
Sheesh.
I wrote:
Right on cue, Joshua showed up to ascribe interest in this story to hatred for the Clintons:
So far, it has been mostly the Los Angeles Times “obsessing” over the story. It seems like a stretch to attribute their interest to an anti-Clinton agenda. In fact, as the recent newsroom cheering over Rove’s resignation demonstrates, we are living in an era in which MSM reporters are not embarassed to openly root for Democrats and against Republicans.
Joshua concludes:
Joshua, your innocence is touching. I wish I could share it, but I am old enough to remember that international sources already did
try to influence politics in the United States by funneling money to the Clinton Machine in the 1990’s.
Dales wrote:
“I am sure the Paws preferred living in their tiny, run-down shack instead of a nice home. They much preferred giving away a small fortune to Democrats. They are just nice, concerned citizens. That’s all.”
Someone on another conservative blog (I think it was Hot Air) pointed out that the San Francisco Bay Area, which includes Daly City where the Paws’ house is located, contains the most expensive real estate in the nation. Assumably, even a “run-down shack” would cost a small fortune by non-SF standards. People probably should admit now that the Paws are not the poor, downtrodden people the WSJ made them out to be.
Be careful before linking Hsu to the Charlie Trie case. The information was on Wikipedia about two days ago, but was taken down because one poster believes the Senate report referred to a different Norman Hsu. I’m not sure which is which, but it could be mistaken identity.
Joshua writes:
Barcella is Hsu’s defense attorney. His media spinning hardly counts as confirmation of anything in my judgment.
Aldo wrote:
“Right on cue, Joshua showed up to ascribe interest in this story to hatred for the Clintons:”
I didn’t ascribe interest in this story to hatred of the Clintons. What I did say was that the story is being thoroughly investigated and it is shaping up to be a story that anti-Clinton people (i.e., Clinton haters, I guess is what you want me to say) are going to obess over, but that all other people are not going to obsess over.
IOW, most likely nothing further is going to come of the Hsu story objectively speaking, but the anti-Clinton people are going to continue to insist that there is something there contrary to the facts.
Typical. I just read that the Justice Dept. had to slow down (impede) the investigation of Rep. J Lewis, shortage of man-power.I’m sure Sen. Schumer will be pleased to hear the J D opened a new investigation on such short notice of Dem. wrong doing while slow-walking a Rep. investigation.Jack Shadenfruede
What is it about the Clintons and their affinity for agents of influence from the Interior Ministry and Liberation Army of the People’s Republic of China?
Why can’t they skim their graft the old-fashioned Joe Kennedy way, from Mob-run union pension funds?
Or the old-fashioned Al Gore way, in bundled, sequential money orders from Buddhist monks under vows of poverty?
What the h*ll kind of name is “Winkle Paw” anyway? Sounds like baby talk to a toy poodle.
I was trolling over at DailyKos searching for Hsu and found a diary that linked Mr Hsu and Bernard Schwartz (former Loral CEO). As expected, the KosKids basically dismissed the entire connection. The diary referenced aWND article and speculated on the Chinese connections.
Well it turns out that Mr Schwartz serves as vice chairman of the board of trustees of New School University. So now we have Hsu, Schwartz, and money to Hilary and federal grant money going back to the New School. As I have said earlier, follow the money and connect the dots. If bloggers can find the connections to the Chinese miltary why can the MSM? I hope our Justice Dept does its complete work this time around……..
READ “YEAR OF THE RAT” >>written by former Clinton administration people>>get educated
How US secret technology was given to China in lieu of donations, to get their missles off the ground.
HOW Clinton in the 90s had to return the $$ to China by using the dollars from the DNC, he had to campaign to replace the money to the DNC.
GUESS WHAT? This was all actually reported on U.S. news back then. For 1 day then it disappeared. Perhaps it is back!
Oh yeah the liberals Pelosi and Reid culture of corruption. Pelosi is being investigated on illegal contributions, , Murth and Kerry say the troops are killing in cold blood and taking woman and children out in the night.THEY should resign!!.3 of the 8 Haditha marines case thrown out.
WE all know pol’s are corrupt however liberals NEVER are held accountable > THEY stay in office they dont resign!! Clinton, found guilty by a grand jury NOT republicans, NOT of sex but guilty of perjury in a sexual harasement suit brought against him by many woman, Sandy Berger,(HE ADMITTED and found guilty of stealing docs and hiding then before the 9-11 comm hearings)he got a slap on the wrist ignored by the media, what were the docs? Jefferson 90K found in his freezer, still in office, hmmm, Patches Kennedy drove drunk hit a wall and covered it up, His uncle Teddy womanizing, we all know about Chappiquidic(discussting after 35 yrs he is still in office, Studds, Frank, Scoundres (boy sex and sex rings)all found guilty stayed in office. Cynthia the blk woman who admitted slugging the cop, still in office. DEMOCRAT ARE HYPOCRITES!!THEY call for repub resignations but they stay in office!! THEY are for open borders, amnesty and cutting funding for troops, they voted for the war on terrorism and then took the vote back, they voted to cut the funding on our troops, they voted for the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 google it…(Clinton)signed it…it was Clintons policy to disarm Iraq, but he did nada about that or terrorism after several attacks in the 90s by Alq. BTW terrorism started in the 80s not under Pres Bush do you recall all the hyjackings? done by ALq and Hezzbollah . IM SO SICK of you liberal hypocrites who stand by your corrupt sick, sleazy leaders.
08 THE LIBS WILL BE GONE!!!!
Read elsewhere that money should be returned to Hsu’s victim’s and not to “charity.”
Ms Fran… nice thought, but I have to tell you, the Dems have bought their seats and will not give them up. Nore will their constituents vote them out – no matter what they do. The pork is just too delicious! Term and age limits are the only way to go!!! But the clowns in Congress will never pass that!
DaMav, surely you jest, Alberto, definitely not appoint Karl Rove special prosecutor and watch Dem/MSM heads explode. Karl could connect Hitlery Communist Chinese connections from the 90’s.
Agree with Keemo, I will vote for the rep. who shows his are larger than Hitlerys and goes after the witch. New tone, my ass there’s a lot of folks out there who don’t recall the corruption of the 90’s or are too young to have been effected and they need to see this most corrupt ever to inhabit the office of POTUS duo for what they did and who they really are. Else the best we might have to look forward to is the first family to ever have two impeached as POTUS.
NOTE: If “Patches” Kennedy is Patrick Kennedy then Ted is his father, not his uncle.
I have trouble accepting Liberal Joshua’s premise that Hsu’s money came from Silicon Valley investments. Every reference to legitimate companies that Hsu has claimed to be associated with on his contributions lead to a dead end. This according to the NY Times. I googled each company and can find no reference to even one.
But the proof will be in the pudding. Justice and Treaury can trace checks and luandered money.
What I don’t understand is how Hsu was granted bail. He jumped bail before and left the country. Even a two million dollar bond isn’t a lot of money to forfeit for someone who has been showering over a million on campaign contributions. I’ll give odds he jumps bail again.
Joshua writes:
If nothing is there, objectively, it must strike you as odd and frustrating that Hillary’s people are giving Hsu’s money away to “charity.”
Won’t that just tend to confirm the false perceptions of the anti-Clinton people that some sort of impropriety occurred?
If the consultants are telling them that some sort of PR gesture is called for, it seems like they would be better off taking JSawyer’s suggestion and giving the money back to the people who were defrauded in the latex glove swindle.
I read somewhere that the total amount of Hsu donations to all Democratic candidates was somewhere in the vicinity of $1.3 million. If each Democratic candidate turned his or her own share of the booty over to the DNC, Howard Dean would have enough money to reimburse all the swindle victims (assuming Dean could be trusted not to fritter it all away the way he did with his own campaign warchest). Wouldn’t that be a more compelling gesture?
“Assumably, even a “run-down shack” would cost a small fortune by non-SF standards.”
It would.
But how much the run-down shack cost is irrelevant to the fact that if they had the money to be donating a hundred grand to Democrats, they would have the money to not live in a run-down shack.
Why is it that the reality based community always wants people to ‘connect the dots’ about Republican corruption tries very hard to convince people there are no dots when it is someone on the left?
There should be things more important than partisanship or political ideology. And, to be frank, those for who there is nothing more important are exactly the type of people who scare the living hell out of me. They are fascists, Stalinists, or Maoists just waiting for their opportunity.
If there is anything to this story it will be driven by bloggers later picked up by newsrooms.
If Mr Hsu is connected to the Chinese in any way you will never see him again. I’d be interested to know what restraints were put on him in regards to travel, passports etc.
This guy is dirty–the question is finding out from what. We also know that Hillary is lying, the question is if it’s just a white lie. In today’s world, as the LA Times mentioned, it takes five minutes to do a background check.
Also of note is the coincidence previously mentioned that the ex head of Loral, connected with the technology transfer that Bill Clinton approved against the wishes of several government agencies including the Defense Department, is also on the same board as Hsu at that school in New York headed by ex Senator Kerrey. Occam’s razor…
In regards to his attorney claiming silicon valley profits–yeah right. What is this, Hillary’s cattle futures redux. To refresh your memory she supposedly traded with/through the attorney of Arkansas largest poultry farm (Tyson) and employer–the number one polluter in the state at the time. I believe Bill was then Attorney General soon to be Governor. It’s the little old lady in the pink dress making $100,000 on a $1000 investment. The fact that her broker later went to jail is another of those interesting twilight zone moments. His crime if I recall “block trading”. I’ll run that by you on another date.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/whitewater/stories/wwtr940527.htm
I bring this up as a point of reference because it is very easy to run graft money through wall street usually through stock and options. Go ask Terry McAuliffe.
http://www.nationalreview.com/york/york071602.asp
As you can see he made 18 million on a $100 investment. Need I say anymore.
Liberal Joshua–a fashion tip. Your knee pads are worn out.
Larry Craig’s Big Mistake – He Is a Republican!
TARNISHED REPUBLICANS AND PERFECT DEMS
….Winkle, winkle little Paw….
……Oh, to know the things you saw.
….While hauling cash for Mr. Hsu….
……The Cops got him. will they get you ?
I’m thinking that this scandal might have some legs, as opposed to the usual pattern of Clinton skating due to support of the media. Take note that the best reporting so far on the matter is coming from, not the conservative media, but from the LA and NY Times.
Hillary should take note that she is no longer the darling of the MSM. First of all, there is a new rock star in town — Obama. Many in the press would love to injure her to help Obama.
Secondly, the far left, which contains many members of the press, consider her a sellout on Iraq and loathe her.
Thirdly, a lot of the left have come to realize that Hillary winning the nomination would insure defeat in 2008, and bring down a lot of down-ticket races too due to the increased turnout to vote against her.
The factors above just might cause the anti-Hill factions in the media to actually do their job for once.
I suspect that all the US attorneys will get fired right after the election
Does anyone ever do the follow-up and ask the campaigns *which* charity they donated the money to?
Dave D., can I help finish it?
“While hauling cash for Mr. Hsu…
The cops got him. will they get you?”
George Bush is who the press loves to pillary…
but, will this stench stick to Billary?
Though W. is the one they bash,
It’s Bill and Hill with the Chinese cash!
Cattle futures, Whitewater, cash for pardons galore,,,
90’s Chicom cash, witnesses on the run,
See how easy, see how fun…
It is to make money here
If we’re not careful we’ll get much more.
Great summary, as always, by Wretchard: (he even gives a special shout-out to CQ’s own Hsu apologist and comments spammer Joshua)
Despite Hsu’s remarkably light footprint on the visible world he was nevertheless able to embark upon a fashion, garment or high-technology business, whichever it is, or maybe it was the latex glove trade; able to make a fortune in Hong Kong after he was a fugitive and return to California to invest in Silicon Valley while he was a wanted man. He was able to maintain himself as a ” point of access to Asian supporters” of the Democratic party; able to appear at public functions and have his picture taken with national political figures with approximately the same ease you or I could have ourselves photographed with a clown at the local shopping mall. All without anyone suspecting a damned thing. And to top it off, after he turns himself in on a 15-year old rap, which is a lucky break because the authorities were singularly unsuccessful at finding him, Mr. Norman Hsu doesn’t even ask for a reduction in his $2 million bail bond. He just goes ahead and posts it. To show what a good citizen he is.
Listening to the story of Norman Hsu is a little bit like listening to a joke and realizing, halfway through, that the joke is on you.
Daytrader: Thanks. I’m no longer certain that this Norman Hsu is our man. According to Politico and other sites, this is the Norman Hsu of San Mateo County and this donation was for his bid to the CA state assembly.
However I do have a few questions for you or CommentGuy: What about searching full name (i.e. Norman Yuan Yuen Hsu)? We now know that Hsu’s companies are front companies and as private companies there are no filing records in the SEC EDGAR database. Is there a way to look online for import/export license? What about NYC state business license? What about searching for Norman’s holdings in mutual funds? This money is coming from somewhere?
I almost have to admire Hillary for the quote she gave the Los Angeles Times reporter, that ran yesterday (9/01/07):
“Obviously, we were all surprised by this news, and we have a procedure that we follow and upon verifying it, we returned his money.”
The line reminds me of the famous quote from Captain Renault, in Casablanca, just before the croupier hands him the money he won at roulette:
“I’m shocked, shocked! to find that gambling is going on in here!”
The HuffingtonPost gives us a few more clues about a man named Hsu.
How many more front companies are there that we have not found yet?
I always sort of liked Ed Rendell. Even met him at 76ers game 15 or so years ago, but this sort of changes things for me.
Rendell: Don’t rush to judge fund-raiser. He’s holding off on divesting $40,000 from his friend Hsu.
I can’t wait to see what LiberalJoshua has to say about the “facts” of the Hsu case now that he’s skipped his court date and has a warrant issued for his arrest (9/5/07). It’s a bitch when reality slaps you in the face, huh my man?……