SubscribeTop Hillary Fundraiser Hsu Turns Himself In
From a reluctant Associated Press:
Top Dem fundraiser turns himself in
By PAUL ELIAS, Associated Press Writer
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - A top Democratic fundraiser whose criminal past has roiled the campaigns of top presidential candidates turned himself in Friday in California, where he had been a fugitive for more than 15 years.
Judge H. James Ellis ordered Norman Hsu handcuffed and jailed on $2 million bail. The judge declined Hsu’s request to immediately reduce the bail by half, instead scheduling a Sept. 5 hearing to consider the request.
Hsu pleaded no contest in 1991 to a felony count of grand theft, admitting he’d defrauded investors of $1 million in a bogus investment scam. He was facing up to three years in prison when he skipped town before his 1992 sentencing date, Deputy Attorney General Ronald Smetana said outside court.
Hsu 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.
Friday’s 10-minute hearing in San Mateo County Superior Court was the culmination of a stunningly quick fall from grace for a disgraced California businessman who remade himself in New York apparel executive and benefactor of Democratic causes and candidates, including presidential contenders Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose campaign designated Hsu a “HillRaiser” — a title given to top donors.
Federal Election Commission records show Hsu donated $260,000 to Democratic Party groups and federal candidates since 2004. Though a top fundraiser for Clinton, he also donated to Obama’s Senate campaign in 2004 and to Obama’s political action committee.
After reports surfaced this week of his fugitive status, politicians at all levels scrambled to distance themselves.
Obama’s campaign said Thursday it 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.
Clinton joined the other candidates, returning $23,000 in contributions that Hsu made to her presidential and senatorial campaigns and to her political action committee, HillPac. But his close association with her campaign put Clinton on the defensive just as she prepared to ramp up for an intense post-Labor Day campaign stretch.
California officials who said they would get rid of donations from Hsu include Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and House members Mike Honda and Doris Matsui.
Earlier this week, Hsu said he thought the criminal charges had been taken care of when he completed his bankruptcy proceedings in the early 1990s.
“I have not sought to evade any of my obligations and certainly not the law,” Hsu said in a prepared statement…
Hsu’s lawyer and publicist declined say whether he would immediately post bail.
Luckily it’s the Friday before the Labor Day weekend, or the AP would have probably skipped this story altogether.
After all, what’s newsworthy about it?
There isn’t even a suggestion of gay sex.
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24 Responses to “Top Hillary Fundraiser Hsu Turns Himself In”
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August 31st, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Our favorite blog gets a mention on the online WSJ for this story:
http://tinyurl.com/2myd9v
And my WAG about Spitzer getting some of the Hsu dirty money is confirmed by this article in the NY Times: http://tinyurl.com/357r3y
Keep in mind that Spitz was New York Attorney General when he received this donation from a California fugitive who skipped out on his sentencing hearing. Will the mediots connect the dots on this?
August 31st, 2007 at 3:50 pm
“And my WAG about Spitzer getting some of the Hsu dirty money is confirmed by this article in the NY Times…”
That was a insightful (albeit almost safe) surmise on your part.
I guess the only surprise is that they would be so shameless about it. And even that shouldn’t be a shock anymore.
Their chutzpah, like their avarice, knows no bounds.
August 31st, 2007 at 4:33 pm
SG…amen to that statement.
notsoyoungjim….I read the WSJ story. So Norman Hsu stole money to donate money??? Also, I love the statement by the President of Eugene Lang College, Bob Kerrey, about Hsu. ……..”Norman has liberal views on what government is doing,” Mr. Kerrey said. “He does not like the direction the country is going. He just cares.” Nothing like smoothing over this crime with a political pitch. Hahaha…the Liberals and the MSM never skip a beat in spewing their endless absurdity!!!!
August 31st, 2007 at 4:53 pm
Now I know I’m in the Twilight Zone….the WSJ article has been rewritten by Brody Mullins with Ianthe Jeanne Dugan now as a contributor and not the writer of the story. The sentence I was talking about above has been deleted and the news story has completely changed!!!!! We live in strange times……
August 31st, 2007 at 5:01 pm
Fron the New York Slimes:
“There were no offices in buildings in New York’s garment district whose addresses were given for businesses with names like Components LTd., Cool Planets, Next Components, Coopgors Ltd., NBT and Because Men’s clothing. - all listed by Mr. Hsu in federal filings at different times.
At a new loft-style residential condominium in SoHo that was also listed as an address for one of his companies, an employee there said that he had never seen or heard of Mr. Hus. Another company was listed at a condo that Mr. Hsu had sublet in an elegant residential tower in Midtown Mahatten just off Fifth Avenue, but an employee there said Mr. Hsu moved out two years ago, after having lived there for about five years.”
Where has this man been hanging his hat and where was he getting his millions?
I wonder if the NYT’s checked for those addesses in Beijing?
How far will this go? Will this tie right back to the People’s Republic of China? How does a man who has no visable businesses donate so much money to the DNC and every damn Democrat you can think of? Yesterday, Hillary Clinton said that she wished Mr. Hsu well. Me thinks she wishes him dead instead.
There is smoke here, boys and girls, and we need to start throwing logs on the fire.
August 31st, 2007 at 5:04 pm
One other thing: Hsu was on the board of trustees of the prestigious New School in New York. The president, former Senator Bob Kerrey (D) said that was introduced to Hsu about two years ago and shortly thereafter Hsu joined the board of governors at the Eugene Lang College for “liberal arts” at the New School.
Anyone wonder why a man who was so closeted has access to such high ranking Democrats? Or why no one asked “who is this guy and where does he come from?”
August 31st, 2007 at 5:35 pm
Great points Retire05, I think also we should be vigilant in watching where this money goes from here. My bet is that the money will be donated to “charities” like moveon and code pink, the dems are, after all sticklers for recycling!
August 31st, 2007 at 5:48 pm
“I have not sought to evade any of my obligations and certainly not the law,” Hsu said in a prepared statement…
Well that certainly explains why he ran off to China for 4 years. This is just a continuation of the other China funny money scam from 1996.
August 31st, 2007 at 6:40 pm
fight_the_good_fight: you can bet that the “charity” that Hillary had in mind is the Clinton Presidential Library. Keep it all in the family, ya’ know?
This is big, kids, really BIG. And we need to be on the phones Tuesday and DEMAND that our elected elites make sure that the Dhimmicrats are held to the same “culture of corruption” standards that they held Republicans to over Jack Abramoff. But the MSM will continue with the ad naseum reports on Larry Craig, his toe tapping and his resignation.
So call and ask your local media (newsprint and TV) why they are ignoring the Hsu scandal.
August 31st, 2007 at 6:44 pm
Why in the hell is this crook, who’s been on the lam for years, getting a bail hearing? Just to deny him bail?
The longer he was on the lam, the more legs this story would have had. Now seen as a liability to Hillary, Hsu turns himself in. He probably feels safer in the hands of the police instead of as a potential victim of Arkancide in an obscure federal park.
This is a dem scandal certain to be buried by their media. Meanwhile, all we hear about is a Senator tippy-tapping his foot in the stall of a bathroom.
I’m just waiting for the other Hsu to drop.
August 31st, 2007 at 7:08 pm
If Craig would have been a democrat he would have been recieving a “gay pride” award for outstanding service as the democrat`s rallied around him to defend him from the knuckle dragging gaybashers of backwoods America (aka republican voters)…if Hsu would have been donating to republicans these same “enlightened” liberals would have been screaming for a special prosecutor and six hundred different congressional investigations!
August 31st, 2007 at 7:09 pm
Why is Shepard Smith spending over ten minutes on the Craig story? I mean, give me a friggin’ break…10 minutes?
Damn, you would think Craig killed three New Jersey students execution style.
August 31st, 2007 at 7:16 pm
Hillary has Hsu… Obama has Rezko… that one seemed to die quickly too.
August 31st, 2007 at 7:20 pm
“Senator Craig (D-Ia) said today that he did nothing wrong even though he is now “coming out”. Standing on the steps of the Capitol, the Democrat Senate stood in solidarity with Senator Craig. Senator Nancy Pelois (D-Ca) said that it was a shame that gay men had to resort to trying to find acceptance in airport bathrooms and that it only shows how the Republican right wing and it’s refusal to grant gays full equal rights made the persecution of gay Americans even worse. “This only shows the intolerance of the Republican Party” said Pelosi. “Gay Americans are forced into the dark stalls of airports just to find some happiness and this is a system that is intolerable. While we have all been the victims of the Republican ‘culture of corruption’, we Democrats will continue to push for a ‘culture of copulation’ so that all gay Americans can persue their happiness no matter where it may be.”
The arresting officer at the Minneapolis Airport has been put on suspension pending an investigation into his reapeated harrassment and entrapment of gay travelers.
August 31st, 2007 at 7:38 pm
OK, so Smith devoteds about one minute to the Hsu story. Just long enough to say that Hsu wrote a personal check for his $2,000,000.00 bail. Then he interviews Bill Krystal and devotes another five minutes to Craig.
WTF? Has Fox jumped the shark to the dark side?
August 31st, 2007 at 10:33 pm
retire05…”WTF? Has Fox jumped the shark to the dark side?”
I was wondering that very same thing….I ended up e-mailing Shepard to ask him basically the same question. (I hardly ever e-mail cable news shows either.)
August 31st, 2007 at 11:37 pm
texaspsue, I ususally put Smith on mute. I lost all respect for him during Katrina. He is a blatant liberal and since Katrina, doesn’t even try to hide it. But damn, doesn’t he have a boss? Or a program director who tells him he is over the edge? He kept asking how Craig would damage the GOP. Smith made it sound like the entire GOP was in that stall. What about Alcee Hastings, William Jefferson, Barney Frank, Gerry Studds, and the drowner himself, Teddy Kennedy?
I read a post by a conservative blogger not to long ago (don’t remember which one) where the blogger discussed how FoxNews is drifting farther and farther to the left. Alan Colmes is radical, Greta is a die hard liberal whose husband campaigned for Kerry and whose sister ran for office on the Green (Socialist) Party ticket, Juan Williams and Moira Liason work for NPR, and Gerald Rivera is out of control. Even Fred Barnes is beginning to sound like a “compassionate conservative” which is a catch phrase for LIBERAL.
I’m glad you emailed Smith but I can tell you from experience it will do no good. I have done the same thing, and NOT ONCE has Fox ever responded.
There is an old saying “be careful who you step on on your way up. You will have to meet them on your way back down.”
September 1st, 2007 at 6:24 am
How many Clinton co-presidency illegal campaign donors bolted the U.S. to avoid prosecution in the 1990’s and why did Attorney General Janet Reno consistently refuse to investigate or prosecute this blatant malfeasance?
September 1st, 2007 at 8:46 am
Texaspsue and Retire - Shep is Fox’s ’sensitive’ quasi-lib - I turned him off and haven’t watched since he stood on the bridge and cried during the Katrina coverage - that is not the purpose of ‘NEWS’ reporting. I do not care about your personal opinion at all. Just give me the facts.
But sadly I think Fox is going too far over left of center - why pander to them at all - I think Fox could employ Olbermann or Maher and the lunatic left (and most Dems) would still consider it evil incarnate.
I think I will email my Congressman on Tuesday and ask why are the Republican’s allowing the Craig witchhunt and ignoring the obvious campaign donor ‘concerns’ of the Democrats. This needs to be addressed and now or we may see the Hildabeast running in ‘08. My Senators are a lost cause - no surprize one of them is on Hsu’s donation list - guess which one - (gasp) the Dem who kicked a Repub out of office! LGF has the link to the site which if posting those need to know info -
September 1st, 2007 at 9:41 am
wardmama -
Remember when he was standing at the base of the bridge, the camera focused on a group of men walking out of the water and he turns to them and “hey man… you a’ight?”
That was it for me.
Even Bill O’reilly is turning tho I think he does it just to lure more moderates - which works - I know several who now love him because he bashes Bush with more frequency. Smart man.
At least we still have Gibson and Hannity.
September 1st, 2007 at 3:30 pm
Fox News Channel has always been, at best, a moderate network. It only looks conservative because of the alternatives. I want the facts reported without bias; therefore, Fox comes the closest of any network.
That said, I only watch Neil Cavuto, John Gibson and Brit Hume’s programs and Oliver North’s “War Stories”.
I cannot tolerate Shepard Smith, Bill O’Reilly, Hannity & Colmes, Greta Van Susteren, Geraldo Rivera nor Bill Hemmer.
I miss Linda Vester and wish she’d come back. She’s very intelligent and even-handed.
I wish Fox would give Michelle Malkin her own show instead of just subbing for “O’REALLY”.
September 1st, 2007 at 3:39 pm
dwic…..spot on about Michelle Malkin and the others you mentioned that you watch. As to the rest, including all the overly made-up news bunnies they keep regurgitating, they can have them. Just wish O’Reilly’s other part time replacement, John Kasich would get more time with them. Even replace O’Reilly. He wrote a book called “Stand for Something”, and he does.
September 1st, 2007 at 4:32 pm
WI, I agree with you about John Kasich. I have his book “Stand for Something” and it’s definitely worth the read. What the hell happened to his Saturday evening program “Heartland”? I enjoyed watching it. Doesn’t “Whoraldo” now occupy that time-slot?
September 1st, 2007 at 4:47 pm
John Kasich was once talked about as a presidential possibility. I was hoping at the time he would go for it because America needs someone like him in the White House. He would be damn good. But he dropped out of elected politics because of the nastiness in D.C., not only from across the isle, although he had many more friends on the left than enemies, but within the republican party. He just didn’t have the stomach for all the hypocrisy, posturing and backstabbing on both sides of the isle. FWIW, I commend him for that. He probably got cancelled from the Saturday night gig because he would call out conservatives as well as liberals when they were wrong. Then again, maybe he just wanted Saturday night for a pizza and beer with his family.