NYT: Hillary Uncovered Chinatown Donations

From the absolutely shameless propagandists at the New York Times:

Clinton Returned $7,000, Campaign Says

By PATRICK HEALY
October 20, 2007

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign returned $7,000 in donations last spring that were linked to a fund-raising event in Chinatown in New York City, campaign officials said yesterday, acknowledging another instance where questionable donors came into Mrs. Clinton’s political orbit.

But unlike Mrs. Clinton’s trouble with the former fund-raiser Norman Hsu — whose extensive legal problems and dubious fund-raising practices came as a surprise — her campaign identified the concerns about the Chinatown fund-raising on its own, campaign officials said…

The Clinton campaign said that after the Chinatown fund-raiser in April, which raised about $380,000, aides conducted a standard review of the donor list: If donors’ stated professions seemed out of line with their donations — for instance, if a dishwasher gave $1,000 — the campaign sent letters asking them to affirm in writing that the money was their own.

In seven cases, with donations totaling $7,000, questions were raised, and those donors did not respond to requests to confirm their contributions. That money was then returned.

Clinton campaign officials said yesterday that they would look at any new information that suggested problematic fund-raising. But they defended their efforts to recruit Asian donors aggressively, and stood by the Chinatown fund-raiser.

“Asian-Americans in Chinatown and Flushing have the same right to contribute as every other American,” said Howard Wolfson, a campaign spokesman…

Campaign officials said yesterday that they could not ascertain whether the seven donations last spring were funneled from people other than the stated donors. That would be a violation of campaign finance law.

The organizer of the Chinatown event, Chung Seto, a former executive director of the New York State Democratic Committee, said yesterday that she knew of nothing improper about any donors at her event. Ms. Seto is a significant fund-raiser for Mrs. Clinton, campaign officials said.

No one has been disciplined as a result of the flawed donations, the officials said, and vetting procedures have not been altered.

What utter and shameless mendacity from the New York Times:

But unlike Mrs. Clinton’s trouble with the former fund-raiser Norman Hsu — whose extensive legal problems and dubious fund-raising practices came as a surprise — her campaign identified the concerns about the Chinatown fund-raising on its own, campaign officials said.

These Chinatown donations only became public because of yesterday’s article in the Los Angeles Times.

Behold what the LAT article quotes Hillary’s aides as saying:

Clinton aides said they were concerned about some of the Chinatown contributions.

“We have hundreds of thousands of donors. We are proud to have support from across New York and the country from many different communities,” campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson said. “In this instance, our own compliance process flagged a number of questionable donations and took the appropriate steps to be sure they were legally given. In cases where we couldn’t confirm that, the money was returned.”

Upon this very thin reed the New York Times decided it could re-write events to make Hillary Clinton out to be the real hero.

The same Hillary Clinton who shakes down money from Chinese gangsters, drug-runners and slave traders.

If donors’ stated professions seemed out of line with their donations — for instance, if a dishwasher gave $1,000 — the campaign sent letters asking them to affirm in writing that the money was their own.

Would it be too cynical to ask to see these letters? And to meet the Clinton staffers who have the time and the lingual abilities to write to these Chinese dishwashers?

Or did Hillary write the notes herself?

As was once her wont.

Related Articles:

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• Hillary Keeping $260K From Hsu "Associates"
• Shocker: Hillary Leads Fundraising Horse Race
• Complaint Says Hsu Reimbursed 2 Dem Donors
• WP Finds Past Shady Donors On Hillary's List
• Hsu Paid For Hillary Staff's Las Vegas Vacation
• Clinton Camp: Secret Service Doesn't Vet Donors
• Hsu Wrote "Suicide" Letters Blaming Obama
• Shocker: Hillary Would Like Returned Cash Back
• Questions About The Clintons' Indian Money Man
• Justice Dept Probing Hsu's Democrat Fundraising
• Indicted Hillary Fundraiser Fled US In March
• WSJ Uncovers Chinese Money Funnel To DNC