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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (764622)	8/30/2007 3:39:15 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Clinton Defends Campaign Donations By Michael Grynbaum Commenting for the first time publicly about a disgraced donor, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton sent her best wishes to Norman Hsu, the wealthy Democratic fundraiser who turned out to be a fugitive. Just yesterday, her presidential campaign was forced to give away to charity $23,000 of his tainted donations. “Obviously we were all surprised by this news,” Mrs. Clinton said at a Manhattan press conference this morning, where she appeared with New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer to protest President Bush’s child health care policy. “We will continue to analyze all contributions and take action if that’s warranted.” And, she added, “I wish Mr. Hsu well in dealing with the problems he’s confronting.” Mr. Hsu is the New York businessman who once occupied a vaunted place among the Democratic fundraising elite. It was revealed this week that campaigning politicians weren’t the only lawmakers seeking Mr. Hsu: the state of California issued a warrant for his arrest over 15 years ago after he pleaded no contest to one count of grand theft in a 1991 fraud case. “When you have as many contributors as I’m fortunate enough to have, we do the very best job we can based on the information available to us to make appropriate vetting decisions,” Mrs. Clinton said. “This one was a big surprise to everybody.” As a number of reporters started to ask follow-up questions, Governor Spitzer stepped in to defend his colleague. “I don’t think we need more questions on that issue,” Mr. Spitzer said. He noted that political campaigns do their best to vet donors, then added: “I think it’s a fair question to ask: was Senator Clinton’s campaign or any campaign supposed to be doing better than the authorities in California who theoretically had an open warrant for this guy and they didn’t do anything? Come on guys, let’s get real.” The Wall St. Journal first reported questionable contributions Mr. Hsu had bundled for Mrs. Clinton from several members of an extended California family. The L.A. Times first disclosed his criminal record. Since 2004, Mr. Hsu wrote checks totaling $255,970 to a variety of Democratic candidates and committees. Our newspaper reported today that, even though he was a bundler for Mrs. Clinton, his largess was spread across the Democratic field, including $5,000 to the political action committee of Senator Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois and a rival for the Democratic presidential nomination. (He also contributed donations totaling $23,000 to New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson’s gubernatorial campaign.) Several politicians have now been scrambling to scour their records, and announcing that they’re contributing Hsu-connected money to charities.