Tracking the friends of Norman Hsu Update Taking on Asian-American race-card players
Update 9:15am Eastern 9/5. My column today is about Hsu and the Democrats’ funny money. I take on the Asian-American groups who are doing exactly what they did during Chinagate in the 1990s–play the race card.
While the campaign finance reform crowd ducks under the table, there is one vociferous group making noise. Like clockwork, Asian-American groups were first out of the gate protesting public scrutiny of the foreign donors and whining about profiling. Deja vu all over again. “It would be wholly inappropriate to link this in any way to the ’96 campaign cycle investigations, just because both involve Asian-Americans,” Lawrence Barcella, a lawyer for Hsu, who is a top donor to Hillary Clinton and other Democrats, told Politico.com.
No. It’s because both involve the craven Clintons, a trademark incuriosity about the backgrounds of big donors and a network of generous contributors of notably meager means.
Executive director of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund in New York, Margaret Fung, a prominent voice who decried every last newspaper story about convicted campaign finance felon John Huang during the 1990s, recycled her old talking points again: “It links Norman Hsu and the Paw family to other Asian-American donors in previous campaigns, solely because of their race. It insinuates that Asian-Americans are more prone to making improper donations and have been doing this for years. What is this obsession with Asian-American donors?”
What is this knee-jerk obsession with crying racism and wallowing in collective ethnic grievances? It’s not just about “Asian-American” donors. It’s about felon and fugitive donors of a rainbow of races and backgrounds. It’s about the Clintons’ — and the Dems’ — systemic corner-cutting, campaign corruption and double standards. There is a Chinese saying: “When you drink water, always think about the source.”
Peering into the poisoned well isn’t “racism.” It’s the duty of a responsible republic.
Update 640pm Eastern. Via HAHeadlines, Patrick Kennedy is keeping Hsu’s money.
Well, knock me over with a straw!
***
Over the holiday weekend, I pointed you to Flip Pidot’s excellent investigative post charting Norman Hsu’s campaign finance contributions. He’s done more digging and has a new report:
[I]t turns out there’s quite a bit more under the campaign finance rock than previously realized.
The Journal originally collected contribution data largely from federal campaign disclosures. After re-constituting that FEC data, I collected state-level campaign data from the National Institute on Money in State Politics, which served as the basis for the previous post. That tally totaled roughly $1.37 million in contributions to dozens of candidates since the 2004 cycle, slightly less than half of which were made by Hsu directly.
I’ve since added data from municipal elections (most of which turned up in New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco) as well as the most current data available in each state’s respective campaign finance database. Additionally, the NYC Campaign Finance Board collects “intermediary” data, which frequently identifies the bundler associated with a given contribution. This revealed three new individuals in Hsu’s network: Noah Yago, Youn Hadar, and Susan Chilman. While Yago’s and Hadar’s contributions appear to have been isolated incidents, a search for Chilman among the state and federal records turned up scores of additional donations. Totaling nearly $40,000 over three years, the size and timing of Chilman’s contributions frequently fit the suspicious patterns that have already led the FEC and the DOJ to investigate Hsu’s fundraising history. In the disclosure reports, Chilman lists herself as a self-employed actress. I’ve included Chilman’s contributions in the aggregate data, but not Yago’s or Hadar’s.
The grand total currently sits at roughly $1.6 million.
In the spirit of open-source blogging, Pidot has made his data available as a Google spreadsheet here.
The taint goes way beyond Hillary. Below is Flip’s chart of candidate recipients of the foreign funny money:
Do you have a public official/candidate who’s received Hsu-linked money? Will they be keeping it or unloading it? Let us know.
***
More:
Allah looks at that report tying Hsu and shady Clinton donor Bernard Schwartz.
Willisms coins a new term: “Hsu-icide.”
More smelly Billary funds, via Newsbusters.
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FIRST!
I don’t like ‘gotcha’ politics, but it does seem like the ‘most ethical congress ever’ has some issues with ethics. Pelosi isn’t on that list, but Reid is.
That list sure looks like it has many Democrats on it. It’s the who’s who of the party. I wonder why this isn’t a scandal for the MSM and liberal papers to cover?
Orlando – you answered your own question before you asked it:
Just take your last sentence,
and put it in front of your first two:
Isn’t there a $2,300 cap on annual single-party donations?????
Surprise, surprise.
Our tax-’em-to-the-hilt governor – Jim Doyle – is on the list.
Methinks the Governor’s office will be getting an e-mail this evening.
Not that Doyle really gives a hoot what I – a conservative who loathes his administration – think, anyway, mind you.
But I’ll try and report back.
And the only canidate I got on that list is Obama-yo’mamma…
I won’t even bother asking him what he’ll do with the money. I already know the answer.
He won’t answer.
I hope they make Hsu-shi out of this guy.
Here’s the e-mail I sent to Jim Doyle:
Rick has some interesting tidbits on Hsu Chi Mhin on his blog that I’m looking forward to some answers on.
rightwingnuthouse
Feinstein, Boxer and Brown My state hit the Trifecta!!! What a Shock! lol
and then I lost count at 16 others…. Arent we sooooo lucky here in the Golden State.
lots of well known names appear on that list … and most seem to be Dems … I will have to look more closely to be sure … but I am also impressed by one name that is not there … Joe Lieberman … as far as I am concerned the only now former Dem that I have any real respect for … and he just held on to that
If the goal is to clean up government, pointing out this scandal might not be a complete waste of time.
If the goal is to bring down Hillary or the democratic party, it will be an abject failure. “They all do it,” will be the mantra, along with pious calls for more campaign finance reform laws that the democrats will circumvent anyway.
Republicans can only win on policy. Going after Hillary’s scandals has never worked.
Respectfully,
eric
http://blacktygrrrr.wordpress.com/2007/08/20/hillaryplease-god-no/
hmmmmmm???????
Don’t expect this to get Abramoff-like coverage… at least until a Republican is found on the list of Hsu’s recipients.
In this case, I think I disagree with you. The whole weight of her past needs to come dragging right along with her. From Travelgate to Cattle Futures to Whitewater, this is the content of her character. Dick Morris says she will win because the casual voter, the disengaged voter, the housewives who watch Oprah, will turn out for her for some “feel-good” reasons. (She’s a woman. She’s against the corporations.)
Mr. Morris is probably right. The only way to counter that is to make sure that as many people as possible are reminded of just how shady, power mad, unscrupulous, and dangerous this woman is. That may sit some of those voters down come election day, and that just might be the salvation of our Republic.
There is one Republican on the list – Tom Gallagher, who received 0.06% of the total contributions. I’m a little surprised that hasn’t resulted in some headlines about the “bi-partisan scandal”.
Interesting name missing from the list: Charles Schumer. I see Hillary, Spitzer, Cuomo and both NJ Senators, but no Chuckie. Seems odd, no?
Excellent research.
Maybe the Justice Dept could take some time off from its obsessive focus on Republicans and spend a little effort looking into the Dems. There is plenty of smoke, at the very least.
You know, Al gore use to get money from Buddaist that looked like this dude. Maybe, he is a front man for the commies in China. A thank you to the Clintons for all the tech that as helped China upgrade their defence.
Bill and Hillary have been living a life of lies for so long, they are now unable to know the difference.
But for the fate of our country, I would feel sorry for them.
I see none of my state/fed reps on there.
NEVER SUBMIT
None of this will be deeply investigated in the MSM. The MSM wants a Hillary and Bill White House so bad they can’t stand it. The Blogs saved us from a Kerry White House and it will probably be The Blogs that will save us from a Hillary WH. Just saying “a Hillary WH gives me chills!!
Hillary is a female version of Nixon.
Stiff. Crooked. Weird. Diabolical. Surrounded by diabolicals.
I cannot, for the life of me, grasp what kind of brain this woman has rattling around in her noggin that could think she is even remotely qualified to be President of The United States.
What has she ever done in *government* except be a carpetbagging Senator *in* New York?
I think I’m gonna be sick.
Isnt there a Chinese breed of dog called a sh__ Hsu ?
Patrick Kennedy, not giving the money back? shocker.
A guy can’t always get happy hour prices ya know…especially when drinking 22 hours a day.
Kennedy might have large monetary needs for future car vs. concrete/ police cars/ guard shacks/ damage…
.
. One never knows.
.
.
Hey
PelosiPeloser, hows that first hundred days going?.
Pelosi : she DOES know how to lead corruption.
WHOA, Hillary is no where near as truthful as Nixon. 1/2 sarc/
Nixon was at least a patriot, he’s just the one that got caught.
At least one Democrat did the smart thing, and at least gave the money to a good cause:
CO Rep. Mark Udall Donates Hsu Contribution To The Colorado National Guard
And yet, the elections will be close – vote wise.
Go figure.
Heh.
What came to my musically inclined mind was Hillary and the Dem Gang singing the Phil Collins hit:
Hsu-ssudio oh oh
I feel so good if I just say the word
Hsu-ssudio, just say the word
Oh Hsu-ssudio
Personally, G Gordon Liddy beats Nixon for the title of “patriot”, but that’s just my opinion…
Well, only if he dissents more than Nixon did, swj. Remember, it’s dissent that’s really patriotic.
Okay, only if you’re attacking the US. Those who dissent against Chavez in Venezuela are obviously not patriots in that country. Same for those who dissent in Iran and the Iraqis who dissented against Saddam in Iraq.
(I don’t figure how that works, either.)
Whoa, this is serious. Alberto The Borderless is gone, and Bush will only investigate Republicans, so what happens?
Davidleerothman,
You are speaking from emotion, and Hillary is cold and logical.
Of course her scandals are important, but I am saying that tactic will fail. She will play the innocent victim, and it will work.
Her weakness is her policies. That is the only way to beat her. It does not matter that her personal life is one long scandal. We keep losing on that route.
Bill and Hill are narcissistic spoiled brats, but they are vulnerable on actual policy.
Respectfully,
eric http://www.blacktygrrrr.wordpress.com
Yup. e.g. her failed plan for socialized healthcare and their push for openly avowed homosexuals in the miliary were two defeats in just the very early Clinton years.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Hillary has an amazingly annoying harpy-monotone schoolmarm vocal parttern with which to scare off voters. Another plus: no one has told her yet that microphones and PA systems already ampliy the voice – no need to yell into them.
“Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Hillary has an amazingly annoying harpy-monotone schoolmarm vocal parttern with which to scare off voters.”
Frankly, her speech mannerisms transcend irritating and move into creepiness. I keep looking in the back rows for either a SciFi Channel film crew or aliens with dark glasses.
Indeed and I’m thinking that contrasted with Fred Thompsons’ way of speaking – or of any normal person’s – it would be of some impact on the voters.
(Fred’s a good example here, though, what with that cool baritone & all)
Michelle, I appreciate you coming out and attacking this attempt to characterize this as racism. You are the perfect person to do this – LOL, it will be hard for them to say you are racist on this issue. My Filipina wife and I thank you.
There was a time during the recent gubernatorial election when the Bee ran an above the fold bio on Phil Angelides.
He went straight out of college into working for the government in the HUD office. Somehow after 15 or 20 years of that he blossomed into full bore multi millionare.
Didn’t win the lotto.
Didn’t inherit from a rich uncle.
SO how much are they paying at HUD anyways?
He was lagging in the polls before the expose – lets face it going against Arnold is an uphill battle for anybody – but that resume of Angelides screamed corrupt democratic civil service lifer helping himself to big scoops of tax graft.
It was the nail in the coffin for Guber Phil.
He even had the nerve to say California had been so good to him that he felt an obligation to give some back.
Maybe he will get that chance, God willing.