Hillary's Norman Hsu scandal problem.

[Nitrogenica]

Poll question: Hillary's Norman Hsu scandal problem.

Will Hillary Clinton effectively defend herself against attacks tying her to former fugative Norman Hsu?

From: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/09/26/hsu_raised_big_money_for_clinton_supporters/

"Disgraced fund-raiser Norman Hsu did a lot more than just pump $850,000 into Hillary Clinton's campaign bank account: He also raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for local, state, and federal candidates who have endorsed Clinton or whose support she courted.

A major fund-raiser for Democrats since 2003, Hsu became one of Clinton's biggest bundlers - gathering scores of individual checks and sending them to her campaign. But since revelations last month that Hsu was a fugitive in a 15-year-old California fraud case, Clinton has said she would return the $850,000 she has taken from him and his associates.

In at least some cases, Clinton or her aides directly channeled contributions from Hsu and his network to other politicians supportive of her presidential campaign, according to interviews and campaign finance records. There is nothing illegal about one politician steering wealthy contributors to another, but the New York senator's close ties to Hsu have become an embarrassment for her and her campaign.

Last fall, as the Nevada governor's race was heating up, Clinton agreed to help raise money for Democrat Dina Titus, a prominent party leader in a state that holds a key early presidential caucus. Clinton arranged for Hsu, at the time a little-known New York apparel executive with no apparent reason to take interest in Nevada politics, to give Titus $5,000 on Nov. 3, according to a person with knowledge of Clinton's fund-raising.

And in February, when former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack ended his own White House bid, he was about $450,000 in the red. A month after dropping out, Vilsack endorsed Clinton, and Clinton agreed to help him retire his debts. (Both insisted there was no quid pro quo.)

Over the next few months, some of Clinton's biggest fund-raisers gave Vilsack checks, including Hsu, who kicked in the maximum allowable contribution, $2,300, on May 3 after attending an event organized by Clinton's campaign, Newsweek reported this month. An associate of Hsu's, Paul Su, chipped in $1,000 on the same day."

Will Hillary Clinton effectively fend off attacks from the right on this relationship with Hsu if she's our nominee?

[maddiejoan]

1. Will Obama be able to?

:shrug:

[mrJJ]

2. Hsu's $$ is still working for Clinton

Yes. Facts is that DLC member directed Hsu to Sen Obama's freshman campaign. Besides Clinton still has Hsu's money in her Presidential campaign.

A closer look at the political activity of those Hsu donors suggests their contributions to Clinton's presidential campaign did not mark their first donations to the senator from New York. Hsu's donors gave $256,945 to Clinton's senate campaign since 2005, and $40,000 to her political action committee, "Hill Pac" during that period.

Some of that money may have eventually found its way into Clinton's presidential accounts, because she transfered about $10 million from her senate fund into her presidential coffers.

Asked if the campaign was considering returning any of that additional money, campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson said the campaign was not. "We didn't keep track of the contributions in the same way so we do not know which contributions to credit to Mr. Hsu," Wolfson said.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2007/10/17/mosk_on_hrc.html