Hsu Surrenders; Campaigns Lick Wounds and Revisit Vetting

So many donors, so little time?
By Colleen Barry,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 1, 2007 9:09 AM CDT
Hsu Surrenders; Campaigns Lick Wounds and Revisit Vetting
Norman Hsu, center, leaves a San Mateo County jail with Jason Booth, left, and attorney Somnath Raj Chatterjee, right, in Redwood City, Calif., Friday, Aug. 31, 2007. Hsu, a top Democratic fundraiser wanted as a fugitive in California, turned himself in Friday to face a grand theft charge. After reports...   (Associated Press)

Fugitive financier Norman Hsu surrendered to a San Mateo, CA, court yesterday, and was released on $2 million bail, leaving political types to wonder how someone with an outstanding grand theft charge could slip under the radar of so many campaigns, especially the experienced hands who let him donate and raise more than $130,000 for Hillary Clinton, the LA Times reports.

Clinton aides plead the impossiblity of vetting more than half a milllion contributors, and  note that though Hsu was "a regular face" at fundraisers he never asked for favors. The fact that he gave to several other Democratic candidates also implied that others had vetted him. "There is a series of steps to examining donations when they come in," said Clinton's communications director. "These did not uncover this decade-plus-old warrant." (More Norman Hsu stories.)

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