The events unfolding over top Democrat Party fund raiser, convicted felon and all around con man Norman Hsu have given the appearance, at least from the media machine, of having little importance. In 2005 ill famed lobbyist Jack Abramoff became the ire of the American Left and many traditional mainstream media outlets. Abramoff as the reader will recall was linked to several bribery scandals that most notably put former Republican Congressman Randall ‘Duke’ Cunningham of California behind bars and ended the political career of former House Majority Leader Republican Congressman Tom DeLay of Texas. Your author has previously argued that Abramoff, along with several other scandals, was the primary reason why the Republicans lost control of the Congress in 2006.
One would have to live in a cave not to have heard about Hsu and his seedy past. In short he was pled no contest to fraud in 1992 for bilking $1 million from investors in a what amounted to a Ponzi scheme. Hsu had other ideas and skipped town for the east coast. He emerged in Manhattan and went to work raising funds for Democrat Party heavyweights such as Senator Ted Kennedy of Chappaquiddick fame, his son Congressman Patrick Kennedy, Presidential contenders Senators Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
It isn’t so much that Democrats are linked to questionable fund raisers just think back to the 1990s when the Clintons courted Chinese officials in exchange for political contributions; no it is being reported even now and that being that Hsu appears to have been bilking other investors in similar scams. The Wall Street Journal reported today that Hsu scammed $40 million from investors in a fund managed by Joel Rosenman who is also known as the brainchild behind the Woodstock concert of 1969.
The strange journey of Hsu continues as allegations of his lavish lifestyle, no doubt facilitated by his sticky fingers, continue to roll off the presses. There is also the allegations, which have all but been proven in a court of law, that he siphoned funds close to a million dollars through a series of straw donors. This is where the Paw family of Daly City, CA comes into play as the family of average income proceeded to donate (launder?) $200,000 to Democrats.
While Hsu has been apprehended following one more attempt to slip from justice, it is the reaction from Democrats and the press that is most troubling. It wasn’t until a week or so after the Wall Street Journal ran with the story that only the New York Times devoted similar coverage. Rewind to when the Jack Abramoff story broke and the mainstream media went into hyper mode. They called for the head of the President, Vice President and attempted to convict DeLay before a trial. For the record your author was critical of DeLay pre Jack Abramoff.
After mounting pressure the Democrats, who are critical of the rich but have no problem accepting their donations thus only proving they are genuinely hypocritical, decided to give back the funds. It is what some have said or their actions since that has a cause for concern. From the Clinton camp, who dubbed Hsu as a ‘Hillraiser’ for his ability to siphon $850,000 in contributions, returned the funds but issued an condition that the contributions will be reaccepted if they are proven to be from legal sources. While Clinton sees the dollars as too sweet, Obama’s Presidential campaign top dog Mark Gorenberg was flattering when he revealed , "Despite it all, I still love the guy, despite everything you read, every experience I ever had with him was nothing but delightful, and I just scratch my head". It is only now that many of these politicians are considering having background checks on top contributors. What a concept!
Other mainstream media outlets have described the Hsu affair as an ‘embarrassment’, which is true, it also reeks of incompetence. Where is the criticism?
