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A co-founder of the anti-war group Code Pink, which has made a name for itself by interrupting hearings on Capitol Hill, is a fundraising bundler for Barack Obama. Jodie Evans has pledged to raise at least $50,000 for Obama, according the Democrat's campaign site. According to research being circulated by GOP sources, Evans has a record of inflammatory statements such as saying that women were better off in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, "Men are dying in their Hummers in Iraq so you can drive around in yours" and, my favorite, that the invasion of Iraq amounted to "global testosterone poisoning."...

Federal prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into a Washington-area donor to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, investigating whether he illegally reimbursed other contributors. The case is similar to one brought last year against Norman Hsu, a New York businessman who was indicted in November on charges of paying associates for donations to the New York senator. The Clinton campaign ultimately returned more than $800,000 raised by Mr. Hsu, who was also accused of cheating investors out of millions of dollars. The new investigation centers around contributions last year by William Danielczyk, chairman of Galen Capital Corp., a northern Virginia private-equity...

If and when the time comes to perform the autopsy on Hillary Clinton's campaign, some will trace the start of its demise back to the Norman Hsu episode. Others will ask, "What's a Norman shoe?" Eight months ago, on August 28, 2007, Brody Mullins of the Wall Street Journal broke the Yuan Yuen (AKA "Norman") Hsu story in his article about how a Chinese family named Paw, leading a humble life-style in San Francisco, had contributed considerable monies ($284,799) to Democrat politicians. And so began the end of Norman Hsu's grand Ponzi scheme - if that's what is was. On...

Democratic rivals mum on firm’s dirty cashMar 20, 2008 3:00 AM (17 hrs ago) by Quin Hillyer, The Examiner WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has received more campaign money from disgraced lawyers at the controversial Milberg Weiss law firm than any other member of Congress, but she won’t say whether she’ll keep the contributions. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, Clinton’s chief rival for their party’s nomination, received much less money from the same lawyers but is likewise mum. Clinton received $21,971 and Obama $5,300 from four senior partners of the firm or their spouses. Presumptive Republican nominee John...

ALBANY — On Dec. 3, Richard P. Richman, a real estate developer from Connecticut, wrote a check to Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s campaign account. The check was for $10,000, less than one-fifth of the maximum donation allowed under New York State law. But it was all he could give to the governor, who had imposed strict limits on what he would accept from donors as part of his highly publicized pledge to end the excesses of special-interest money in Albany. So Mr. Richman took out his checkbook again. This time he gave $15,000, but sent it to the state Democratic Party,...

Pakistani immigrant Abdul Jinnah may go away for as long as five years for filling Senator Clinton's campaign coffers in a very familiar way. LOS ANGELES (CNS)  -- A Northridge businessman has pleaded guilty to funneling tens of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions to Senators Hillary Clinton and Barbara Boxer. Abdul Rehman Jinnah admitted reimbursing employees and others for contributions made in their names. There is a $2,000 cap on individual contributions to candidates. Jinnah faces up to five years in federal prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines when he's sentenced on June 2nd. The...

Mary Landrieu’s hypocrisy and alleged corruption continues to rear its ugly head this cycle. Next on the list of questionable Landrieu campaign tactics and decisions – taking $1,500 from Jane Kuo (PDF), who is associated with Tai Shen Koi (when giving political contributions, both use the same addresss) who was arrested in conjunction with a Chinese espionage case yesterday. Admittedly, this donation occurred during Landrieu’s first run for Senate, but taken into account with the string of more recent and ongoing questionable political activities and decisions by Landrieu, it is leading some people to sense a pattern developing. Some notable...

It's not that we expect politicians to have squeaky-clean donor lists. You try running for office without, at one point or another, taking money from someone you probably shouldn't. Even Barack Obama, Mr. Clean, has Tony Rezko. But the Frank Giustra-Kazakhstan-Uranium affair, blown open by The New York Times last week, serves as a reminder that the relationship between the Clintons and money has not always been lily-white. Here, a guide to the unsavory characters who have been associated with Bill and Hillary Clinton. THE DONOR Norman Hsu, Hong Kong "apparel executive." THE GREEN Hsu bundled more than $850,000 for...

Barack Obama challenged over 'slumlord' tiesBy Philip Sherwell in Chicago Last Updated: 1:12am GMT 27/01/2008 Barack Obama and Joann Larkins live less than a mile apart in Chicago's predominantly black South Side, but they inhabit very different worlds. What connects her squalid flat and his colonnaded mansion is Antoin "Tony" Rezko, the former Obama donor and friend, who goes on trial for corruption next month - and was denounced as a "slum landlord" by Hillary Clinton in a dramatic and bitter exchange during last week's Democratic presidential debate. Mr Obama’s past ties to the Syrian-born property developer, a well-known figure...

Time for Obama to come cleanTo dismiss Rezko as 'somebody who I knew' just isn't going to cut it January 24, 2008 BY MARK BROWN Sun-Times Columnist Barack Obama just keeps bobbling the Tony Rezko hot potato, and if he doesn't get a handle on it soon, his campaign for the presidency is going to be badly burned. On Wednesday, the Illinois senator fumbled again as he continued to try to minimize his relationship with Rezko while making the rounds of the morning news shows. "My relationship is he was somebody who I knew and had been a supporter for...

SAN FRANCISCO — Norman Hsu, the shamed political powerbroker and Democratic donor, was sentenced Friday to...

AUSTIN, Texas - Authorities raided the offices of an influential Democratic donor on Friday, prompting accusations by the donor's attorneys that the raid was politically motivated. The state attorney general's office said it was assisting the Nueces County district attorney in the criminal investigation of Mauricio Celis, 36, who has given money to major Democratic candidates including Hillary Clinton and is the subject of numerous ongoing lawsuits and charges. Attorney General Greg Abbott, a Republican, sued Celis in November, accusing him of practicing law without a license. Agents from Abbott's office were among those involved in the Friday search of...

Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu, indicted by a federal grand jury in New York in September on separate charges of violating campaign-finance laws and overseeing a massive $60 million fraud, was sentenced yesterday in California to three years in prison in a 1991 case. Continues...=============================================================== The Womanchurian Candidate August 17, 2007 "JohnHuang2" Democrats are preparing 'The Best Tax Increase In American History!' The Clintons are having a Chinagate scandal. O.J. just got arrested. Hillary's plugging her health plan. Question is, can Bob Dole beat Bill Clinton in November? Oops, sorry. Thought for a second there we were back in the 90s....

Sen. Hillary Clinton went on the counterattack today, one day after a stinging defeat in the Iowa caucuses to Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. She said New Hampshire voters need to take a hard look at Obama, suggesting that they shouldn't just buy into his message of "hope" without analyzing his policies. Clinton said she wasn't suggesting anything in particular about Obama, but simply "drawing contrasts." "I'm running on my record. … I'm running on my plans," Clinton told reporters. "I think everybody needs to be vetted and tested. That's the way elections are supposed to operate. The last thing the...

REDWOOD CITY, California (AP) -- A former fugitive captured in Colorado has been sentenced to three years in prison -- after a judge rejected his bid to throw out a 16-year-old fraud conviction. Norman Hsu was convicted of fraud 16 years ago. Attorneys for disgraced political donor Norman Hsu had asked Judge Stephen Hall to dismiss his 1992 no-contest plea, saying Hsu's right to a speedy trial was violated because authorities were not actively pursuing him during his years as a fugitive.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — A judge on Friday sentenced disgraced political donor Norman Hsu to three years in state prison after rejecting the one-time Democratic rainmaker's bid to throw out a 16-year-old fraud conviction. Hsu's lawyers had asked Superior Court Judge Stephen Hall to dismiss his 1992 no contest plea, arguing his right to a speedy trial was violated because authorities weren't actively pursuing him during his years as a fugitive. They could easily have arrested Hsu, his lawyers argued, at one of the fundraisers he hosted in California for prominent local politicians. Hsu also faces federal fraud charges in...

Redwood City, Calif. (AP) -- A judge on Friday sentenced disgraced political donor Norman Hsu to three years in state prison after rejecting the one-time Democratic rainmaker's bid to throw out a 16-year-old fraud conviction. Hsu's lawyers had asked Superior Court Judge Stephen Hall to dismiss his 1992 no contest plea, arguing his right to a speedy trial was violated because authorities weren't actively pursuing him during his years as a fugitive. They could easily have arrested Hsu, his lawyers argued, at one of the fundraisers he hosted in California for prominent local politicians. Hsu also faces federal fraud charges...

A judge has ruled that disgraced political donor Norman Hsu's 16-year-old plea to a fraud charge remains in effect, meaning the one-time Democratic rainmaker is likely headed to state prison. Superior Court Judge Stephen Hall rejected Hsu's bid Friday to dismiss his 1992 no contest plea, and was set to sentence him to three years in state prison. Hsu also faces federal charges in New York. Hsu's lawyers asked the judge to toss his plea, arguing his right to a speedy trial was violated because authorities weren't actively pursuing him during his years as a fugitive. They could easily have...

IOWA ANTHEM Oh, Hillary, oh, Hillary...you thought you'd make history Oh, Hillary, oh, Hillary...you are evil as can be We saw right through your phoniness Your crimes it's time that you confess Oh, Hillary, oh, Hillary...go away now, quietly

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