Clinton Will Return More Money

Following last week's revelations about Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu, Clinton announced that she would give $23,000 donated by Hsu to charity. That is the amount Hsu directly gave to her presidential and senatorial campaigns and to her political action committee.

Now, Clinton has announced that all 260-or-so donors who contributed money due to Hsu's efforts will be receiving a refund. The amount comes to $850,000.

I think Clinton is in preemptive damage control. She fears (or knows) the results of the FBI investigation into straw donors. When the story breaks, she'll already be in position to distance herself from the fraudulent contributions.

The campaign claims that it is stepping up its efforts to do background checks on fundraisers, but I'll believe that when I see it. Republican candidates better be doing a good job screening their fundraisers. You can be sure that they are getting increased scrutiny from media types anxious to be able to say "See, Republicans do it too."

Clinton has been leading the Democratic response to the Hsu problem She announces that she's giving his donations to charity; 24 hours later most Democrats across the country announce the same. If Hsu did fundraising for any other campaigns, I expect they will continue follow her lead.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 10:33 PM

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