Posted on 09/10/2007 7:29:59 AM PDT by jdm
If Norman Hsu had been content to write $2,000 checks to Democratic politicians, he might still be living the good life in New York City instead of looking at as many as three years in a California state prison.
But despite being on the lam from a 1992 San Mateo County conviction for grand theft, the 56-year-old businessman moved up the political ladder after writing a 2003 check for presidential hopeful John Kerry to become a major - and highly visible - player in the fast-growing world of campaign contribution bundling, becoming a go-to money guy for Democrats across the country.
"His rise was meteoric," said Craig Holman, a campaign finance lobbyist for Public Citizen, a consumer rights group founded by Ralph Nader. "His bundling activity put him in the limelight, which he apparently enjoyed."
The practice of collecting checks from a variety of donors and presenting them "in a bundle" to a candidate has made Hsu and other amateur fundraisers increasingly important for candidates who need ever-growing amounts of campaign cash, especially in a 2008 presidential election where leading candidates are looking to raise more than $100 million each by the end of this year.
From 2003 until his arrest last month in the Bay Area, Hsu was a popular figure on the Democratic political circuit, hosting dinners and fundraising events for party notables and showing up smiling in pictures that had him standing with heavy hitters like New York Sen. - and presidential hopeful - Hillary Rodham Clinton.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
OK, so he's in good condition. Why no talk of when he'll be released? These days hospitals want patients in and out as quickly as possible. Today is his fifth day in this hospital. What's taking so long for him to be released?
There’s the whole extradition thing to deal with now as well. This won’t be a 60-minute TV show.
BTTT
I wonder if/when Hsu goes back to California, if he will be able to retrieve his 2M$ bail. Stories state that Federal charges will be dropped if/when he returns to Ca.
"Mr Hsu, Hillary sent me. I'm your universal health
care specialist. Let me help you into the back of my van."
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