This comes to us from the Los Angeles Times, which reports donors in the poorest, most dilapidated areas in Chinatown are, in some cases, donating the maximum amount possible to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. It's hard to not think of the Norman Hsu fundraising scandal when reading this piece:
Dishwashers, waiters and others whose jobs and dilapidated home addresses seem to make them unpromising targets for political fundraisers are pouring $1,000 and $2,000 contributions into Clinton's campaign treasury. In April, a single fundraiser in an area long known for its gritty urban poverty yielded a whopping $380,000. When Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) ran for president in 2004, he received $24,000 from Chinatown.
Disturbingly, some of these donors can't be found:
The tenement at 44 Henry St. was listed in Clinton's campaign reports as the home of Shu Fang Li, who reportedly gave $1,000.A tenant living in the apartment listed as Li's address said through a translator that she had not heard of him, although she had lived there for the last 10 years.
A man named Liang Zheng was listed as having contributed $1,000. The address given was a large apartment building on East 194th Street in the Bronx, but no one by that name could be located there.
In the busy heart of East Broadway, beneath the Manhattan Bridge, is a building that is listed as the home of Sang Cheung Lee, also reported to have given $1,000. Trash was piled in the dimly lighted entrance hall. Neighbors said they knew of no one with Lee's name there; they knocked on one another's doors in a futile effort to find him.
Salespeople at a store on Canal Street were similarly baffled when asked about Shih Kan Chang, listed as working there and having given $1,000. The store sells purses, jewelry and novelty Buddha statues. Employees said they had not heard of Chang.
Another listed donor, Yi Min Liu, said he did not make the $1,000 contribution in April that was reported in his name. He said he attended a banquet for Clinton but did not give her money.
A donor who was located didn't have the legal status to make a donation:
One New York man who said he enthusiastically donated $2,500 to Clinton doesn't appear to be eligible to do so under federal election law. He said he came to the United States from China about two years ago and didn't have a green card.
So who are these people, and where did the money come from? And why is it that so many of these campaign finance discrepancies always involve Asians?
Allahpundit asks:
Two exit questions for you, one of which has already largely been answered in Norman Hsu's case but which resurfaces here anew. One: When is Obama going to take off the gloves on this issue? He's uniquely positioned to risk alienating a "minority community" by asking some tough questions, and his polls are near the point where he's got little to lose. And two: Where's the money coming from?
Perhaps Obama doesn't want to push this issue because doing so would attract the kind of attention to his campaign finances that he would like to avoid.
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Filed under:
2008 Presidential Race, Hillary Clinton
Comments (17)
Waiting for the accusations... (Below threshold)1. Posted by Jay Tea | October 19, 2007 12:27 PM | Score: 7 (9 votes cast)
Waiting for the accusations that the investigators were "stalking" and "harassing" these poor minority people in 5... 4... 3...
J.
1. Posted by Jay Tea | October 19, 2007 12:27 PM |
Score: 7 (9 votes cast)
Posted on October 19, 2007 12:27
2. Posted by pennywit | October 19, 2007 12:33 PM | Score: 3 (7 votes cast)
This is all irrelevant to the Clinton victory campaign. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.
--|PW|--
2. Posted by pennywit | October 19, 2007 12:33 PM |
Score: 3 (7 votes cast)
Posted on October 19, 2007 12:33
3. Posted by Matt | October 19, 2007 12:58 PM | Score: 6 (8 votes cast)
I'll bet that the ones that couldn't be found will vote on election day.
3. Posted by Matt | October 19, 2007 12:58 PM |
Score: 6 (8 votes cast)
Posted on October 19, 2007 12:58
4. Posted by mantis | October 19, 2007 12:59 PM | Score: -8 (10 votes cast)
Knocking on doors and asking people questions is not stalking and harassing, Jay. Digging up details of people's lives for the sole purpose of dishonestly defaming them without even talking to the people is something else (it's not really stalking either, but "being a creepy, vindictive asshole" doesn't rhyme with Malkin). ;)
4. Posted by mantis | October 19, 2007 12:59 PM |
Score: -8 (10 votes cast)
Posted on October 19, 2007 12:59
5. Posted by charlie | October 19, 2007 1:07 PM | Score: -5 (7 votes cast)
Waiting for Jay Tea to denounce this "flawed and distorted" LAT report as "unfounded" and "typical liberal-biased" news from one of the leading organs of the MSM.
Afterall, the LA Times has been roundly unmasked on the rightie blogosphere world as incapable of reliable honest news coverage.
5. Posted by charlie | October 19, 2007 1:07 PM |
Score: -5 (7 votes cast)
Posted on October 19, 2007 13:07
6. Posted by Darleen | October 19, 2007 3:44 PM | Score: 5 (7 votes cast)
The tenement at 44 Henry St. was listed in Clinton's campaign reports as the home of Shu Fang Li, who reportedly gave $1,000.
A tenant living in the apartment listed as Li's address said through a translator that she had not heard of him, although she had lived there for the last 10 years.
Wait a minute. The reporter actually went to the address? And talked to another tenant??
STALKER!!! STALKER!!!! HARASSER!!!
/malker-derangment-syndrome
6. Posted by Darleen | October 19, 2007 3:44 PM |
Score: 5 (7 votes cast)
Posted on October 19, 2007 15:44
7. Posted by Baggi | October 19, 2007 3:53 PM | Score: 3 (5 votes cast)
The sad part about all of this is no one really cares. We already know how corrupt the Clintons are.
However, most of the people who really get worked up about this sort of stuff are Liberal Democrats. If President Bush flubs a line in an address to the nation, it makes news for weeks and is entered into some sort of liberal hall of shame to prove the talking point that he's a moron. Take for example the list that was going around a few weeks back about all the Republican scandals (big and small) that just proved to all the liberals out there how corrupt Republicans were. They had mayors on the list, city council members, any Republican in the nation they could dig up. And then of course, they would contrast this to the 90k found in the freezer as if that was a valid comparison.
Obviously if we Conservatives got just as worked up, we could make our own list that would probably be longer than the one they came up with. But really, we don't care.
Conservatives seem to be for the most part, happy folk. The only thing that they tend to get worked up over is illegal immigration. We're all a little weary of the whole Clinton saga of the 90's and every new piece of corruption about the Clintons is met with a large shrug. Not just the Clinton's either, there never seems to be any punishment for Democrat corruption and so we just don't bother with it anymore.
The only way to expose the Clinton's and their illegal activities is to find a way to get an R next to their name. They'd be put in jail next week if that happened.
7. Posted by Baggi | October 19, 2007 3:53 PM |
Score: 3 (5 votes cast)
Posted on October 19, 2007 15:53
8. Posted by Master Shake | October 19, 2007 5:55 PM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
And "lying pile of excrement" doesn't rhyme with "Mantis".
;)
8. Posted by Master Shake | October 19, 2007 5:55 PM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on October 19, 2007 17:55
9. Posted by Paul Hooson | October 19, 2007 6:18 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
With one donor from column A, and one donor from column B, you get free egg roll.
9. Posted by Paul Hooson | October 19, 2007 6:18 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on October 19, 2007 18:18
10. Posted by SATerp | October 19, 2007 9:24 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Hillary's counting on having her own hand picked Attorney General, and a sympo-Dem Congress to help avoid looking into these issues. Unfortunately, probably a good bet.
10. Posted by SATerp | October 19, 2007 9:24 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on October 19, 2007 21:24
11. Posted by Robert | October 20, 2007 3:43 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I find it hard to believe her biggest donors are not corporate.
-----------------
"Conservatives seem to be for the most part, happy folk."
Please tell me you were kidding with this line. Change "happy" to "paranoid" and you might be on to something.
11. Posted by Robert | October 20, 2007 3:43 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on October 20, 2007 03:43
12. Posted by kim | October 20, 2007 8:18 AM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
I think the Frosts' three shiny new cars drove mantis around the bend.
========================================
12. Posted by kim | October 20, 2007 8:18 AM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on October 20, 2007 08:18
13. Posted by BR | October 20, 2007 9:54 AM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Let Dragon Gate explode.
13. Posted by BR | October 20, 2007 9:54 AM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on October 20, 2007 09:54
14. Posted by SPQR | October 20, 2007 11:28 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Hillary Clinton - the Manchurian Tong's Candidate
14. Posted by SPQR | October 20, 2007 11:28 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on October 20, 2007 23:28
15. Posted by BR | October 21, 2007 7:41 AM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Very well said, SPQR.
From my reading, it seems the Fujianese (or Fukienese) gangs have taken over the traditional chinatown tongs and these Fujianese have more direct ties to Beijing, financially and operationally.
For example:
Triad Society
More
Note - John Huang - also Fujian.
(1997 Chinese spy and operative in Commerce Dept. and fund raising scandal.)
Huang
And see John Huang and Charlie Trie (Clinton's Chinese case officer as Gov. of Arkansas) here:
BlackstoneGroup
Norman Hsu - Fujian
Have we already forgotton the 40 Million Dollar Ponzi Scheme of last month?!
Wizbang Link
Al Gore's Buddhist Monastery fund raising - Fujian connections
Al Gore and Clinton's accelerated green card program, probably wasn't only for South Americans. What was that called again, something like "ACT"? Apparantly, the influx of Chinese from Fujian has been enormous.
15. Posted by BR | October 21, 2007 7:41 AM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on October 21, 2007 07:41
16. Posted by BR | October 21, 2007 7:51 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Wizbang link is here:
http://wizbangblog.com/content/2007/09/12/hsu-and-the-40-million-ponzi-scheme.php
16. Posted by BR | October 21, 2007 7:51 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on October 21, 2007 07:51
17. Posted by vision | October 21, 2007 10:30 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Hillary's Chicago style fund raising?
17. Posted by vision | October 21, 2007 10:30 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on October 21, 2007 22:30