Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Politics

Presidential election 2008

WASHINGTON

Clinton, other Democrats to turn over donations from fundraiser

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton will give to charity the $23,000 in donations she has received from a fundraiser who is wanted in California for failing to appear for sentencing on a 1991 grand theft charge, a spokesman said Wednesday. The campaign did not plan to return any money Norman Hsu raised from other donors, spokesman Phil Singer said. Democrats including Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, Sen. Barbara Boxer of California and Senate candidate Al Franken of Minnesota said they would also divest their campaigns of Hsu donations. In a statement Wednesday, Hsu said he believed he had resolved his legal issues but said he would halt his work raising political money. Hsu collected about $1-million from investors by falsely claiming he had a contract to import latex gloves, according to prosecutor Ronald Smetana. Hsu pleaded no contest.

Also

Richardson donations: Contracting and development executives with a financial stake in a $400-million commuter rail system pushed by New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson have contributed thousands of dollars to his presidential campaign, according to federal campaign finance reports. Pahl Shipley, a spokesman for Richardson's campaign, said, "Contributions or support of any kind have no effect on decisions made by state agencies or the governor's office."

Group fined: America Coming Together, an independent political group allied with Democrats and heavily bankrolled by billionaire George Soros, has agreed to pay $775,000 to the Federal Election Commission for violations during the 2004 presidential campaign. The civil penalty, announced Wednesday, is the third-largest fine levied by the FEC. It found that ACT inappropriately used money raised outside federal election limits.

Uneven time?: Conservative media watchdog Media Research Center charged Wednesday that the network morning news shows have spent considerably more time this year on Democrats running for president than on Republicans. Network news executives rejected any suggestion of bias.

[Last modified August 30, 2007, 01:51:55]