TNR: With Friends like these...Everything you wanted to know about Clinton's shadiest donors"

[mod mom]

THE NEW REPUBLIC
With Friends Like These ...
by Marin Cogan, Melanie Mason, and Barron YoungSmith
Everything you ever wanted to know about the Clintons' shadiest donors.
Post Date Monday, February 04, 2008

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 Hillary's presidential campaign and $260,000 forClinton's Senate races.


THE SCANDAL
Hsu parlayed his charming, obsequious personality into a spot as one of the top twenty Democratic fund-raisers nationwide. Problem is, he turned out to be a convicted felon, on the lam since 1992 due to a grand theft conviction. Then, this December, Hsu wasindicted for running a pyramid scheme that defrauded investors out of at least $20 million and that made $25,000 a year in fraudulent political donations.


THE SLEAZE FACTOR (on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 somewhat sleazy and 10 stupendously so)
8. Hsu missed his initial (September 5) court date for the 1992 grand theft charge, only to be apprehended a day later on a train in Colorado; he was "freaked out," shirtless, shoeless, and holding a suitcase packed with Tiffany jewelry and $7,000 in cash. Now in federal custody, he confessed to running "phony" companies and leaning on investors to make political donations.

-snip

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=076fd56f-4aca-4683-a9d1-3c55d748946e

[cali]

1. Rezco! Rezco! Rezco!

Just wanted to get that out of the way.

[Bread and Circus]

11. You got that wrong, it's.....

REZKO REZKO REZKO REZKO REZKO REZKO REZKO REZKO !!!!

[ursi]

2. I don't understand how people forget what the Clintons did in the White House the last time

selling tickets to sleep in Lincoln's bedroom ...for starters.

[russian33]

5. oh my god, never thought i'd hear this one on DU

please, do continue...what else did they do? (hint: took out letter W out of keyboards, when leaving! trashed the place)...go for it!

[jakem]

38. they definitely left 'W' in the white house.

isnt that part of the problem?

[papau]

6. 70 million later we know "selling tickets to Lincoln Bedroom" is a lie -like all the others - except

consenting adults sex.

[mod mom]

8. NYT ('97): WH Had Ended System of Checking Foreign Guests

White House Had Ended System of Checking Foreign Guests

By TIM WEINER
Published: February 3, 1997

Ten years ago the Reagan White House adopted a rule about foreign businessmen, lobbyists and consultants who wanted to get in to see the President without the blessing of their embassies: they shouldn't.

But President Clinton's aides did not follow that rule. In their eagerness to raise campaign money, they invited friends of the President's fund-raisers -- including China's biggest arms merchant, favor-seeking Indonesian businessmen, a reputed Russian mobster and other dubiously credentialed dealmakers -- to meet with Mr. Clinton. Nor did the White House check the suitability of Americans invited by the Democratic National Committee to meet the President, allowing, among others, a twice-convicted felon to sip coffee with Mr. Clinton.

-snip

And that is why nobody on the White House political team saw fit to ask the National Security Council staff a year ago about a man named Wang Jun, who showed up on a guest list for a White House coffee with the President. The question of exactly how Mr. Wang got into the White House has a simple answer: ''Nobody ever asked anybody,'' a National Security Council official said.

So, at the behest of a tireless political fund-raiser from Arkansas, Charlie Yah Lin Trie, Mr. Clinton wound up sipping coffee with Mr. Wang, who runs the Chinese Government's weapons manufacturing and procuring agency, which is involved in secret arms deals around the world. These coffees for fund-raisers and donors began as a way to raise morale among party loyalists after the Democrats' disastrous showing in the 1994 election. By 1995, they became a way to reward big donors and prospect for new ones, according to Democratic fund-raisers.

-snip

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C01E2DC103DF930A35751C0A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

[Bread and Circus]

12. I don't think it was selling tickets, but it was a matter of giving access to the LBR for big donors

There's a subtle difference.

[redqueen]

14. Wow.

Just... wow.

[Bread and Circus]

16. This is what I've read. I thought it was common knowlege.

Even Gore got roped into some of the Clinton fund raising bullshit.

The Clintons are no saints m'lady. Much as you'd like to believe otherwise.

Go read about Mark Penn, get educated. kkthnxbye.

[redqueen]

18. "kkthnxbye." ?

Really?

Yeah, I know my history, thanks.

Heh... you're funny.

Good luck.

[redqueen]

13. It's really sickening how many DUers will parrot right wing spew around here.

[KoKo]

39. Bush has had a parade through the Lincoln Bedroom and in every office

of our government. Lincoln bedroom was exaggerated lies by RW of which the New Republic rag was part of.

[papau]

3. Other than sending donations in thrill - what did Hsu GET? - not a real estate deal? - perhaps NADA?

[mod mom]

10. Marc Rich got a pardon. How do you explain that one away? Was he deserving?

[papau]

40. yes he was deserving - I am in international tax - Rich did the accounting that all oil companys did

because the big eight accounting firms of the day told everyone to do so.

It was ruled fraud and and everyone had to pay 100's of millions in penalties - including Rich.

But Rich was not donating to the GOP at the time and the DA Rudolph Giuliani - yeah - that guy, charged him with a crime - the only person/company so charged. He fled the US and hired a GOP LAWYER (Cheney/Bush's Lewis "Scooter" Libby hired in 1985).

Clinton explained his decision by noting that similar situations were settled in civil, not criminal court, and cited clemency pleas from the king of Spain, Juan Carlos I and from Israeli government officials, including Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Clinton noted that U.S. tax professors Bernard Wolfman of Harvard Law School and Martin Ginsburg of Georgetown University Law Center concluded that no crime was committed, and that the companies' tax reporting position was reasonable. I

When the GOP had Federal Prosecutor Mary Jo White appointed to investigate she found nothing wrong and was replaced by James Comey. Though Comey was critical of Clinton's pardons, he could not find any grounds on which to indict him.

In sum - like everything else thrown at Clinton by the GOP - and by the media - there was nothing wrong done by Clinton.

[EFerrari]

41. An indictment? Isn't he in custody right now? n/t

[Yossariant]

4. I haven't read that any of their donors bought them their house.

[mod mom]

9. Denise Rich contributed $70,000 to Hillary's Senate campaign $ $450,000 to the Clinton presidential

library.

[Yossariant]

15. She still didn't buy them their house.

[mod mom]

17. $520,000 could have bought a house instead it allowed a criminal to be set free.

Did they ever return this money? Why won't they open the books to who has donated for the Clinton LibrarY?

Seriously, you don't have a problem with this? Do some research on Jackson Stephens (financier to both Bush & Clinton)

[Yossariant]

19. Donors to charities promised anonymity. Donate sometime. Nothing worse than buying the guy's house

[mod mom]

20. Giving a notorious fugitive a pardon is not worse? Are you kidding?

[Yossariant]

21. LOL! He didn't kill anybody, ya know. Behind every fortune, there's a "crime."

[mod mom]

23. Wow you sure have a low standard for justice-speaks mountains! nt

[Yossariant]

25. My standards don't go low enough to let them buy houses.

Apparently, yours do.

[mod mom]

27. Rich was also charged with a complex oil scam that exploited America’s energy crisis in early ’80s

Rich was also charged with a complex oil scam that exploited America’s energy crisis in the early ’80s. The 65-count indictment claimed he had secretly bought up millions of barrels of Texas crude oil then under strict price controls and relabeled the oil as decontrolled supplies, ultimately selling it on the open market for huge profits — reportedly $100 million.

And while 52 Americans were held hostage in Iran, Rich’s company allegedly made another fortune by trading with the Ayatollah Khomeini’s regime in violation of a strict American trade embargo.

Rich and his partner were then charged with failing to pay U.S. taxes on the profits.

The formal charges sounded like the case against gangster Al Capone: wire fraud, mail fraud, racketeering, trading with the enemies of the United States, and, of course, tax evasion.

-snip

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3071886

[Yossariant]

29. OK, this is getting more hilarious by the post. You do know that

we deliberately and systematically overthrew Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh, the democratically elected leader of Iran, and installed the Shah who crushed all political opposition in Iran.

We did it for the oil.

I'm seeing a pattern.

When the Iranian people finally revolted against the brutal Shah, installed by US, they captured our embassy personnel, keeping us out of it and paying us back.

Charges are not convictions.

[mod mom]

30. Did you know OBAMA USED HIS BOOK DEAL ADVANCE TO PAY FOR HIS HOUSE?

Before you go shouting off you might want to look up the facts. It really discredits your posts when you spew shit. Try quoting reliable sources, it lends credibility to information. Here you go in case you failed to read the facts posted previously:

The Chicago Tribune broke the story back in November. It begins in 2004 with Obama's $1.9 million book advance for The Audacity of Hope. In June 2005, Obama used the money to purchase a $1.65 million Georgian revival home on Chicago's South Side—$300,000 less than the asking price. On the very same day, Rezko, a Democratic Party fund-raiser and developer, bought the adjacent empty lot at the asking price from the same owner (the house and the lot were previously owned by the same person). Rezko, who had raised money for Obama and known him since the senator attended Harvard Law School, did not develop the empty lot. In January 2006, he sold a 1,500-square-foot slice of it to Obama for $104,000, a fair sum in that market.

Here's the question: Did Rezko orchestrate his same-day purchase of the lot at full price so that the seller would give Obama a break on the price of the adjacent house? Was Obama in on the deal? And did Rezko never intend to develop the lot, giving Obama a nice roomy side yard, a favor which he'd call in later?

Obama says he did talk to Rezko before the purchase, but only because a person who had renovated it for a previous owner had once worked with Rezko, who owns other properties in the South Side. He didn't arrange the joint purchase with him. He bought the house at such a good price, Obama has told the papers, because it was being unloaded in a "fire sale."

There's no evidence that the senator is fibbing or that the indicted fund-raiser asked anything in return for his neighborly behavior (though that might have been just a matter of time). Obama hasn't tried to change his story, even though Rezko is now talking to investigators.

-snip
http://www.slate.com/id/2155501

[Yossariant]

32. You're parsing an awful lot of words to explain how Rezko really didn't buy him his house.

I'm sure he'll be explaining it over and over, in depth and at length.

[mod mom]

34. Did you read the article? Where's your proof or is it more shooting off w/o facts?

[Yossariant]

36. Obama can explain Rezko's purchase of his house to his potential voters. Not me.

He can, and will, explain it all to those who might be thinking of voting for him.

[mod mom]

37. I really appreciate you kicking this thread with UNSUBSTANTIATED bs. It kicks

my info as well as your lack of.

peace.

:hi:

[mod mom]

22. So campaign contributions should be allowed to buy justice? More on Rich:

What was Marc Rich's alleged crime?
In 1983, Rich was indicted in federal court of evading more than $48 million in taxes. He was also charged with 51 counts of tax fraud and with running illegal oil deals with Iran during the hostage crisis.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,99302,00.html

[Yossariant]

24. WOW! So he wasn't even convicted of any crime. Shocker.

[mod mom]

28. GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT-Obama used BOOK DEAL ADVANCE for house purchase!

The Chicago Tribune broke the story back in November. It begins in 2004 with Obama's $1.9 million book advance for The Audacity of Hope. In June 2005, Obama used the money to purchase a $1.65 million Georgian revival home on Chicago's South Side—$300,000 less than the asking price. On the very same day, Rezko, a Democratic Party fund-raiser and developer, bought the adjacent empty lot at the asking price from the same owner (the house and the lot were previously owned by the same person). Rezko, who had raised money for Obama and known him since the senator attended Harvard Law School, did not develop the empty lot. In January 2006, he sold a 1,500-square-foot slice of it to Obama for $104,000, a fair sum in that market.

Here's the question: Did Rezko orchestrate his same-day purchase of the lot at full price so that the seller would give Obama a break on the price of the adjacent house? Was Obama in on the deal? And did Rezko never intend to develop the lot, giving Obama a nice roomy side yard, a favor which he'd call in later?

Obama says he did talk to Rezko before the purchase, but only because a person who had renovated it for a previous owner had once worked with Rezko, who owns other properties in the South Side. He didn't arrange the joint purchase with him. He bought the house at such a good price, Obama has told the papers, because it was being unloaded in a "fire sale."

There's no evidence that the senator is fibbing or that the indicted fund-raiser asked anything in return for his neighborly behavior (though that might have been just a matter of time). Obama hasn't tried to change his story, even though Rezko is now talking to investigators.

-snip
http://www.slate.com/id/2155501

[mod mom]

7. NAMES DISCUSSED: Marc Rich, Aaron Tonken, Yah Lin "Charlie" Trie, John Huang, James Riady,

Peter Paul, Sant Chatwal, IPA, Roger Tamraz, Jeffrey Epstein, John KH Lee, Pauline Kanchanalak, Ng Lap Seng, Abdul Rehman Jinnah, Ron Burkle.

[Binka]

26. Miss been here one weeks KNOWS ALL.

Don't speak the truth about Hillary & Bill. Because somebody bought somebody A HOUSE!!!!!!!! I can't wait for Obama to kick the fucking Clinton's off the map today. Fuck them. Send Chelsea to Iraq.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

31. Hey!

I like your style! :P :hi:

[FrenchieCat]

33. This shit is gonna hit the fan as soon as Hillary is chosen.......

It will 24/7....and issues will go buy-bye.

All of the Clinton a-new scandal dealing with the library and the foundation will start to bubble up. She said no new scandals.....the GOP will say, not so fast.

In addition, her 35 years of experience, including her less than a year working for the Children's Defend fund will be smacked down!

Republican President, here we come! :(

[KittyWampus]

35. Well, the Clinton's won't release their 2006 tax records. That's all you need to know.