Gillibrand, Murphy, Loebsack got cash from fugitive

As a host of boldfaced Democrat names scrambled to return campaign donations from a convicted felon on Wednesday, research by the Majority Accountability Project (www.majorityap.com) found that three more freshmen in the House of Representatives received campaign cash from California fugitive Norman Hsu.

Federal Elections Commission (FEC) records show that U.S. Representatives Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY; Patrick Murphy, D-PA; and David Loebsack, D-IA all received contributions from Hsu, who is wanted in California after failing to appear for sentencing in 1991. Hsu had earlier pleaded no contest to grand theft.

"He is a fugitive," Ronald Smetana, who handled the case for the state attorney general, told the Los Angeles Times. The Times article reported Hsu “agreed to serve up to three years in prison and then seemed to vanish.”

Following revelations of his criminal background, New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton announced she would donate to charity $23,000 in contributions received from Hsu. Hsu had been a major fundraiser for her Presidential campaign. Comedienne Al Franken, a Minnesota Senate candidate, and U.S. Representatives Mike Honda, Doris Matsui and Joe Sestak made similar pledges.

Hsu donated $2,300 to Franken, $6,100 to Matsui and $1,000 each to Honda and Sestak.

Additional research by majorityap.com found that Gillibrand received two checks for $2,300 each - a total of $4,600 - from Hsu on February 14, 2007. A month later, on March 31, Hsu gave Loebsack $2,000; with Murphy receiving $1,000 on May 18 as part of a joint fundraising committee with Sestak.

Hsu also gave $2500 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) on March 27, 2007.

U.S. Representative Tom Allen of Maine, who is currently running for the United States Senate, received $1,000 in March.

The L.A. Times explained that Hsu “began raising what added up to more than $1 million from investors, purportedly to buy latex gloves; investors were told Hsu had a contract to resell the gloves to a major American business. Prosecutors said there were no latex gloves and no contract to sell them.”

An earlier majorityap.com report led to U.S. Representatives Michael Arcuri, D-NY, and Tim Mahoney, D-FL, returning contributions from an attorney who was under a 20-count federal indictment. The lawyer later cut a deal with federal prosecutors.