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Clinton Campaign Will Keep Contributions

August 28, 2007
By Leslie Wayne
thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com

The Clinton campaign said today that it saw no reason to return donations from two major campaign contributors whose donations, according to the Wall Street Journal, closely track one another.


The Journal reported that a total of $200,000 in donations to Democratic committees and candidates from the Paw family of Daley City, Calif., and those of Norman Hsu, a wealthy New York businessmen who is a major Democratic donor and Clinton fund-raiser, had sometimes taken place about the same time.

The article also said the Paw family lived in a modest house and raised questions about their ability to make such large donations.

But Lawrence Barcello, an attorney for Mr. Hsu, denied any suggestions that the Paw family donations had indeed come from Mr. Hsu rather than the Paws.

Mr. Barcello said that the Paws and Mr. Hsu have known each other for at least a decade, after Mr. Hsu began to shop at a store in a Burlingame, Calif., hotel run by Alice Paw, the family matriarch. The attorney said that, despite the family’s modest house, they have the financial wherewithal to make large contributions. Mr. Hsu had also become close to one of the Paws’ sons, Winkle, and the two have done business deals together, according to Mr. Barcello.

“Norman Hsu is a long-time Democratic fund-raiser for a variety of committee sand candidates,” said Mr. Barcello. “He asks colleagues for support, which is what every fund-raiser does. The Paws have the financial resources to make contributions and no one reimbursed anybody.”

Winkle Paw, one of four grown children in the family, told the newspaper: “I have been fortunate in my investments and all of my contributions have been in my money.”

Mr. Barcello said Mr. Hsu is a “bundler,” or a person who holds fund-raisers and collects campaign donations from other contributors. For that reason, many of the checks “bundled” by Mr. Hsu all have the same contribution date.

In response to question about the Journal story, Howard Wolfson, a Clinton campaign spokesman, repeated a statement he had made earlier.

“Norman Hsu is a longtime and generous supporter of the Democratic party and its candidates, including Senator Clinton. During Mr. Hsu’s many years of active participation in the political process, there has been no question about his integrity or his commitment to playing by the rules, and we have absolutely no reason to call his contributions into question or return them.”

Mr. Wolfson said the campaign also saw no reason to return contributions from the Paw family.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/28/clinton-campaign-will-keep-contributions/