Hillary leads in donor give backs

Washington Times:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign has cut nearly $1.3 million in refund checks to hundreds of donors since July 1 — more than triple what the rest of the Democratic field returned to supporters combined, new campaign filings show.

Mrs. Clinton returned nearly 700 contributions to individual donors, including $804,850 to 249 donors linked to disgraced Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu.

Several donors contacted yesterday declined to discuss why they received refunds. A woman who answered the phone number registered to San Francisco donor Wai King Yeung, to whom the Clinton campaign reimbursed $4,600, said she did not speak English.

Mr. Hsu was charged last month in federal court in New York with running a massive Ponzi scheme. A major Democratic fundraiser, the New York businessman also faces charges he contributed to various campaigns using straw donors as a front, threatening investors if they did not support his favored candidates.

Howard Wolfson, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, yesterday said the campaign "acted out of an abundance of caution" in returning the money.

"We had no knowledge that these individuals made donations using Mr. Hsu's or anybody else's money," Mr. Wolfson said. "But we decided to return the money."

Campaigns return donations for a host of reasons, from correcting accounting mistakes to trying to control potential political fallout, said Bradley Smith, a former commissioner for the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

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They have all sent back varying amounts of money, but Hillary Clinton has received the most contributions from suspect sources and thus had to make the most refunds. The story does not discuss any contributions to charitable causes of suspect funds from donors like Hsu, although that is what Clinton said she would do with his donations. It is also not clear that some of the funds returned to what may have been nominee donors may have come from Hsu who apparently stole most of his money in a Ponzi scheme swindle.

Suitably Flip questions whether Clinton has made a full refund to all the Hsu donors. Apparently no refunds have been sent from her senate campaign committee. The LA Times has more on the donors not getting their contribution back. This is a political mistake. If there is more discussion on this issue she will have to refund the senate donations too. Otherwise she risks looking like slick Hillary.