Rendell to give Hsu money to charity

A number of prominent Democrats have scrambled to distance themselves from the fundraiser.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Ed Rendell said Thursday he has decided to donate to charity the nearly $40,000 he received from a disgraced Democratic fundraiser who was arrested later that day after failing to show up for a California court hearing.

Rendell had said last week he planned to keep the money he received from Norman Hsu, who was already wanted for failing to appear for sentencing on a 1991 grand theft charge, but would return it if California prosecutors won a “sustainable conviction” in the case.

On Wednesday, Hsu skipped a bail hearing, and a judge issued a new warrant for his arrest. He was taken into custody Thursday at a hospital in Grand Junction, Colo., said an FBI spokesman who declined to elaborate on the circumstances of the arrest.

“Though Norman is my friend, and remains so, his failure to appear casts a new light on his assertions regarding the original case,” Rendell said in a statement. “As a result, I will follow other elected officials and donate the money he contributed to me to charity.”

A Rendell spokesman said he did not know specifically which charity would receive the money.

Re-elected

Rendell, who was re-elected last year and is barred from seeking a third term, received a total of $37,866 from Hsu in 2005 and 2006, according to state campaign finance records. Pennsylvania does not impose limits on campaign contributions.

The governor has said Hsu never asked for anything in return for his contribution. Rendell said Thursday that his earlier comment about keeping the contributions “was never about the money.”

“It’s about standing up for one of the principles of our judicial system — that a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty,” Rendell said.

House Minority Leader Sam Smith, R-Jefferson, has urged Rendell to relinquish the money.

“It’s unfortunate that it took Norman Hsu avoiding his responsibility in court twice before Ed Rendell finally decided to do the right thing,” Smith’s spokesman, Steve Miskin, said Thursday.

Rendell joins a number of other prominent Democrats who have scrambled to distance themselves from Hsu.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has said she plans to give to charity the $23,000 in donations she received from Hsu for her presidential and senatorial campaigns and to her political action committee, HillPac.

Massachusetts Sens. Edward Kennedy and John Kerry, California Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, and Rhode Island Rep. Patrick Kennedy are among the other high-profile Democrats who have said they plan to divest Hsu’s contributions in light of his legal problems.

Quotable

The growing flap over Hsu’s contributions prompted Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd to release a statement Thursday vowing “to refuse to accept or possess campaign contributions raised, solicited, or delivered by fugitives from justice.”

“I understand that it is simply impossible for a presidential campaign to know everything about its donors and raisers,” said Dodd, a Connecticut senator. “However, once criminal activity of this sort — being a fugitive from justice — comes to the candidate’s attention, they certainly should not keep the money linked to those criminals. Indeed, all money raised by a fugitive from justice is irreparably tainted.”

California authorities said Hsu pleaded no contest to a single felony count of grand theft in 1991 but failed to appear in court for sentencing. Hsu was accused of collecting about $1 million from investors by falsely claiming he had a contract to import latex gloves.

Hsu has said he believed he had resolved his legal issues, but that he would halt his work raising political money.