Projo Politics Blog

Just as Hillary Rodham Clinton and several Democratic congressmen are doing, U.S. Sen. Jack Reed has given to charity the campaign contributions from a donor who, it was reported this week, was wanted on an arrest warrant for alleged grand theft in the early 1990s.

Several Democrats -- presidential candidates and congressmen -- were divesting themselves of money received from Norman Tsu, who was wanted by authorities in California, according to news reports. Tsu turned himself in today.

Both Reed and fellow Rhode Island Democrat, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, each received contributions from Hsu, online campaign finance reports show.

The New York Times reported this week that Clinton's presidential campaign is giving to charity the $23,000 it got from Hsu. And a Times article today, under the headline "Democrats turn from big donor who's fugitive," said campaigns around the country were returning Hsu's money.

As of this evening, it was not clear if Kennedy or his office had divested of the money or were looking into it. E-mails to Kennedy's chief of staff had not been returned.

Yesterday, Robin Costello, a Kennedy spokeswoman, said: "As of yet, it's not an issue."

A check of online filings with the Federal Elections Commission showed that Hsu twice gave $1,000 -- dated March 15 and June 28 -- to Kennedy's campaign. And Hsu twice gave $2,100 to the campaign on June 7, 2005, according to the filings.

Reed's campaign received a $2,300 donation and a $200 donation from Hsu on Feb. 28 this year.

Both Kennedy and Reed were named in different reports by national newspapers, including the Times and The Wall Street Journal, as having received contributions from Hsu.

Hsu's donations to Kennedy's campaign listed him as director of Next Components Ltd. once and director of Components Ltds the other times. The donations to Reed's campaign listed Hsu as director of Components Ltd.

Both company names were mentioned in a New York Times article today, which included a listing of many company names Hsu put on finance reports when donating to candidates.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

---