Hsu and Tennessee

Via Instapundit, the Influence Peddler reports that while the the Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service has decided to return their 75,000 dollar donation from "disgraced Democratic fund raiser Norman Hsu", the New School in New York City has not yet made a similar decision. He makes the point:

Rutherford suggests an inappropriate test for whether or not to return the money. Given in good faith or not, it's still stolen.

These scams sometimes get complicated. If Norman Hsu accepted 40 million dollars from the Woodstock Guy as reported the other day, then that money presumably could have been used to write all these checks to various and sundry Democrats and their pet projects, meaning it's either 1) stolen and inappropriately donated, or 2) a clever way for the Woodstock guy (or others) to funnel tons of money to Democrats or their pet projects.

Mr. Disgraced was quite active in Tennessee politics last year. He gave substantial sums to Harold Ford, Jr. and the Tennessee Democratic Party. Seems Mr. Hsu really wanted them to win down here, and it seems the locals aren't real happy about admitting mistakes:

Despite the revelation that most national Democrats are returning Hsu’s cash, the Tennessee Democrat Party has no intentions of returning the funds or donating them to charity.

If they've since changed their minds it's not making any news. However, with the way they're handling the Rob Briley matter (see previous post) this shouldn't come as a big surprise.

Any other ties? Only tangentially.

As everyone knows, Hsu was on the board of trustees of the New School in New York City. Oddly enough, the school's current director, former Senator Bob Kerrey (who once called Bill Clinton a very good liar), also shows up on the Board of an environmental advocacy group called the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Along with Kerrey, their board features such uber-environmental activists as Laurie David, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Robert Redford, all renowned scientists in their own minds.

Relevance to Hsu? Not sure, since we don't know all the recipients of his contributions. But it does relate to Memphis. NRDC is currently circulating a study suggesting the approaching apocalypse of air quality if we don't stop Bush-induced global warming, a future that might include widespread use of inhalers. Talk about the politics of fear.

Lots of dots to connect. The next major event is whether Hsu tries to post bail and escape again. Chances are he's so radioactive they'll make sure he gets sentenced and carted off. Matter of fact, the suicide attempt and hospital visit was probably a ruse to set him up for a 3 year sentence in the loony ward. He's a con man, after all.