Since then reports have accumulated about some of the other ethically challenged patrons in their camp. There is the spectacular Hsu, and such picturesque figures as William Paw and his son, Winkle Paw, middle-class Americans of murky Asian ancestry who suddenly had hundreds of thousands to contribute. There is Vinod Gupta, CEO of InfoUSA, who after donating millions to various Clinton campaigns was unceremoniously removed from this one after it was reported that his company was being investigated for questionable dealings with the elderly. There is the founder of the Bombay Palace restaurant chain, Sant S. Chatwal. He has raised millions of dollars for Hillary Clinton's campaigns while facing bank fraud charges in India and contending with bankruptcy and tax liens amounting to millions of dollars on two continents.
In its announcement this week, the Clinton campaign promised to run criminal background checks on those who raise large amounts for it. Well, I suggest scrutinizing those Bill gets money from, too. Three years ago at the Tavern on the Green, Bill served as pitchman for a little-known Internet search engine founded by Marc Armand Rousso. A former promoter of penny stocks, Rousso in the late 1990s pleaded guilty to stock fraud in the United States and was convicted of similar fraud in France.
No family in public life has so long a record of misbehavior as the Clintons. Often they get caught red-handed. Their record began in Arkansas and has continued on the national scene. According to anonymous Democratic sources, the Clintons were warned about Hsu but took the money anyway. Back in Arkansas, every gubernatorial campaign Bill Clinton ran was surrounded by either questionable donations or questionable bank loans or both. His two presidential campaigns featured illegal campaign donations, often from shadowy Asian fellows just like Hsu. Doubtless this behavior will continue.
Along with campaign-finance violations there are the Clintons' other scrapes with the law -- all go back to Arkansas and will continue as long as they are in public life. The Democrats could save themselves a lot of disappointments by finding a cleaner presidential nominee than Hillary. The press cannot be manipulated forever, can it?