A Really Big Hsu...

[Update: The new post with more complete data, including municipal elections, is here.]

Democratic fundraiser, New York apparel baron, and recently outed fugitive Norman Hsu elected to turn himself in today to authorities in San Mateo, California.  Some of Hsu's political beneficiaries have been scrambling to divest themselves of Hsu's contributions, following the revelation that he was wanted in California for skipping out on an agreed-to 3-year prison sentence, following his conviction on investor swindling charges.

Specifically, those vowing to return Hsu's money or turn it over to charity include: Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Barack Obama (D-IL), Doris Matsui (D-CA), Joe Sestak (D-PA), Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), John Kerry (D-MA), Al Franken (D-MN), Bill Richardson (D-NM), and Patrick Murphy (D-RI). [Update: Shep Smith tells us Ted Kennedy has also pledged to disgorge himself of Hsu's contributions.  As detailed in the second chart below, Teddy's one of the many whose receipts from Hsu's shady network far outweigh Hsu's direct contributions, so we'll see whether Kennedy's planning to offload the whole questionable sum or just the official Hsu monies.  Clinton and Obama have elected to keep the shady bulk.]

Phew!  Washed our hands of that scandal.

"There's no way to keep the money," said Doris Chandler Duke, a former ambassador and a major Clinton supporter who belongs to the community of long-time, established donors. "The man may be cleared of all charges and it could blow out to sea, but in the meantime, you don't want to be associated with any donations that might be dishonorable."

Right.  Except it's not just Hsu's own contributions which tend to give off that odor of dishonorableness.  What originally brought Mr. Hsu to the forefront this week was not his fugitive status, but rather the curious patterns of political contributions attributable to various associates of Hsu's, some of whom appear to be of far meagerer means than their political lavishings would suggest.  Most notable was the case of the Paw family in California, who became Hillary Clinton's 3rd highest contributing household in the country, a "distinction" somewhat incongruent to their apparent economic posture.

Clinton and (as far as I can tell) thus far all of Hsu's other recipients have balked at the opportunity to disassociate with the larger Hsu debacle by ridding themselves of contributions from his associates which may - one is forgiven for supposing, and as the FEC is probing - have actually come from Hsu himself.  The pattern and timing of these contributions, in light of the financial wherewithal of some of the individuals involved, not to mention the swindling credentials of the ringleader and his soon-to-be incarcerated status, seem to be sufficient to cast a very harsh, ugly light on these other contributions.

To give you an idea of the scope, Clinton has vowed to turn over $23,000 in Hsu contributions to charity.  But including gifts from Hsu's associates, Clinton has raked in nearly $175,000 from this crew since 2004.  You can appreciate why she might be reluctant to part with that much warm, filthy lucre.

On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal published a list of contributions made (and raised) by Hsu since 2004.  Using the associates identified in that table as a starting point (the Paw family of California, the Lee family of Queens and Pennsylvania, the Su family of Long Island, and Peter Tan and Stanley Lim of California), I began to go through state and local campaign finance disclosures to see if Hsu's group had taken a shine to any other races.

Indeed, they have.

I'm still working to incorporate the municipal data, but below are the summary results of a nationwide scour of all state and federal campaign finance disclosure documents published since the 2004 cycle.  Already, you'll find 65 Democratic candidates (even one Republican(!), though he lost...) running for everything from State Assembly to President.  You'll find them running in 32 states.  You'll find 9 Democratic campaign committees and 10 Democratic state parties in the mix.

I wonder how long it'll take until they've all pledged to give up the ill-gotten geetch.

Immediately below are presented the top 11 recipients of Hsu's direct contributions and fundraising among the associates in question.  Below that, please to enjoy a table of the aggregate receipts of every state and federal candidate, ballot measure, state party, campaign committee, and advocacy group that has taken money from Hsu and his suspect network.

I'll be putting up more exhibits as I carve through the underlying data a little more, and there will be loads more to gaze upon once I've integrated the municipal data.  Loads.  Lodes, even.

With the state-level data added, we've now shot past $1.3 million.  The municipal data looks to drive the total significantly higher.  So stay tuned.

Once I've knocked it fully into shape and prettied it up for public display, I'll make available the Google spreadsheet with the raw data so you can do your own futzing with it.

Previously:
Hillary Vows To Give [At Least Some Of] Hsu Contributions To Charity
From Now On, When the Phone Rings You Say, "Vandelay Industries."
Hillary's Magwitch?