Suitably Flip

Run, Norman, Run

A 3-year sentence imposed on Democratic bagman extraordinaire and Ponzi schemer Norman Hsu in the early 1990s inspired him to mount an impressively sustained 16 years on the lam (cleverly spiriting himself away in China, California, New York, Clinton fundraisers, Air Force One, etc.).

In addition to that as yet unserved sentence, Hsu has now been scheduled for an additional 24 years in prison, following his conviction on more recent fraud charges.  Seems like a good time to split.  Perhaps his "good friends" Bill and Hillary can accommodate one last time.

[Hsu lawyer Bernard] Seidler has said Hsu donated about $850,000 of his own money to political candidates and helped raise $1 million for Democratic candidates through about 75 people he knew who also made contributions.

"Helped raise" is heroically euphemistic, as these funds ($1.75 million in all, not counting Hsu's direct contributions) are believed to have been siphoned from his duped investors and funneled through a large network of straw donors, presumably not only to launder the stolen cash, but to skirt federal election laws limiting campaign contributions.

Long-time readers (who haven't abandoned the site during the recent hiatus) will recall that, in addition to Hillary's massive windfall, more than 100 other Democratic candidates (for President, Congress, mayor, governor, and a range of state-wide and municipal seats) and committees benefited from Hsu's nefarious largesse.

Among the most lavishly greased candidates (few of whom properly or promptly disgorged the funds after the story broke) are several other notables:

• #2  Andrew Cuomo - New York Attorney General; Obama's preferred candidate for governor
• #4  Barack Obama - President
• #10  Joe Biden - Vice President
• #16  Kirsten Gillibrand - New York Congresswoman appointed to fill Hillary's Senate seat
• #20  John Liu - New York City Councilman and (as of last night) Democratic nominee for New York City Comptroller

Of the Hsu-tainted cash Liu got his hands on, he appeared to return just 22% (the contributions made explicitly by Hsu himself), which would suggest there's still cash stolen from Liu's fellow New Yorkers rolling around in his campaign coffers available for November's general election.

Among his prospective duties as comptroller, Liu would be responsible for the management of an $85 billion portfolio of public assets.  Let's hope his apparent nonchalance about campaign finance law, investor swindling, and money laundering sheds no light on his fiduciary diligence.

Previous Norman Hsu coverage

There Are No ObamaCare Opponents At the Airport. Never.

And if there are, God will roast their stomachs in hell.

Strategy Room 3:00-4:00

I'll be on Strategy Room at FoxNews.com today from 3-4 pm.

---

As always, you can email the show here and you can stream it live here.

Pardon Our Lethargy

With apologies, I've been slaving away like a European this summer, so please excuse the blogging hiatus, lo these last few weeks. Normal activity to resume later this week.