Hillary Clinton's Sleazy New Fundraiser

by Guest Blogger :: September 7, 2007 1:37 PM

Even as Hillary fundraiser Norman Hsu is drawing national attention for being captured after going on the run, another sleazy Democrat is stepping up to raise money for the Clinton campaign.

His name? Raul Martinez. Hillary will be attending a fund raiser at Martinez's home,

"I'm pretty sure we're going to work something out," said DNC member and former Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez. "We don't want to lose delegates to the convention, and we don't want to hurt Florida voters."

...Reflecting their dependence on Florida donors, Hillary Clinton's campaign has scheduled five fundraisers around Sunday's presidential forum at the University of Miami. Tonight, President Bill Clinton is scheduled to attend a $1,000-per-person reception in Pembroke Pines. On Monday, Hillary Clinton will appear at a Miami Beach breakfast aimed at Hispanic women, a luncheon at Martinez's home in Hialeah, and two more fundraisers in Palm Beach County.

So, who is Raul Martinez?

He's the former mayor of Hialeah, Florida with a shady past. Back in 1991,

"Mayor Raul Martinez, was convicted of extortion and racketeering...after a jury found he had accepted $1 million in cash and property from land developers."

The conviction was reversed on appeal and two hung juries later, he had managed to lawyer his way out of going to jail.

But, that wasn't the only controversy Martinez was involved in. In 1993, he won an election that a judge threw out because of voter fraud,

"The mayoralty elections are supposedly nonpartisan, even though party affiliations are well-known. So all of this frenetic activity by the Democratic establishment in a struggle between a Republican and an independent contrasts sharply with the laid-back attitude by the same establishment toward voter fraud in the 1993 mayoralty race in the city of Hialeah, also in Miami-Dade. That election eerily prefigured the Carollo-Suarez contest, except that the challenger, Nilo Juri, was a well-known Republican and incumbent Raul Martinez, in his third term, was the rising star of the Democrats. Martinez was counted in by 273 votes, which was all the more remarkable because, at the time of the election, he was a convicted felon sentenced to 10 years in prison for extortion and racketeering. (The conviction was reversed on appeal three years later) Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles refused to intervene, saying that the people had spoken, and allowed Martinez to be seated despite the mayor's conviction.

Juri refused to give up. He had held a slight edge in the polls going into the election, and he was the absolute winner among the machine-tallied ballots. But the Martinez organization had produced a 2-1 advantage in absentee ballots, and the same tactics currently at issue in the Carollo-Suarez Miami election were obvious in the Hialeah election. Juri pursued his case in court, and in 1994 Dade Circuit Court Judge Sidney Shapiro held that the election was affected by substantial fraud, threw out the absentee ballots, and ordered a new election.

More peculiar was the fact that Martinez's sister-in-law, Maria del Pilar "Lula" Rodriguez, was at that time the personal assistant to Reno at the Justice Department in Washington. Before joining her friend at Justice, she had been in charge of the Miami office of Democratic Sen. Bob Graham. Indeed, Rodriguez had taken a vacation from Justice at the time of the election to help out in her brother-in-law's campaign. Moreover, her signature as a witness was on 14 of the allegedly fraudulent absentee ballots. Thus not only did she, while an employee of the Department of Justice and personal assistant to the attorney general, participate in the election campaign of a convicted felon, but she is alleged to have been a participant in the election fraud."

So Martinez was accused of racketeering, extortion, and connected to voter fraud, yet he's now raising money for Hillary Clinton? Given Hillary's questionable and shady record when it comes to fundraising, people may be disappointed that she's associating with someone like Martinez, but no one can be too surprised.

Written by John Hawkins, Right Wing News. Used with permission. Original post.

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Hillary To Give Away Tainted Cash

by Matt Margolis :: August 29, 2007 8:11 PM

The Associated Press reports that Hillary Clinton and a number of other Democrats are getting rid tainted contributions from Norman Hsu:

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton will give to charity the $23,000 in donations she has received from a fundraiser who is wanted in California for failing to appear for sentencing on a 1991 grand theft charge.

The decision came Wednesday as other Democrats began distancing themselves from Norman Hsu, whose legal encounters and links to other Democratic donors have drawn public scrutiny in the past two days.

Al Franken, a Senate candidate in Minnesota, Reps. Michael Honda and Doris Matsui of California and Rep. Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania said they would divest their campaigns of Hsu's donations.

Hsu is a fundraiser for Clinton and is described as a devoted fan of the presidential candidate and New York senator. He had planned to co- host a money event for Clinton on Sept. 30. In a statement Wednesday, Hsu said he believed he had resolved his legal issues, but said he would halt his work raising political money.

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Questionable Donations To Hillary's Campaign

by Matt Margolis :: August 28, 2007 1:33 PM

The Wall Street Journal reports of possible questionable donations made to Hillary's campaign.

One of the biggest sources of political donations to Hillary Rodham Clinton is a tiny, lime-green bungalow that lies under the flight path from San Francisco International Airport.

Six members of the Paw family, each listing the house at 41 Shelbourne Ave. as their residence, have donated a combined $45,000 to the Democratic senator from New York since 2005, for her presidential campaign, her Senate re-election last year and her political action committee. In all, the six Paws have donated a total of $200,000 to Democratic candidates since 2005, election records show.

It isn't obvious how the Paw family is able to afford such political largess. Records show they own a gift shop and live in a 1,280-square-foot house that they recently refinanced for $270,000. William Paw, the 64-year-old head of the household, is a mail carrier with the U.S. Postal Service who earns about $49,000 a year, according to a union representative. Alice Paw, also 64, is a homemaker. The couple's grown children have jobs ranging from account manager at a software company to "attendance liaison" at a local public high school. One is listed on campaign records as an executive at a mutual fund.

The Paws' political donations closely track donations made by Norman Hsu, a wealthy New York businessman in the apparel industry who once listed the Paw home as his address, according to public records. Mr. Hsu is one of the top fund-raisers for Mrs. Clinton's presidential campaign. He has hosted or co-hosted some of her most prominent money-raising events.

Coincidence? Hardly, and the donations are clearly enough to cause suspicion.

Kent Cooper, a former disclosure official with the Federal Election Commission, said the two-year pattern of donations justifies a probe of possible violations of campaign-finance law, which forbid one person from reimbursing another to make contributions.

"There are red lights all over this one," Mr. Cooper said.

There is no public record or indication Mr. Hsu reimbursed the Paw family for their political contributions.

Click here for more.

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Hillary Felony Caught on Tape

by Matt Margolis :: June 19, 2007 11:44 PM

Back in April, Peter Paul posted a clip of a "videotape of Hillary Clinton speaker phone call to Peter Paul (and others including Spider Man creator Stan Lee) that records Hillary as she violates one felony statute of the Federal Election Law and admits to violating another."

The clip:

From WorldNetDaily:

Sen. Clinton has claimed through her spokesman Howard Wolfson that Paul gave no money to her campaign, and her supporters have denied she had any anything to do with coordinating the August 2000 event or soliciting contributions directly from donors. Doing so would make Paul's substantial contributions a direct donation to her Senate campaign rather than her joint fundraising committee, violating federal statutes that limit "hard money" contributions to a candidate to $2,000 per person. Furthermore, knowingly accepting or soliciting $25,000 or more in a calendar year is a felony carrying a prison sentence of up to five years.

Clinton's campaign has counted the more than $800,000 of in-kind contributions it reported in a 2006 amended FEC report for the Hollywood Gala as indirect, or "soft money," given to the New York Senate 2000 Committee, a state account that was run jointly by Clinton, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the New York State Democratic Party.

But the videotape, with clear audio of Sen. Clinton, documents her direct knowledge and involvement with Paul in producing the Hollywood fund-raiser and indicates she participated in solicitation of entertainers, whose in-kind contributions of their services would also constitute illegal contributions exceeding $25,000.

More analysis here.

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Hillary's Violation Of The Ethics In Government Act

by Matt Margolis :: February 28, 2007 3:42 PM

The Washington Post gives us the details...

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former president Bill Clinton have operated a family charity since 2001, but she failed to list it on annual Senate financial disclosure reports on five occasions.

The Ethics in Government Act requires members of Congress to disclose positions they hold with any outside entity, including nonprofit foundations. Hillary Clinton has served her family foundation as treasurer and secretary since it was established in December 2001, but none of her ethics reports since then have disclosed that fact.

The foundation has enabled the Clintons to write off more than $5 million from their taxable personal income since 2001, while dispensing $1.25 million in charitable contributions over that period.

Clinton's spokesman said her failure to report the existence of the family foundation and the senator's position as an officer was an oversight. Her office immediately amended her Senate ethics reports to add that information late yesterday after receiving inquiries from The Washington Post.

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Demand Letter Delivered to Hillary Clinton's Senate Chambers

by Matt Margolis :: October 18, 2006 8:36 PM

Earlier today a demand letter was hand-delivered to Senator Hillary Clinton's chambers asking her to correct her latest false FEC report (filed January 30, 2006) which "continues to misreport Peter Paul's more than $1.2 million expenditures for Hillary's 2000 campaign, and falsely attribute $225,000 as a personal contribution from Paul's former partner Stan Lee."

Hillary Clinton's largest contributor to her 2000 Senate race delivers demand that Hillary finally admit to the voters that she did accept more than $1 million as a campaign contribution from Peter Paul in 2000 and that her role in suggesting his contribution made it illegal. Hillary's latest FEC report, filed January 30, 2006, filed as part of an attempted settlement with the FEC of her campaign's violations of Federal Election Laws, now admits for the first time Paul contributed $839,000 through his two personal holding companies, Paraversal and Excelsior, while continuing to hide Paul as the true source of the funds expended by those companies for Hillary's campaign.

More at Peter Paul's blog.

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Clinton Lawyer Accused of Making False Statement

by Matt Margolis :: September 23, 2006 11:48 AM

WorldNetDaily has the story.

Bill Clinton's longtime attorney David Kendall is accused of filing a fabricated statement in a court brief to quash a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against the former president.

In legal pleadings filed this week with Los Angeles Superior Court, business mogul Peter Franklin Paul claims Kendall cobbled together two unrelated quotes from a March 2005 federal court hearing in an attempt to pin on Paul the very charge Paul is making against Clinton.

As WND has reported, Paul claims Clinton destroyed his entertainment company, Stan Lee Media, to get out of a $17 million deal in which the former president promised to promote the firm in exchange for Paul's massive contributions to Sen. Hillary Clinton's 2000 campaign. Paul alleges specifically that Bill Clinton's agent diverted a key investment away from Stan Lee Media – a partnership with the creator of Marvel Comics' Spiderman – causing it to fold amid the dot-com meltdown in December 2000.

A hearing on Paul's second amended complaint in the lawsuit is scheduled Monday morning in Los Angeles.

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Disney Protected Hillary Clinton

by Matt Margolis :: September 14, 2006 11:52 AM

Peter Paul reveals on his blog that Disney executives doctored their ABC 20/20 Clinton Fraud Investigative Report in order to protect Hillary Clinton. The report edited out all references to Hillary's finance director David Rosen, who apparently used the doctored report to get the jury to acquit him of election fraud.

Hillary Clinton has more clout than Bill does with ABC. Three days before the very hyped broadcast of ABC 20/20's Brian Ross' exclusive interview with Peter Paul regarding his campaign finance fraud allegations against Hillary Clinton and her Senate campaign, Michael Eisner dispatched Disney brass to New York to re-edit investigative reporter Ross' "Clinton frauds" expose. All references to Hillary Clinton's finance director, David Rosen, were erased, and the name David Rosen was never mentioned, even though Paul featured Rosen's role in the fraud in his allegations.

Click here for more.

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Hillary's Treasurer Admits Filing False FEC Reports

by Matt Margolis :: January 5, 2006 10:59 AM

Peter Paul, the co-host of the infamous Hollywood gala/fundraiser for Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign reports on his blog that the FEC has "concluded its 4 1/2 year investigation into his complaint regarding Hillary Clinton's false reports to the FEC which intentionally hid [Peter Paul's] identity as her largest contributor and the full amount of his more than $1.2 million cash in-kind contributions to her 2000 Senate campaign."

The FEC has formally determined that Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign treasurer, Andrew Grossman is legally responsible for the three false FEC reports that Hillary's finance director, David Rosen, was criminally charged and tried for in mid-2005. Mr. Grossman signed a "Conciliation Agreement" with the FEC on December 13, 2005, admitting his culpability, and agreeing to pay a civil fine and amend his false reports to reflect the $721,000 that he failed to report since October, 2000.

You can read the Conciliation Agreement by clicking here.

More on the report and the story here...

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Peter Paul and Hillary

by Matt Margolis :: October 11, 2005 9:00 PM

There's more than just fraud involved with Hillary's Hollywood gala in August 2000... Aaron Tonken, a Hollywood charity fundraiser, described as "the force behind" the gala, had "had arranged for an Internet entrepreneur named Peter Paul to co-host" it.

But Paul turned out to be a convicted felon. Not long after the gala, the media company Paul co-founded collapsed amid allegations of securities fraud. Paul hopped a plane to Brazil without so much as a presidential pardon in his suitcase. Sore, he sued the Clintons -- and Rosen, too -- alleging he'd spent nearly $2 million producing the gala -- five times more than campaign officials told the Federal Election Commission that the gala cost in donated goods and services. The reason Paul gave in his lawsuit for his generosity was even more startling: He wanted to buy access and influence and to entice the president to work for his company after leaving office. The Clintons, through their lawyer, denied any wrongdoing and fought unsuccessfully to extricate themselves from Paul's civil suit.

Not too long after the gala, FEC records showed Peter Paul had "personally donated $2,000, the maximum allowed, to [Hillary's] Senate campaign." A campaign spokesman announced that, in light of the revelations of Paul's criminal past, his donation was being returned.

However...

Nobody mentioned returning the mega-bucks that the company Paul co-founded had supposedly just spent underwriting the gala.

Despite the embarrassing publicity, Paul did get nice thank-you notes from the president and the first lady. "Thank you so very much for hosting Saturday night's tribute to the President and for everything you did to make it the great occasion that it was," Hillary Clinton wrote. "We will remember it always."

It gets better...

Over the next several weeks, Paul later claimed, he spoke to both Tonken and then-DNC Chairman Ed Rendell about getting a presidential pardon for his past felony convictions. Paul made the allegation in his original suit against the Clintons, but omitted it from an amended version. When Rendell telephoned to ask for a $200,000 contribution for the National Constitutional Center in Philadelphia, Paul asked about the status of his pardon request, Paul said. According to Paul's original lawsuit, Rendell said he was working on it.

So we have a convicted felon co-hosting a gala with President Clinton and then-First Lady and Senate candidate Hillary Clinton... then that convicted felon tried to arrange a pardon for himself through Ed Rendell, now the governor of Pennsylvania, for $200,000...

You can't make this stuff up.

UPDATE: Peter Paul responds to the Post article in a letter to the editor...

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Hillary Knew, David Rosen Knew

by Matt Margolis :: October 11, 2005 6:27 PM

The Washington Post asks "who knew" about the hefty price tag of Hillary Clinton's Hollywood fundraiser that Hillary's campaign reported only cost $401,419 when it actually cost $1.175 million?

"Who knew?" turned out to be a $1.176 million question. Federal law enforcement officials eventually confirmed that the gala, night of a thousand egos -- when Cher sang "If I Could Turn Back Time," the president cried for the cameras and con artists hobnobbed with the most powerful couple in the world -- cost somebody at least $1.176 million to produce. Yet Hillary Clinton's joint fundraising committee eventually reported that the gala cost just $401,419 in donated goods and service.

Who knew?

[Gala co-host Peter Paul] and [Hollywood charity fundraiser Aaron Tonken] each had much the same answer: Everyone closely involved in the gala, including the Clintons, had to have known. Tonken even claimed that he'd once buttonholed Hillary Clinton at the back of a van on the campaign trail and, in an effort to impress her, bragged about all that had been spent on her behalf.

John Armor, writing at NewsBusters, calls this "the largest fraud in federal election history."

PREVIOUS: Hillary's Hollywood Gala

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Hillary Lawyers Trying To Suppress Potentially Embarrassing Report

by Matt Margolis :: October 4, 2005 2:21 PM

Hmm... What's Hillary up to?

The independent counsel investigation that led to the conviction of a former Clinton administration housing chief could come back to haunt Sen. Hillary Clinton.

The Daily News has learned that lawyers are fighting to suppress a potentially embarrassing final report from the probe that found Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros lied to the FBI about paying $250,000 in hush money to his ex-mistress.

Cisneros paid a $10,000 fine after he was found guilty in 1999 and was later pardoned by Bill Clinton. And though neither Hillary Clinton nor her husband was targeted by independent counsel David Barrett, his 420-page final report sent to a special court 13 months ago will include alleged abuses of power by his administration, sources told The News.

According to the article, "Lawyers at the Washington firm Williams and Connolly who work for Cisnero and both Clintons have argued to judges overseeing the case that allegations of illegal activity, for which no charges were filed, should be snipped before the report is made public."

"The report was filed over a year ago, but there are still matters ... that have to be resolved by the judges before they decide when it can be published," [Barrett] said. "The decision rests entirely with the court."

Covering her tracks before her 2008 presidential run? Urban Elephants also notes that "Hillary doesn't need another scandal in the midst of her 2006 campaign for re-election to the Senate."

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Hillary's Hollywood Gala

by Matt Margolis :: May 28, 2005 6:20 PM

WorldNetDaily reported earlier this year That Hillary Cinton's former finance director was indicted "on charges of filing fictitious reports that misstated contributions for a Hollywood fund-raiser for the senator."

The indictment charges David Rosen with four counts of filing false reports with the Federal Election Commission. The charges focus on an Aug. 12, 2000, dinner and concert supported by more than $1.1 million in "in-kind contributions" – goods and services provided for free or below cost. The event was estimated to cost more than $1.2 million.

Rosen is the second figure involved in organizing the soiree for Clinton to become entangled in legal problems as a result.

Aaron Tonken is currently in prison for his role in organizing the event – a tribute to then-President Bill Clinton and starring Cher, Patti LaBelle, Sugar Ray, Toni Braxton, Melissa Etheridge, Michael Bolton, Paul Anka and Diana Ross.

The article reports that The FBI says it has evidence that Hillary's "campaign deliberately understated its fund-raising costs so it would have more money to spend on her campaign."

While the event allegedly cost more than $1.2 million, the indictment said, Rosen reported contributions of about $400,000, knowing the figure to be false.

The indictment charged that he provided some documents to an FEC compliance officer but withheld the true costs of the event and provided false documents to substantiate the lower figure.

In one instance, Rosen obtained and delivered a fraudulent invoice stating the cost of a concert associated with the gala was $200,000 when he knew that figure was false, according to the indictment. The actual cost of the concert was more than $600,000.

Rosen was acquitted yesterday, but that should come as no surprise, considering judge A. Howard Matz—a Bill Clinton nominee—presided over the case and his conduct was quite inappropriate...

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