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As word leaks out about how much of the Dem Party has been underwritten by the mysterious Mr. Hsu , one must ask how it is that California Dem officials had no idea he was under an arrest warrant when they took his contributions:

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, District Attorney Kamala Harris, Assemblywoman Fiona Ma and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa took money from fugitive fundraiser Norman Hsu, the deep-pocketed Democrat who handed out more than $250,000 to Sen. Hillary Clinton and other party candidates and causes in the past few years.

According to state and local records, Hsu has given more than $53,000 to various political efforts in the state since 2004, including $27,600 to the state Democratic Party, $5,000 to 2006 gubernatorial hopeful Steve Westly and $10,000 to Hollywood director Rob Reiner's "Pre-School for All" campaign, which became Proposition 82 on the June 2006 ballot.

The state party gave $26,600 of that money back three weeks after Hsu donated it in 2004, said Bob Mulholland, a party consultant.

"Mr. Hsu asked for the money to be returned, saying he had made the donation in error," Mulholland said. "We haven't returned the $1,000 he gave us earlier this year, but the party will be looking at that contribution."

Besides giving the maximum $750 to Newsom's 2004 campaign, Hsu, a New York businessman, gave $750 to Harris' campaign for district attorney and then, in December 2006, gave Harris $500 more for her 2007 re-election campaign.

At the time he gave the money to San Francisco's district attorney, Hsu was wanted on a $2 million warrant issued when he didn't show up for sentencing after pleading no contest to San Mateo County felony grand theft charges in 1992.

I'm waiting for Senators McCain and Feingold, who foisted that ridiculous campaign finance reform nonsense on us with the connivance of the Pew Foundation, to demand an investigation. For it seems to me that it is far more pernicious if foreign money is financing our campaigns than it is that some people may spend more of their own American dollars, properly reported so that it's on the public record.

Left hand, meet right hand