Marathon Pundit: Hillary returns Hsu money, but what about International Profit Associates cash?

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Hillary returns Hsu money, but what about International Profit Associates cash?

Besides Sen. Larry Craig, see below post, the other major political news story is Norman Hsu. A major Democratic fundraiser for many campaigns, Hsu was to be a co-host for a September 30 Hillary Clinton fundraiser.

That was until it was revealed that Hsu is wanted on a 1991 California grand-theft charge. He's out, and the Clinton campaign is donating $23,000 in Hsu money to charity. Cash Hsu raised from other donors for Hillary is not being returned, however.

There's more tainted cash in Hillary's coffers. International Profit Associates is a Buffalo Grove, Illinois consulting firm. Here what the New York Times had to say about them in 2006:

Federal authorities are pressing a sexual harassment suit against the company on behalf of 113 former female employees.

The Illinois attorney general is investigating accusations of deceptive marketing tactics, officials say, and the company has been the subject of 470 complaints to the Better Business Bureau across the nation in the past three years.

Alleged victims of IPA sexual harrasment appeared on Oprah in 2005.

Executives and associates of International Profit Associates have donated $130,000 to Hillary Clinton's Senate campaigns.

That same NYT article noted that a Clinton spokesperson would be "reviewing the contributions"

But two months ago, Chris Fusco reported that none of that IPA-tied cash has been returned or donated to charity.

In June, Myron "Mike" Cherry was one of twenty "chairs" at a Chicago Hillary Clinton fundraiser. Although not accused of any crime and said to be cooperating with authorities, Cherry is believed to be the "Individual H" referred to in the federal indictment of Tony Rezko, the longtime Barack Obama political contributor.

Cherry has also done legal work for International Profit Associates.

Are you looking for a lawyer? If so, read this Myron Cherry 2007 article, 16 things you need to know...When hiring and managing a lawyer. It's found on the IPA Business Today site.

So Hillary donated her HSU money, all $23,000 of it, to charity. Big deal.

What is she going to do about the $130,000 in IPA-tied money she's collected over the years?

Or are they still, more than a year later, "reviewing the contributions."

A major hat tip to Dan Curry of Reverse Spin, who has posted extensively on this topic.

One final note, and this comes from Curry's web site. Finding IPA stories, negative ones at least, is quite difficult. Curry raises the possibility that the roadblocks on the IPA information highway may not be accidental creations.

Thanks for the link:

Political Pistachio

Technorati tags: