Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Avoid the guy in the stall

Memo to presidential candidates: Be more careful choosing people to help your campaigns.

Or at least check out their police records in Minneapolis.

When news broke this week of Idaho Sen. Larry Craig's arrest for lewd behavior in an airport bathroom in Minnesota, few people were probably more embarrassed than former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who had made Craig co-chairman of his Idaho campaign. Romney may have cut his ties, but the senator's videotaped endorsement will linger on YouTube.

Romney isn't the only candidate to get red-faced by an ally.

In South Carolina, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's state chairman, state Treasurer Thomas Ravenel, was indicted on federal cocaine charges in June.

And Florida Rep. Bob Allen, co-chairman of Arizona Sen. John McCain's campaign in the state, was charged with offering a male undercover officer $20 to perform oral sex in a park. Allen dug himself in deeper when he told police he was intimidated by the undercover officer, who is African American.

He told police he felt intimidated by a "stocky black guy" in the restroom and believed the man and other "stocky black guys" planned to rob him. He said he complied with a request for oral sex to avoid becoming a "statistic." A civil rights group called his comments insensitive.

Republicans aren't the only ones who have been burned.

California businessman Norman Hsu gave over $500,000 to Democrats over the past three years, including presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

On Wednesday, the L.A. Times reported that Hsu is the same man California authorities have considered a fugitive for 15 years, disappearing after pleading no contest to grand theft and agreeing to serve three years in prison.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

This Hsu character is very mysterious. Where that is all that money that he is donating to Hillary Clinton coming from? My theory is he is funneling money from Red China to gain influence in American politics.