The Discerning Texan

Another campaign contributor to Senator Hillary Clinton came under the spotlight, according to the Washington Post.

Sant S. Chatwal, an Indian American businessman, has helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaigns, even as he battled governments on two continents to escape bankruptcy and millions of dollars in tax liens. ...

There followed a description of a trail of shady deals in Chatwal's wake. None of which seemed to bother anyone. "He was out on bond when he showed up in India in 2001 during a visit by his longtime friend Bill Clinton." Maybe meeting Bill while out on bail is par for the course.

Yet none of the legal and financial woes -- occasionally touched on in American or Indian newspapers or highlighted by political opponents -- raised red flags inside Hillary Clinton's fundraising operation. Chatwal recently said he plans to help raise $5 million from Indian Americans for Clinton's presidential bid.

Asked whether anything in Chatwal's background caused concerns about his activities on behalf of the campaign, Clinton spokesman Phil Singer answered, "No." He declined last week to be more specific, saying only that major fundraisers are routinely vetted "through publicly available records."

Like Hsu, Chatwal is described by his lawyers as a man struggling to get up after a run of bad luck. One of those riches-to-rags stories. "The man came to this country, accumulated an empire, lost it during the time of real estate [softness], and has struggled and worked to try to pay off his debts," said A. Mitchell Greene, Chatwal's lawyer for 25 years. "It has been a long battle, but he has cleared up all of his obligations, and in the process he is trying to accumulate his wealth again." Can't blame a man for trying to get back his riches. That would be un-American.

Labels: Campaign Contributions, Corruption, Hillary, Scandal