Politico: Kerrey's Possible Senate Run Complicated by Hsu

You read it here weeks ago, the Politico expands on it today:

If former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey decides to run for the Senate, it’s clear that he will have to address his connections with Hsu, whom he recruited to serve on the board of the New School under his presidency.

The Hsu affair already is being used by Republicans as leverage to try to ward off a run by Kerrey, the Democrats’ favored candidate to compete for the seat of retiring Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel.

Republicans privately acknowledge that Kerrey is a first-tier candidate and hope their attacks dissuade him from jumping in. They would have an easier time retaining the seat if Kerrey didn’t run.

“Bob Kerrey was not only a receiver of contributions [to the New School], he actively recruited [Hsu] to the New School,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman Rebecca Fisher. “Nebraskans need to be aware of that.”

Politico fails to note the specifics on the public record about Hsu's donations to the New School. As I pointed out, he donated at least in the tens of thousands of dollars. Specifically, the New School's 2005-2006 annual report lists the following Hsu donations:

• To the University: $10,000-$24,999 donation
  
• To the Eugene Lang College: $10,000-$24,999 donation
• To Parsons the New School for Design: $5,000-$9,999 donation
• To the Eugene Lang College 'Restricted Grants': $10,000-$24,999 donation
  

With regard to the three listings of donations in the $10,000-$24,999 category, I can see no way to determine whether this constitutes three donations, or one (or two, for that matter). Since the report includes all these listings however, I'm reproducing them here.

Still no word on whether the New School will return these donations from Hsu, as the University of Arkansas has done.

Kerrey Leaning Against a Senate Run

I can't help but wondering whether Norman Hsu -- and the campaign finance connection he apparently developed on the New School board -- had anything to do with Kerrey's reported reluctance to take the plunge:

For weeks, Democrats have been keeping their fingers crossed for Bob Kerrey to announce that he was jumping back into politics to run for an open Senate seat in Nebraska.

But that, of course, would require Mr. Kerrey to leave New York City. And that has become such a sticking point that Democratic Party officials in Nebraska and Washington are grudgingly conceding that they think it is highly unlikely he will run for the Senate.

The officials haven’t lost all hope – Mr. Kerrey is headed back to Nebraska for a quick weekend trip, perhaps the Midwestern air will influence his thinking – but they are all but certain he will not enter the race to fill the seat of retiring Senator Chuck Hagel.

Without Kerrey, this race moves from 'tossup' to 'likely Republican.'

On the Left, there's definitely a whiff of that old Barry Goldwater 'I'd rather be right than popular' philosophy:

Atrios:

Obviously if the choice is between Dem/Rep control of the Senate or a filibuster-proof/non-filibuster proof majority I'd prefer Kerrey to enter the Nebraska race. But as those thresholds are unlikely to be critical, I hope he does, indeed, stay out of the race.

MyDD:

My feelings on Kerrey are a bit more mixed than those of Atrios, who asks Kerrey to "stay out of the race." I have more than a few profound policy differences with Kerrey, not the least of which Social Security (which I tend to think we shouldn't privatize, even partially) and Iraq (I tend to think it would be better to end the war than keep it going indefinitely without purpose).

Does this sound like something that the Netroots would have said in 2006? I would argue not. In that long-forgotten era, the Left wanted to win -- first and foremost. The new interest in ideological purity could help the GOP.

University of Arkansas Returns Hsu's Cash. Will the New School?

The Wall Street Journal reports that the University of Arkansas's Clinton School of Public Service is returning the $75,000 it got from Norman Hsu:

While Mrs. Clinton and other politicians have pledged to return or donate to charity donations associated with Mr. Hsu, Mr. Rutherford initially said the graduate program -- aimed at students seeking a career in international aid, politics, law, or philanthropy -- would keep its donation. After questions from The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Rutherford said "it's just not worth it" to keep the money and that he would return it to Mr. Hsu. "We believed it had been given in good faith," Mr. Rutherford said.

Rutherford suggests an inappropriate test for whether or not to return the money. Given in good faith or not, it's still stolen.

No word yet on whether the New School will return his donations -- which ran into the tens of thousands. The Associated Press reports that Hsu even served as chairman of a major New School fundraiser event last October, where Bill Clinton singled him our for praise:

Hsu sat on the board of trustees of The New School, whose president is former Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb. He was co-chairman of a gala New York benefit last October in honor of the late Robert F. Kennedy. Bill Clinton, there to receive an award, thanked the evening's benefactors, "especially our friend Norman Hsu."

Bob Kerrey -- head of the New School -- is considering a run for Senate in 2008. He ought to have the good sense to have returned the money already.

Why the delay?

Is Kerrey's New School Returning Hsu's Money?

In all the attention to Democratic politicians returning donations from Norman Hsu, one major beneficiary of Hsu's largess has been overlooked: New York City's New School. New School President Bob Kerrey convinced Hsu to serve on the board, and the School benefited from his donations. The New York Times reported that Mr. Kerrey sought Board members who could write checks for 'at least $25,000 a year:'

Mr. Kerrey said that while the board certainly includes a number of political contributors — by his count, about 10 of the board’s 56 trustees are significant political donors — political activity is not a litmus test. Nor is being a Democrat. He said he seeks people who are interested in its activities and will donate at least $25,000 a year to the school.

As I noted here, the 2005-2006 annual report of the New School makes clear that Mr. Hsu donated significantly more than that. (Donations are listed in a range however, so it's not possible to infer exactly how much Hsu contributed.)

It seems that essentially every Democrat to whom Hsu donated has returned the money. Is an institution of higher learning bound by different rules? The Times report indicates that New School donations soared to $47 million last year -- triple what they were a few years ago. The school seems to be able to afford to return the donations -- or at least to attempt to ensure that they get back to the people from whom Hsu apparently stole the money.

Hopefully the actions of the New School to address this obvious impropriety have escaped press attention.

Is Larry Brown's Senate Campaign Over Before it Started

Soren Dayton notes that while Bob Kerrey may once have been a very popular and respected governor and Senator from Nebraska, he's been more of a Larry Brown clone lately:

It strikes me that there’s an important opportunity to define Kerrey early. On one level he is an outsider. An another level he is mercurial. He didn’t like the Governor’s office. So he went to Washington. He didn’t like the Senate, so he ran for President. He didn’t like Washington, so he went to New York. Now he doesn’t like New York, so he wants to go back to Washington. Only catch is that he’s going to have to domicile back in Nebraska for it little bit.

Do the people of Nebraska really want to support this guy’s wanderlust?

Plus there's the matter of his association with Norman Hsu. How closely is Kerrey tied to him? If Bruning and the GOP re-introduce Kerrey to the people of Nebraska as the itinerant friend of the guy at the center of the most far-reaching money scandal in recent memory, Kerrey will have lost before the race begins.

Hsu and Kerrey

Not much attention in the media to the question of whether Bob Kerrey knew how shady Norman Hsu was when he put Hsu on the board of the Eugene Lang College at the New School. However, according to the 2005-2006 annual report, Mr. Hsu donated to the College, to the New School, and to the Parsons Design School. The specific totals are not given, but one can infer that his donations for the year totaled in the tens of thousands of dollars.

For the definitive summary of what Hsu gave to Democratic candidates and committees, check out Suitably Flip.

Bob Kerrey's Buddy Norman Hsu

Just another item I noticed on Bob Kerrey and Norman Hsu. If the Hsu scandal has legs, it could be a significant crimp in the potential Senate plans of former Senator Kerrey:

But he has powerful defenders. Former Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) said in an interview that Hsu was being pilloried unfairly.

"This isn't Osama bin Laden or some drug kingpin," Kerrey said. "What he's done is he's volunteered to help people raise money for their campaigns. That doesn't make him either unique or bad."

Kerrey said he recruited Hsu to serve on a board of directors at New York City's New School university, of which Kerrey is president. Kerrey said Hsu had called him earlier this week to warn him about coming media coverage. Kerrey added that Hsu had been "a terrific member" of the New School board and had not been asked to step down.