Trouble by the bundle

Politics | The Norman Hsu fundraising flap triggers calls for new regulation of “bundled” campaign donations | Lynn Vincent

As Norman Hsu—Berkeley/Wharton alum, food and fashion impresario, and bail-jumping felon—lay in a Colorado hospital recovering from the stress of fugitive flight, Hillary Clinton turned his sudden infamy into political gain. Hsu, wanted for grand theft in California in connection with a $1 million pyramid scheme involving latex gloves, is also suspected of raising illegal cash for Democrats. On Sept. 11, Clinton announced that her campaign would return some $850,000 in donations Hsu had hauled in as one of Clinton's top "bundlers." The campaign also declared new vetting procedures for its bundlers, including unprecedented criminal background checks.

Clinton's splashy move may put pressure on other candidates—some less able than Clinton to afford it—to return Hsu-tainted cash. More troubling, though, is a widening call to regulate the activities of bundlers in general, a move some say is redundant at best, and at worst, could encroach on freedom of association rights guaranteed under the First Amendment.