The Nation - Political donor skips day in court
REDWOOD CITY — The event unfolded like the judicial equivalent of a bride left at the altar.
The mysterious political donor and fundraiser Norman Hsu was scheduled to appear in San Mateo County Superior Court on Wednesday to begin dealing with the fact that 15 years ago, he pleaded no contest to felony fraud charges and agreed to spend as long as three years in prison and then disappeared.
But on Wednesday, instead of appearing in court and beginning to shed light on his affairs, Hsu again vanished, standing up Superior Court Judge Robert D. Foiles, Deputy Atty. Gen. Ralph Sivilla, San Francisco defense attorney James J. Brosnahan and two crisis-management executives -- not to mention leaving behind $2 million in cash bail.
His failure to appear, echoing the events of 1992, was a shock not just to the court, but reverberated in the upper levels of Democratic politics, especially the presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.
Hsu has given directly to her and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from others whose contributions he solicited and bundled together.
The Superior Court hearing, which was to consider a request to cut Hsu's bail in half and other matters, was expected to clarify Hsu's background and activities since 1992. And it seemed to begin routinely in Foiles' wood-paneled courtroom, though the judge announced he had received a call saying Hsu would be 10 minutes late.
Minutes later, Brosnahan, along with another lawyer and two executives from a crisis communications firm, appeared in the courtroom, minus Hsu.
Brosnahan asked to confer with Sivilla in the hallway. Trailed by a gaggle of reporters, the lawyers talked privately for several minutes. Then Brosnahan asked to speak with the judge in chambers.
Six minutes later, back in the courtroom, Brosnahan announced in matter-of-fact tones that he did not know "Mr. Hsu's current whereabouts."
"We don't know where he is," Brosnahan said, adding that he hoped he would appear.
Foiles issued a bench warrant for Hsu's arrest and said that if he returned, he would be held without bail.
Hsu had also been expected to surrender his passport at the hearing, but Brosnahan told the court he was unable to produce the document.
Brosnahan said Hsu had said the passport could be found in his New York condo, but that a 90-minute search by a law clerk from Brosnahan's firm, Morrison & Foerster, failed to locate it.
