Hillary Clinton Campaign Finance Coincidences--or Conspiracy

Allahpundit at Hot Air points to another interesting story developing with the Hillary Clinton campaign. From the Wall Street Journal's Brody Mulllins:

One of the biggest sources of political donations to Hillary Rodham Clinton is a tiny, lime-green bungalow that lies under the flight path from San Francisco International Airport.

Six members of the Paw family, each listing the house at 41 Shelbourne Ave. as their residence, have donated a combined $45,000 to the Democratic senator from New York since 2005, for her presidential campaign, her Senate re-election last year and her political action committee. In all, the six Paws have donated a total of $200,000 to Democratic candidates since 2005, election records show.

That total ranks the house with residences in Greenwich, Conn., and Manhattan's Upper East Side among the top addresses to donate to the Democratic presidential front-runner over the past two years, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal of donations listed with the Federal Election Commission.

It isn't obvious how the Paw family is able to afford such political largess. Records show they own a gift shop and live in a 1,280-square-foot house that they recently refinanced for $270,000. William Paw, the 64-year-old head of the household, is a mail carrier with the U.S. Postal Service who earns about $49,000 a year, according to a union representative. Alice Paw, also 64, is a homemaker. The couple's grown children have jobs ranging from account manager at a software company to "attendance liaison" at a local public high school. One is listed on campaign records as an executive at a mutual fund.

The Paws' political donations closely track donations made by Norman Hsu, a wealthy New York businessman in the apparel industry who once listed the Paw home as his address, according to public records. Mr. Hsu is one of the top fund-raisers for Mrs. Clinton's presidential campaign. He has hosted or co-hosted some of her most prominent money-raising events.

Something sure smells rotten in the state of California.

Allahpundit then throws out this hypothetical reason for the odd coincidences:

How about this as the third alternative: the son who’s a mutual fund executive — Winkle, presumably — is pals with Hsu, does business with him, gets hit up by him every now and then for a donation to his favorite candidate. As thanks, the son cuts Hillary a check and makes gifts to his family members of, say, $2,300 each, which they’re technically free to dispose of as they wish but which, per his request, they end up donating to Hillary. Campaign finance lawyers can correct me but I doubt there’s anything illegal about that.

Actually, there is something very wrong with that scenario. If the son is giving funds to his family members and then directing the money to be given to Hillary Clinton, that is considered a contribution in the name of another and that is illegal. If the family members are making contributions using other people's money (even if it is a family member's money) they are guilty of the same violation.

A complaint has surely been filed with the FEC and if not, I would imagine a flood of them will becomeing into the Commission's enforcement office shortly.

The Justice Department is prosecuting a case with striking similarly facts involving Michigan lawyer Geoffrey Feiger's contributions to John Edwards in 2004.