Charges reinstated against Buddhist temple political fund-raiser

By Terry Frieden/CNN

May 19, 1999
Web posted at: 4:36 p.m. EDT (2036 GMT)

WASHINGTON (May 19) -- A federal appeals court Tuesday reinstated criminal charges against Maria Hsia, the Democratic fund-raiser who allegedly arranged illegal campaign contributions from a Buddhist temple in California to the Clinton-Gore campaign in 1996.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia restored felony charges of making false statements in ruling that solicitation of conduit contributions is not constitutionally protected free political speech.


Maria Hsia

Hsia allegedly arranged for Temple members, Buddhist nuns and others, to make contributions to the Clinton-Gore re-election campaign, as well as others, and then secretly reimbursed the members with funds from the tax-exempt temple.

The ruling is a major victory for the Justice Department's Campaign Finance Task Force which brought the charges. The Task Force, under Attorney General Janet Reno's control, had appealed a ruling by District Court Judge Paul Friedman who threw out five felony counts against Hsia for causing false statements to be made to the Federal Election Commission about the source of the contributions.

"I'm very disappointed," said Hsia's attorney, Nancy Luque. "It's not a case of whether we'll appeal, it's where we'll appeal."

Hsia can request a rehearing by the full appeals court or ask the Supreme Court to hear the case.

Justice Department officials said the court's ruling will almost certainly lead to the reinstatement of similar charges against two other defendants, Charlie Trie and Pauline Kanchanalak, who also had counts of making false statements dismissed by Friedman.

Hsia already faced trial for one count of conspiracy for a series of alleged actions taken to funnel money through "straw donors" from the Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights, California, to the Clinton-Gore and other Democratic campaigns.

But now, barring a successful appeal, Hsia will also be tried on the five reinstated counts associated with conduit contributions schemes involving Clinton-Gore '96, the Democratic National Committee and the 1996 campaign of Rep. Patrick Kennedy.

The unanimous ruling written by Judge Stephen Williams centered on whether Hsia's actions were constitutionally protected.

"Her free speech argument appears to be this: Since Hsia was simply soliciting political contributions, her actions here were protected speech; therefore the indictment must be subject to strict scrutiny. This misframes the issue," Williams wrote.

"The only solicitations alleged are those of conduit contributions and of nominal 'contributions' from the conduits themselves. Neither is protected."

Republican lawmakers have sharply criticized the Justice Department Campaign Finance Task Force investigators for failing to pursue charges against top White House and Democratic Party officials who received allegedly tainted campaign funds.

Reno rejected repeated GOP demands that the investigation be turned over to an independent counsel, saying she does not believe the Justice probe represents a conflict of interest under the Independent Counsel statute.

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Charges reinstated against Buddhist temple political fund-raiser

By Terry Frieden/CNN

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Wednesday, May 19, 1999