A Rueful Return To Chinagate?

National Security: It's not a Buddhist temple, but the shady fundraising methods look the same. Like Al Gore, who took laundered cash, Sen. Hillary Clinton's got some explaining to do.

The presidential hopeful pocketed $55,000 from a family of Chinese immigrants living in a modest house near the San Francisco airport. The Paw family, headed by a mail carrier, is one of the biggest sources of donations to her campaign.

Turns out the gifts were bundled together by Paw family friend Norman Hsu, a Chinese businessman who at one time owned its 1,280-square-foot house. Hsu (pronounced "shoo") now lives in New York, where he ranks as one of Hillary's top rainmakers, quietly raising well over $1 million for her campaign.

Though his donations closely track the Paw's, Hsu denies reimbursing them for their contributions. It's a federal crime to reimburse donors for campaign gifts. (It's also a crime to knowingly accept gifts made by donors in the name of others.)

Hillary's campaign spokesman insists the senator has "absolutely no reason to call his contributions into question."

California authorities may beg to differ. According to the Los Angeles Times, Hsu is a fugitive who last decade was convicted of grand theft and sentenced to three years in prison.

This story has an eerily familiar ring to it.

In 1996, Bill Clinton benefited from another suspicious source of funds in California. He dispatched Gore to raise hundreds of thousands in cash from a Buddhist temple in Los Angeles.

Chinese bagman John Huang -- a longtime friend of the Clintons dating back to Little Rock -- laundered the dough through monks and nuns who had taken an oath of poverty.

Huang was convicted of raising more than $1 million in illegal contributions, mostly from people with close ties to Beijing. His partner in crime, Maria Hsia -- also an agent of the Chinese government -- raised some $117,000 in illegally laundered donations for the Clinton-Gore campaign.

Is the mysterious Mr. Hsu the Clintons' new John Huang? It's a serious question, and one with national security implications.

While Chinese funny money was pouring into Clinton coffers, the Clinton administration oversaw the wholesale transfer of advanced missile, nuclear and supercomputer techology to China.

Meantime, Clinton liberalized trade policy with China, something for which Hsu himself has lobbied.

It seems like the same M.O. -- rich Chinese donating through cut-outs and conduits to steer the Clintons and Democrats toward favorable Beijing policies. Hsu also has donated heavily to other Democrats who last decade were on the receiving end of Chinese funny money -- namely Sens. John Kerry, Ted Kennedy and Dianne "Chi-Fi" Feinstein.

Hillary wasn't measuring drapes in the White House when all this Chinese funny business was going on. She personally took checks from Chinese bagman Johnny Chung when he visited the White House. Chung is another fundraiser convicted of laundering donations.

Last decade, the Clintons took millions in laundered foreign campaign donations, mostly from China. Many of the bagmen were convicted. In fact, the Chinagate investigation successfully prosecuted 25 outlaw fundraisers for Bill Clinton and Democrats. That haul came in spite of Janet Reno blocking investigators' efforts at the Justice Department.

Heading the probe in the Senate was one Fred Thompson. He was vilified by the Clintonites and their apologists in the media for conducting a witch hunt. Of course, he was right about the Chinese contributions all along.

Thompson, who plans to enter the race for the White House, has a special appreciation for what the Clintons pulled last decade. How appropriate if he ends up debating Hillary next year. He'd have lots of fodder.

Meantime, the FEC must launch an investigation of the Hsu donations. American voters have the right to know now -- not after the election is over -- if the Clintons aren't simply laundering Chinese bagmen who will launder millions more to elect a new President Clinton who, in turn, will hold another fire sale for the Chi-Coms.