Clinton Campaign to Return Money

Presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign said it will begin vigorous criminal background checks on its major fundraisers, it was reported Tuesday.

Clinton’s campaign disclosed Monday night it is hiring additional staff members to check the backgrounds of the dozens of people, known as bundlers, who raise thousands of dollars for a campaign, The New York Times reported.

Clinton, a Democratic senator from New York, authorized the move after revelations regarding Norman Hsu, a Clinton fundraiser who turned out to have a felony conviction for fraud and is under investigation for his fundraising practices, the Times reported.

Clinton’s campaign said it will return nearly $850,000 to about 260 people who donated through Hsu, who fled arrest last week in California and now is hospitalized for an undisclosed condition in Grand Junction, Colo.

Former Sen. John Edwards’ Democratic presidential campaign said it began doing background checks on bundlers after Hsu’s troubles surfaced. Democratic Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign said it, too, vets donors, but didn’t say if that included criminal checks, the Times said.