Recently, the press had a field day covering the Norman Hsu story, the political fundraiser who gave monies to Democratic candidates such as Hillary Clinton, other presidential candidates and congressional and senatorial campaigns.  Unlike this article in the Hartford Courant, most media stories emphasized the Democratic part and forgot the Republicans' less than stellar fundraisers like Jack Abramoff, etc.

However, Michael Roston, in The Huffington Post, offers additions to that list with his "Republican Rogues' Gallery: The GOP's Dirtiest '08 Donors." 

While reading his piece, I was reminded of another Republican activist and fundraiser who Bush and his Congressional Republican rubber stampers and other California Republican officials would rather forget: Katrina Leung.  In 2003, she was accused of spying for China, obtaining classified US national security documents, being a double agent and paid ($1.7million) by the FBI.  Leung had a 20 year sexual relationship with the senior FBI agent who recruited and "handled" her and another affair with a supervisory FBI agent for counterintelligence who provided security at a nuclear weapons lab on the West Coast.

What were her Republican activist and fundraising credentials?  She was a voting member of the state central committee.  How much was she raising and for whom? Well, Bush was one of the recipients of her money raising skills, as well as other Republicans on the national and California state level.

Corporate media was up to its usual standards and Ms. Leung's activist Republican Party connections vanished from their coverage.

You can just imagine what the Republicans and the conservative corporate media would have done had Ms. Leung been a Democratic Party activist and fundraiser.  Buzzflash provides that here. 

What was the Republican controlled Congress doing?  "Senate investigators in 1996 suspected Leung as being a conduit for secret Chinese government payments to the Republicans, but the committee, headed by former Tennessee Republican Sen. Fred Thompson, dropped the inquiry before a report could be written..." That's certainly indicative of the ethics of Republicans, especially presidential candidates.  Not a peep about the Leung spy scandal from the Republican controlled House.....Tom Delay, Dennis Hastert, and the rest, all quiet.

What happened in the Katrina Leung case? Her FBI handler copped a plea to avoid jail.  The other agent resigned his security position at the lab and retired from the FBI.

Katrina Leung's case was dismissed for prosecutorial misconduct.  The federal prosecutors placed a clause in the handler agent's plea agreement forbidding him from speaking to the defendant or the defense lawyer. In dismissing the spy case, the federal judge said the Department of Justice's "no cooperation" clause in the plea agreement was troubling because it unfairly kept defense attorneys from access to a key witness.  Such prosecutorial misconduct in high level cases is rare, but it happened in this instance.  Interesting, isn't it?

Guess who the US attorney was in the case?  Debra W. Yang, of the Gonzalez attorney scandals who resigned in 2006 and ended up at a law firm with Republican ties and a $1.5 million signing bonus.

The case went to appeal and Ms. Leung received a slap on the wrist: debriefing, probation, community service and a fine.

Another example of Republican manipulation?