The stain of money

This is beginning to feel like one of those segments on sportcasts when they do the daily roundup of athletes' legal troubles, but here goes:

Fred Thompson, right out of the gates, has drawn some heat for accepting contributions from a Tennessee family whose pharmaceutical company paid $124 million to settle complaints that it had overcharged federal health programs.  Thompson's response, as delivered to Politico.com:  He's keeping the money.  And an aide dismissed comparisons to Norman Hsu, the Democratic fundraiser who corralled cash for Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson.  After 15 years as a fugitive on a no-contest plea to theft charges, Hsu failed to show up for a court hearing in in Redwood City, Calif., earlier this week.  Authorities nabbed him yesterday after he fell ill on an Amtrak train traveling through Colorado.

-- Scott Martelle