Just when you were thinking that big, sophisticated, organizations have so many resources that they don’t have background check problems, you catch sight of an article in the Washington Post with the title: “Clinton Campaign Cites Flawed Background Check.” Here’s the core of the article.
A spokesman for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign yesterday blamed a faulty background check for the campaign’s failure to raise any questions about Norman Hsu, a previously unknown businessman who suddenly became one of its biggest fundraisers.
Though a commonly used public record search shows that Hsu had multiple business lawsuits filed against him dating to 1985, filed for bankruptcy in 1990, and was a defendant in two 1991 California court matters listed as possible criminal cases, the campaign said its computer checks used insufficient search terms that did not include the two middle names Hsu used in the California case. “In all of these searches, the campaign used the name Norman Hsu, which, like the search results of other committees and campaigns, did not turn up disqualifying information,” Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson explained.
For Senator Clinton’s campaign, this is a political issue. For you and me it’s the inspiration to check our own background check system.
Check to make sure that you’re doing enough. If you’re just doing a pre-employment credit check, should you be doing a criminal background check as well?
Check to make sure you do it when you should. Results that reach you too late to help you make a decision are almost as bad as no results at all. That’s one reason clients like Sentry Link’s system. You get results as quickly as possible.
Check to make sure you do it every time. Audit your last few hires or tenant screenings. Did you follow your procedure on every one? Set up a simple system to make sure you do.
No one from the Clinton Campaign has checked with me to ask what did I see, that they did not see, about Hsu. If they really want to tighten up internal control, don’t you think they should have at least e-mailed me?
Samantha Wolf did not answer my question. My question was not “is this a Ponzi scam?” The question was, “is this the same man?”
I am the Irvine businessman.