Atrios writes on The Spinning of Leung in today's New York Press.

The truth is that Leung is a well-known Republican party activist and fundraiser. If any Gore-related investigations were compromised by her involvement with former FBI agent Smith, it is likely that any disinformation she provided was designed to hurt, and not to help, him. Years later, the media's desire to justify their overblown coverage of Gore fundraising irregularities leads them to spin any story against him. It stands in sharp contrast to their quiet coverage of numerous campaign finance illegalities, including donations from Chinese sources, of the '96 Dole presidential run, and the fact that the Federal Election Commission auditors had determined that the Dole campaign took in over twice as much in illegal contributions than did Clinton and Gore.

One of TalkLeft's highly regarded readers is concerned about the connection between Leung and the Republican party and believes the press is conveniently overlooking the import.

Leung was also active in Republican party politics and the connection between the two troubles me. I'm hesitant about reading more into stuff than may be there, but this seems very strange. When the story came out, I googled her name and came up the fact that she was:

1. An "old Friend" of William Simon, "Republican candidate for Governor
of California,"

2. A donater to Richard Riordan's campaign for Governor in her role as
"Secretary" of National Association of Chinese Americans, (apparently,
she also travelled with him to China)

3. A contributer as an individual at the "Benefactor" level (the highest level, I think) to The National Committee on United States-China Relations which includes Gerald Ford, Robert S. Macnamara, David Gergen, and Tom Kean amongst its many luminaries. These are, of course, major players in both parties but primarily Republican.