Soul Brother Versus Bush
March 6, 2000
Back in 1986 former Delaware Lt. Gov. S.B. Woo was asked by his University of Delaware students what the initials S.B. stood for. He answered, “soul brother.”
This year, “soul brother” Woo — who started the 80/20 political action committee, which proposes that Chinese Americans unite in order to muster greater political power — is working to get the message out to the mainstream. Woo, along with former Berkeley Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien, wants to see that workplace discrimination is prosecuted and complaints are taken seriously; that the “glass ceiling” for Asian Americans is broken; and that qualified Asian Americans are appointed to policy-making positions in federal, judicial and executive branches, including a cabinet post. Woo has started a petition and is asking presidential candidates to support these principles.
Like his paper petition efforts of the 1980s, Woo has gone to cyberspace, garnering over 150,000 e-mail supporters with a goal of 400,000 signatures by November. In doing so, he has kept a low overhead while picking up $170,000 in donations.
Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore enlisted with 80/20’s principles last month, while runner-up and former Sen. Bill Bradley signed up last year. However, 80/20 members say that GOP presidential nominee Governor George W. Bush did not responded, nor did his rival, Senator John McCain, who withdrew from the race last week.
So far, 80/20’s e-mail messages are resonating locally. According to the David Binder/Chinese American Voters Education Committee March 7 exit poll numbers, 18 percent of 196 Chinese voters interviewed said that they were aware of 80/20 and its goals.
By that time, 80/20 had recommended that voters throw their votes and financial support to Gore and Bradley, who both signed on to 80/20. According to the Binder/CAVEC poll, those same voters went 67 percent for Gore, while 18 percent voted for Bush. Bradley garnered only 5 percent, and McCain received 6 percent support.
Woo’s vision is to have 80 percent of the Asian American electorate vote for a presidential candidate this fall and become a “swing vote” in crucial and heavily API-populated states like California.
What Woo and Tien are doing nationally is similar to what was done locally in San Francisco’s 1995 mayoral election. In that race, Chinese Americans were instrumental in getting liberal Willie Brown re-elected, swinging away from conservative Frank Jordan, whom they supported in 1991. As a result of gaining broad Chinese American support, Brown pointed Fred Lau as Police Chief in 1996 and Jordan, while he was in office, appointed Bill Lee as City Administrative Officer.
On the national front, the Bush campaign was miffed, claiming that they responded to 80/20, but not with support for all of 80/20’s principles, such as the proposal for political appointments, which would be illegal, according to former California State Treasurer Matt Fong.
Standing in for Bush at the California Chinese American Republican Association Chinatown banquet last week was Fong, who said Bush agreed in principle with the tenets.
“All things that Governor Bush supports in principle,” said Fong, who added that the governor signed and returned the letter to Tien and Woo. “The 80/20 folks didn’t like the letter,” said Fong, a co-chair of California’s Bush campaign. “It didn’t exactly say the exact words they wanted. [80/20] told the press that Governor Bush never responded. That is absolutely not true.
“With the Fair Practices Commission, Federal Elections Commission with all of its investigations, there is a law that says that you cannot promise to give appointments in return for getting political support,” warned Fong, who was sitting with California Supreme Court Justice Ming Chin. “It doesn’t take a Supreme Court justice to figure that out. Common sense will tell you that.”
Fong emphasized looking at Bush’s record in Texas and his father’s presidential record on Asian American appointments.
80/20 claims it had in vain waited until six days before the California primary for Bush and McCain. As a result, 80/20 called on Republicans to re-register as Democrat or independents, and asked “friends and relatives to boycott the Republican Party” in a release with supporting statements by Woo and Dennis Wong, a long-time San Francisco Republican and former chairman of the Chinese Six Companies.
E-mail comments to potsticker@prodigy.net or samson@sfindependent.com. Calls accepted at 415-826-1100, ext 23.
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