Commerce Secretary reacts to outcome of presidential election
By Sam Chu Lin
On Tuesday Commerce Secretary Norman Mineta came to the Bay Area to swear in his son, David, to the school board for Brisbane, Calif.’s Jefferson Union High School District. At the ceremony, Norman Mineta got word that the U.S. Supreme Court had reversed Florida’s Supreme Court ruling to manually recount votes cast in the Nov. 2 election, thus ending Vice President Al Gore’s campaign for the presidency.
AsianWeek: What are your thoughts on the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling?
Norman Mineta: At this point, I am not sure what the implications of this court decision are. I haven’t read it or heard anything about it. I would assume this essentially makes George W. Bush the president. Now it is a question of healing all the divisions and wounds and making sure we gather behind the president elect … There are a lot of things that have to be done in this country in terms of the agenda, and we have to all join hands and get behind the president.
AW: How will this election’s outcome affect Asian Americans?
NM: I believe … the API community voted strongly in favor of Al Gore. But what this also means is that as a community we’ve got to make sure that president-elect Bush fulfills his promise about inclusion. He talked about making sure that everyone is considered and he talked about broadening the reach of his administration. We have qualified Asian Americans and I think the community is going to have to make sure they are considered for cabinet positions as well as other high-ranking policy-making positions.
AW: What are your plans?
NM: On Jan. 20, I will step down. I already signed a letter of resignation effective Jan. 20, as all of us are obligated to do. After that, I’ll start looking around to see what I’m going to do next.
AW: Is there a possibility you would retain your position?
NM: First of all the Bush administration should consider people who supported him throughout his campaign. I think his obligation is to look to Republicans who are Asian American … That’s what his primary duty is, and I would be fully supportive of that. This is not about Norm Mineta. This is about advancing the API community and I think there are a number of Republican Asian Americans who could help do that. |
