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Community Leaders Move to Draft S.F. Judge to California Assembly

Lillian Sing

Kevin Shelley’s seat open in 2002

By Julie D. Soo

Several dozen Chinese American community leaders gathered last week in Chinatown to announce their latest challenge. Calling themselves “Committee to Draft Lillian K. Sing for the 12th Assembly District of San Francisco,” their purpose, they said, is to support and persuade San Francisco Superior Court Judge Lillian Sing to run for the Assembly seat currently held by Kevin Shelley, who will be termed out of office in 2002.

The group also hopes to pre-empt other challengers with their early push to get Sing on the ballot. Leading the efforts were U.C. Berkeley professor Ling-chi Wang and noted attorney Norman Lew of Lew & Fong, both of whom have worked on civil rights and social issues with Sing. San Francisco Redevelopment Agency Commissioner Benny Yee was also on hand, calling the judge “an outstanding representative of all Americans in the Bay Area.”

Sing was not present at the rally, however. She has not made an official announcement to run, but did move to a home located in the 12th Assembly District early last year.

Like Wang, Yee predicted that others would be announcing their candidacies for the 12th Assembly District in the next couple of weeks. He wanted to lend his “whole-hearted” support to persuade Sing that she is the community’s choice. “Lillian is an outstanding jurist. She is involved in the community and is an outstanding public servant,” Yee said.

John Fong, presiding president of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (Chinese Six Companies), also voiced support for Sing, but was careful to point out that he was speaking for himself and not on behalf of the Six Companies. The organization is prohibited from endorsing or funding political candidates under its not-for-profit status.

“I’m glad to see so many here to support Lillian Sing for the California Assembly,” Fong said. “She has done so much for the Chinese American community... with Chinese for Affirmative Action [Sing was a founding member of CAA] ... with efforts to improve immigrant services. She has worked for the welfare of the Chinese American community.”

No stranger to politics, Sing held a seat on the San Francisco Community College Board from 1979 until 1981, when she was appointed to the San Francisco Municipal Court by then-Gov. Jerry Brown. She was elected to the Superior Court in 1994.

Judicial canons would require Sing to take a leave of absence as a judge or retire from the court, should she decide to declare her candidacy for public office.

Chinese Americans and, indeed, Asian Americans have not held Assembly seats commensurate with California’s API population. March Fong Eu held an Assembly seat from 1966 until 1974, and was California’s Secretary of State from 1974 until 1994. Eu was the first woman elected to the Secretary of State office, and the first Chinese American to hold a California constitutional office.

Former Alameda County Supervisor Wilma Chan was elected to the Assembly in November 2000, only the second Chinese American to serve in the Assembly and only the 80th woman to serve in the Assembly’s history. With former Assemblyman Mike Honda’s successful bid for Congress last November, the only other API assemblyman besides Chan is Southern California’s George Nakano.

At the rally, Wang lauded other local Chinese American elected officials, including former Supervisors Gordon Lau, George Chin and Tom Hsieh. Afterward, he noted privately that he hoped to unify the community behind Sing, and to reenergize API political power, especially in view of what happened in the last election with the loss of Mabel Teng and Michael Yaki from the Board of Supervisors. Wang also speculated that Supervisor Leland Yee would come out to challenge Sing for the Assembly seat, which Wang characterized as a divisive move to split the Chinese American community.

Other notable Sing supporters include Harrison and Margaret Lim, Thomas Ng, Pius Lee, Francisco Hsieh, Hayden Lee, Henry Louie, Mel Lee, Henry Der, Gordon Chin, Ben Hom, Tom Hsieh, Dr. Dennis Wong, Ted Wang, Claudine Cheng, Helen Hui and Rose Pak.

“I don’t need to talk about what she can or will do, because we know,” said Norman Lew of Sing, his longtime friend. “As a sitting Superior Court judge, she cannot actively campaign unless she resigns or takes a leave of absence from her job. She will be making a big sacrifice,” said Lew, urging those present to gather more people to show their steadfast support for Sing.