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Roger Chiang

Roger Chiang Selected as APA Outreach Director for the DNC

By Sam Chu Lin

In response to requests from Reps. David Wu and Mike Honda to place more Asian Americans in leadership positions, the Democratic National Committee named Roger Chiang as its new Asian Pacific American Outreach Director.

The DNC is adopting this more aggressive approach to win API votes, Chang said, because it recognizes the population is growing beyond urban centers and has the numbers to determine outcomes in elections.

“Our ability to impact congressional races, our ability to impact mayoral and other local races is greater,” he said. “We’re growing as an ethnic group, and we’re going to work harder to be a bigger player in the political process.”

Chiang’s immediate goal is to win API support for the Democrats in several states.

“We have open seats in Virginia and the race for governor there,” he said. “We also have races in New Jersey where there are emerging Asian Pacific American communities. We had a big turnout in 1992 and 1996, but we saw a little of that waning in 2000. What we have to do is mobilize and reenergize our basic vote there.”

Developing new political leaders in API communities is another priority.

“When it comes down to it,” he said, “our folks don’t participate in record numbers in elections. By identifying issues that are important to them, sending our mailers, hopefully we can change that. We’ll be going to churches and non-traditional venues to reach them.”

The DNC also plans to reach API communities through ethnic radio and television, Chang said.

“It’s not the DNC benefiting at our expense, but the Asian community is going to benefit from our work,” he said. “Asians and the Democrats will win on the issues.”

Chiang admits that many Asian Americans still remember the campaign fundraising scandals of the 1990s, its impact on the community, and the weak response by the Democratic Party. The party questioned many Asian American donors, simply because of their Asian surnames.

The new API outreach director characterized his appointment as a good example of how the Democratic Party has changed its attitude in its treatment of the community.

“By no means are we ignoring the past,” he said. “But we have hired a new compliance director to make sure all rules are followed. What you’re seeing… is that we are establishing this new message: ‘We have always been Asian friendly, but we’re going to great lengths to make sure the Asian community is embraced in the political system.’”