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Campaign Finance Quip Gets Few Laughs

Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao. File photo by AP

Democratic chairwoman sends apology to Chao for remark

By Associated Press

When Democratic Party Chairwoman Nicki Patton offered a list of 10 possible reasons why Sen. Mitch McConnell was nowhere to be found, she told those gathered at the Fancy Farm picnic, an annual political gathering in Graves County, Ken.:

“He passed up some good Kentucky pork to chow down at the Chinese money buffet.”

She has since apologized to U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, the wife of McConnell.

McConnell, a Republican who will be seeking his fourth term in 2002, has been criticized for his fundraising among Asian interests. Chao, McConnell’s second wife, emigrated from Taiwan to the United States.

Republican Chairwoman Ellen Williams, who followed Patton on the speaker’s stand at the Aug. 4 event, took the word “chow” to be a play on the secretary’s name and said Patton should apologize. Newspaper editorials since then have also taken Patton, who is the daughter of Gov. Paul Patton, to task.

Patton declined to release the letter but issued a statement that said she apologized “for any misinterpretation of my remarks.”

“I expressed to her my sincere regrets, as I intended no disrespect, malice nor harm toward her and hope the secretary will accept my heartfelt apology,” Patton said in the statement.

The letter was sent on Aug. 6 by overnight delivery.

Democratic spokeswoman Susan Dixen said it was a “matter between Nicki and the secretary whether the secretary chooses to accept her apology and release the letter.”

Since the mid-1990s, campaign finance has been a sensitive topic for Asian Pacific Islander Americans. During former President Clinton’s re-election bid in 1996, questions were first raised over whether illegal money had been accepted from Asian contributors. Community leaders criticized the DNC for focusing its investigation into the matter on APIA donors.

Since that time, both parties, as well as private organizations, have used the issue of campaign finance for political advantage. In the process, the reputation of APIAs has been tainted. Most recently, Judicial Watch, a law firm that investigates government corruption, accused Matt Fong, the former nominee for Army Undersecretary, of being a security risk in part because of his acceptance of a donation from an Indonesian businessman.

Chao’s office in the Labor Department did not return a call for comment.