Year of the Ram: Chinese New Year Feature (Feature) Washington Journal: Is War Good for Asian Pacific Americans? (in National News) Cheu Steps Down as Executive Director of LGBT Center (in Bay Area News) U.S. Opens Door to Shanghai Club (in Sports) Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend (in A&E) Emil Amok: Internment? No, Harrassment is Enough (in Opinion)

Keeping a ‘Locke’ on California

RIPPLE EFFECT Just days before the start of the Lunar New Year, Washington Gov. Gary Locke gave the Democratic response to George W. Bush’s State of the Union address. Beyond Locke’s rote response to Bush, the Washington governor represents a healing for Asian Pacific American Democrats.

In 1996, the so-called “Chinagate” scandal implicated Democratic National Committee fundraiser and former Clinton administration appointee John Huang for accepting overseas donations. The DNC at one point audited and investigated some 1,200 APA donors.

Some feel that the ripples of “Chinagate,” followed by Wen Ho Lee’s unlawful incarceration, denied UC Berkeley chancellor Chang-Ling Tien the opportunity to become the first APA to hold a cabinet seat, early in the Clinton Administration.

An APA Republican Senate candidate also suffered. In 1998, California State Treasurer Matt Fong was tagged for accepting foreign contributions. Fong’s early lead in the polls evaporated in a landslide defeat to Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer. The contribution question might have nagged Fong when Bush nominated him for undersecretary of the Army. Fong withdrew, refusing to subject his family to the intense scrutiny of Senate confirmation hearings in 2001.

CABINET/CALIFORNIA CONNECTION Only in Clinton’s final year in office did he appoint Norman Mineta to Secretary of Commerce. Clinton had upped the ante for his successor, George W. Bush, to seat APAs in his cabinet.

The new president in 2001 retained Democrat Mineta by shifting him to Transportation Secretary. Then Bush appointed Elaine Chao as Labor Secretary.

Chao, Fong and Mineta all have connections to California.

Democrat Mineta once served as a long-time San Jose Congressman and mayor. Republican Chao had ties with Los Angeles, where she supported the elder George Bush and Sen. Pete Wilson. Republican Fong was State Treasurer and the son of popular California Secretary of State March Fong Eu — a Democrat.

APA DEMOCRATIC EDGE Chao, Mineta and Fong came from a state whose population is 12 percent APA and whose electorate is 7 percent APA. They also come from a state that leans Democratic — 45 percent Democrat, 35 percent Republican and 20 percent other party or decline-to-state.

However, APAs are not overwhelmingly Democratic. APAs are only 42 percent Democrat, 36 percent Republican and 22 percent other party or decline-to-state, according to a January 2002 California Field Poll.

In a Nov. 29 AsianWeek story, APA voting rights groups found in November 2002 exit polls that APAs affiliated more with the Democratic Party in Los Angeles and San Francisco counties. In the former Republican stronghold of Orange County, Democrats and Republicans were at near parity among APAs.

To help retain the Democratic edge among California APA voters and contributors, Democrats turned to an APA Democrat, Gov. Gary Locke, to rebut Bush’s State of the Union speech on Jan. 28.

2004 ELECTIONS Democratic margins translated into Democrats winning all the state constitutional offices and retaining control of legislature last November. Here’s the caveat. If the recession continues into next year, voters can only point blame at the Democrats.

The same economic recession is also afflicting both Washington and California. Like California, Washington depends on aerospace (Boeing) and a hi-tech economy (Microsoft). Locke is coping with a $2 billion budget shortfall, while California Gov. Gray Davis is fixing a $35 billion budget deficit. Both have slipped in the polls. Davis barely won re-election last November. Locke, with declining polls, faces voters in the presidential election year of 2004.

ELECTORAL COLLEGE CALCULUS Nationally, blame for a lagging economy and a quagmire in war with Iraqi could fall on a Republican Congress and White House next year. Bush’s popularity could easily evaporate, much like his father’s in 1992, when he failed to address a recession, despite his success in the Gulf War.

Democrats, to defeat Bush, must win the Pacific Coast electoral college votes of California (55 votes), Washington (11), and Oregon (7) for 2004. Combined, they represent more than one-quarter of the electoral votes needed to win the presidency. Gore won the states in 2000 and Clinton won them in 1992 and 1996.

APAs voted for Gore over Bush, 55-41 percent, in 2000.

For Democrats to win the White House in 2004 and beyond, they must “Locke” in the APA voters of California, Oregon and Washington.

SPAM FOR SAM: Reach Samson Wong at samson@sfindependent.com.