APAPA hosts State’s Only Lt. Gov. Debate
October 27, 2006
<p><font face=”Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif” size=”2″>SACRAMENTO — When the curtain came down at the 5th Annual Voters Education and Candidates Forum this month, event chairman Amy Tong heaved a big sigh of accomplishment. C.C. Yin, entrepreneur-turned-activist for bringing Asian Americans into the American democratic process, couldn’t believe that such a complex event was pulled off to a smooth conclusion. </font></p><p><font face=”Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif” size=”2″>In the state’s only debate, the top lieutenant governor candidates disagreed on a wide range of issues. Republican Tom McClintock focused on reducing taxes and regulations to keep jobs in America and proposed a modest remedy of a combination tax credit and rebate to solve the health insurance coverage problems. Democrat John Garamendi promoted universal health care coverage and improving the education system in California as a way to maintain California’s competitiveness. </font></p><p><font face=”Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif” size=”2″>Republican Secretary of State Bruce McPherson dueled with his democratic State Senator Debra Bowen. </font></p><p><font face=”Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif” size=”2″>During Attorney General candidate session, democrat Jerry Brown repeatedly reminded the 1,200 audience members of the inclusive policies that he adopted during his tenure as California governor, compared with his GOP opponent Chuck Poochigian. Opponents to State Controller candidate John Chiang’s and Board of Equalization candidate Judy Chu, both democrats, chose not to appear.</font></p><div align=”center”><img src=”../directory/getdata.asp?about_id=242004317dc2c774c5575afba970a4a3-1″ border=”0″ width=”345″ height=”198″ /><br /><img src=”../directory/getdata.asp?about_id=242004317dc2c774c5575afba970a4a3-2″ border=”0″ width=”345″ height=”202″ /> </div><p><font face=”Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif” size=”2″>However, State Senate candidate Darrell Steinberg led a spirited debate against the naysayers to the downtown sports arena. The future of the Sacramento Kings was always in the audience’s mind as they weighed a possible economic revival of downtown Sacramento versus the burden of a proposed sales tax. </font></p><p><font face=”Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif” size=”2″>The forum was hosted by 15 Asian American and other California groups, and coordinated by Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association. In addition, 16 other groups and media companies helped. Volunteers included many students and teachers who treated the event as a class.</font></p><p><font face=”Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif” size=”2″>Thanks go to APAPA’s president, Lucy Oback, who assembled the program book. Executive director Michelle Lau and board member Tom Bhe promoted the forum. Board members Irving Teranishi and Norm Deyong sifted through a long list of candidates to invite, and compiled the questionnaires. Dennis Lee and Cynthia Lau outreached to the ethnic media. Ofa Mann managed the debate time. Mayue Carson, Shu Guo, Jonnie Giles, Phan Goh, Cecilia and James Lew, Honey Lum, Linda Ng, Ping Xia and others also dedicated their time as did an honor guard and Gloria Papin, who sang the national anthem.</font></p><hr width=”100%” size=”2″ /><p> </p><p><em><font face=”Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif” size=”2″>Yunshi Wang is an APAPA board member and AsianWeek contributor.</font></em></p>
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