The Importance of Role Models
June 29, 2008
The Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership (capal.org), founded here in Washington in 1989 to encourage Asian Pacific American participation in government, has helped almost two decades’ worth of summer interns to learn how government works.
Among the scholarships offered to bright young APAs when they work in a congressional office or federal agency is the Senator Paul Simon Scholarship. There is a reason that Sen. Simon’s name graces a scholarship for up-and-coming APA community leaders. Simon was a newspaper publisher and good government advocate, who served as a Democratic representative and then United States senator from Illinois in a career that spanned 32 years.
Born to parents who were missionaries to China, he had a special understanding of and concern for the Asian Pacific American community. He hired APA staff and championed issues of concern to the APA community. A strong advocate of both fiscal and social responsibility, he was an early advocate of balanced federal budgets as well as civil rights for APAs and all people.
I thought of Sen. Simon recently when I attended a conference in Chicago and met several alumni of his congressional offices, including his Chicago Director Nancy Chen, who now serves as co-chair of Sen. Obama’s APIA National Leadership Council.
One Asian Pacific American who distinguished himself on Sen. Simon’s staff is now poised to bring Sen. Simon’s approach to good government to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. David Chiu, the son of Chinese immigrant parents, went on to earn undergraduate, law and public policy degrees from Harvard. He is now running for a seat as District 3 representative to the board, an area that includes North Beach, Chinatown and other communities in the northeast corner of the city.
If Chiu wins on November 4, it will be the first time that San Francisco’s Chinatown has been represented by a Chinese American. Other APAs have served on the Board of Supervisors from other districts and in at-large capacities, but one of the oldest and most widely recognized APA communities in the nation has never been represented by a Chinese American supervisor.
Looking at his campaign Web site (votedavidchiu.org), Chiu is clearly immersed in the issues that affect San Francisco and especially his neighbors in District 3. He currently serves as the chair of a neighborhood association and as a San Francisco small business commissioner.
He also founded an award-winning, nationally recognized technology company, Grassroots Enterprise, after working as a criminal prosecutor in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office and as a civil rights attorney with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. In his spare time, he has served as a local Democratic Party activist, as the board chair of nonprofit organizations dedicated to affordable housing and youth leadership, and as president of the largest local Asian American bar association in the country.
For some of us on the East Coast, however, we knew that David was destined to follow in the honorable public service tradition of Paul Simon 20 years ago. I personally remember speaking at a conference bridging diverse ethnic communities that David organized when he was a sophomore at Harvard in 1988.
After earning his law degree and moving to Washington, I remember meeting David again at events that he helped to organize for CAPAL. In fact, he was on the committee that set up the Paul Simon scholarship.
David served as Democratic counsel for Sen. Simon on the Senate Judiciary Committee in the mid-1990s, when Sen. Simon was a powerful voice for socially progressive and fiscally responsible policies in Washington. Sen. Simon, with David’s counsel, could be counted on for opposition to the gun lobby, the death penalty and unfair laws such as the Defense of Marriage Act.
Chiu also served as Sen. Simon’s budget aide, and was responsible for crafting a balanced federal budget plan that significantly increased health care, social services and education spending, while cutting back on waste in the Pentagon budget. During an era of budget deficits, Simon’s balanced budget proposal became a blueprint for subsequent Clinton White House budgets that led to huge budget surpluses when Clinton left office in 2000.
I live in Maryland, so I cannot vote for David Chiu for supervisor on November 4. But given all that I have seen of this promising public servant over two decades, I hope that the citizens of District 3 give him a chance to bring his socially progressive and fiscally responsible views to the Board of Supervisors on November 4.
Related articles:
District 3 Candidates For Supervisor Debate
Comments
9 Responses to “The Importance of Role Models”
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Great article on David, Phil!
It is pretty sad that the district encompassing San Francisco’s Chinatown has never been represented by a Chinese American.
If elected, David will do an outstanding job representing *all* the neighborhoods in District 3.
I’ve started evaluating many of the candidates running in District 3. I am most impressed with David Chiu because he’s actually got a track record of working on local issues.
Affordable housing? He chaired the largest affordable housing organization in the district. Public safety? He’s a former prosecutor. Small business? He serves on the City’s Small Business Commission.
Other candidates can talk about what they plan to do if they’re elected. David Chiu can actually point to past accomplishments as an indicator of the kind of public servant he’ll be as an elected Supervisor.
I’m looking forward to telling my neighbors to vote for David Chiu in November.
This article states that David Chiu “also founded an award-winning, nationally recognized technology company, Grassroots Enterprise.” Here are some Grassroots Enterprise troubling facts:
i) Executives in Grassroots
Grassroots Executive VP Bill McIntyre (Ex-Spokesperson for the National Rifle Association)
http://www.grassroots.com/who/leadership/mcintyre/
Grassroots Senior Advisor & Board Member Randy Tate (Ex-Executive Director of the Christian Coalition)
http://www.grassroots.com/who/leadership/tate/
Grassroots Director Kimberly Breslin (Ex-National Republican Congressional Committee Fundraiser)
http://www.grassroots.com/press/120605/
Grassroots Director Kevin O’Neill (Ex-Executive Director of the American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC) i.e. lobbyist association)
http://www.grassroots.com/who/leadership/oneill/
Grassroots employee Steve Kuykendall (Republican who ran for Assembly)
http://center.spoke.com/info/srp?company=Grassroots+Enterprise
Grassroots founder Matt Fong (Republican for U.S. Senate who ran against Barbara Boxer) http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Grassroots+Activists+joined+by+Former+White+House+Officials+and…-a058664457
Republican National Committee eCampaign Director Michael Turk (formerly Grassroots employee & Bush-Cheney ’04 eCampaign Director)
http://www.gop.com/News/NewsRead.aspx?Guid=e3d9c997-0ab2-467a-813b-6292c7c7d888
This is not a complete list. Here is one listing of the companies employees for someone who wants to do further homework:
http://center.spoke.com/info/srp?company=Grassroots+Enterprise
ii) Grassroots Clients
The list of prior clients/customers is limited as it is kept confidential. While it is diverse and includes Democratic organizations (e.g. Sierra Club) they also have many Republican and right-wing organizations. Here are some examples:
Republican Party
http://opensecrets.org/parties/expenddetail.php?cmte=RPC&txt=GRASSROOTS+ENTERPRISE%2C+INC&cycle=2004
Republican Leadership Council
http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/expenddetail.php?cycle=2008&cmte=C00409169&name=Grassroots+Enterprise
Campaign to elect moderate Republicans
http://www.grassroots.com/cases/mypartytoo/
Republican National Committee
http://www.hoovers.com/grassroots-enterprise/–ID__100287–/free-co-profile.xhtml
Republican Peter Ueberroth for Governor
http://landscapearchive.grassroots.com/landscape/awards/
Republican Steve Kuykendall for Assembly
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22Steve+Kuykendall+for+Assembly%22+%22grassroots+enterprise%22&btnG=Search
Wal-Mart
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Wal-Mart_Stores_Inc.#Online_offensive
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/2005/04
iii) “Astroturfing”
The company itself is provides services that maximize the generation of online grassroots activity. This is termed as “astroturfing” which has become controversial because it is felt by many that it isn’t a true and honest reflection of genuine grassroots activity. For more information on “astroturfing”:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Astroturfing#SOSA_example
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Grassroots-PR
http://www.personaldemocracy.com/node/848
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/5/26/105317/091
http://www.prwatch.org/taxonomy/term/110/9?page=5
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1006-30.htm
http://www.nationaljournal.com/pubs/techdaily/pmedition/tp070118.htm (see “Lobbying”)
iv) Information Disappears
Unfortunately it is hard to find complete information on Grassroots Enterprises. Much of what is available disappears
AsianTimes had a few articles which have recently been pulled down from their website.
(see separate attachment)
Grassroots website has been scrubbed:
http://www.grassroots.com/who/clients/
This page had the Grassroots client list:
http://www.linksv.com/companySummary.aspx?co_idURL=2193
link no longer works. From Google Search you can see it existed
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Steve+Kuykendall+republican+national+committee+%22grassroots+enterprise%22&btnG=Search
This article keeps focusing on how David Chiu will represent the Chinese people in Chinatown. Chiu does not even speak our language so how can he communicate with the Chinese people in Chinatown? He is only concerned with Polk Gulch, as shown by all of his previous commitments. What has he ever done for Chinatown? He is very unpopular with the citizens Chinatown. Cheng and Pang are the only two candidates that have really shown a commitment to Chinatown. David Chiu is just trying to use his name, but we in Chinatown know that Peng or Cheng will actually be dedicated to this neighborhood. How can this author have any clue about Chinatown when he lives on the East Coast?
I’m curious as to how Matier/Ross covcrs this race, and whom the Chronicle will “endorse.”
Too many Bay Area APAs subscribe and “trust” the Chronicle the way too many Americans ditto the NYTimes.
P.S.: AsianWeek’s Eastern “Phil” continues his record of absolute excellence. As for the Southland Phil, are you in the SAG or AFTRA camp? I’m bemused. AFTRA used to be the “real” “union,” and SAG the “company union,” right after Ronald Reagan became its president. Gee, will all those “names” be walking the picket lines? Sure hope so.
June:
Your post is, literally, overwhelming with its citations, which, if accurate, make Chiu sound less than “likely.”
But, Cheng, “speaking” the “language” is not, in itself, determinant here, and “representing” “Chinatown” by itself is only half the answer to civic questions.
I presume when you refer to the Chinatown lingua franca you mean “Cantonese,” which itself may be a “dying” language and is also fractured into subdialects.
This looks very much like a microcosm of the larger national macrocosm of “politics” and “turf:: and the incredible factorings of “professional” “hired guns” who work for whomever pays.’
As such, where do issues like the Stockton terminus?, college campus?, AND affordable housing for seniors register?
In yesterday’s LATimes online, there was a longish piece on the celebration of “New” “Chinatown’s” 70th anni, in which at least one of the scions of a founding merchant family noted he and his siblings were “earning” more money than they knew “what to do with.”
I suggest they plow some of it into funding a modest inquiry into thie local municipal race, as in “race.”
Who’s kidding whom here?
And how does an East Coaster qualify for a place on the ballot?
June… thanks for your post… I just went to the Grassroots Enterprise website and easily found this information:
“When you walk into the Grassroots Enterprise office in Washington, DC, you might notice something strange. On your left (appropriately) is the office for John Hlinko, an ardent Democrat who helped lead MoveOn.org in its early days. On your right (of course) is the office for Bill McIntyre, the former chief national spokesman for the NRA. And when you look to our list of senior advisors, you will see Mike McCurry, former spokesman for President Clinton, and Randy Tate, former executive director of the Christian Coalition.”
From what I can read, Chiu’s company does work for Republicans and Democrats. Employs crazy left-wingers and crazy right-wingers alike!
But why didn’t you mention their work with Moveon.org and the ACLU?
Why do you paint this it as a Republican conspiracy?
Grassroots Enterprise looks like a typical K-Street lobbying firm that works across the aisle with both Democrats and Republicans – before W, that was commonplace in Washington, D.C.
After W, it will become commonplace again.
Chung:
T.
For “time out.”
Time out to smell the rot and corrosion in that “left’ and “right” of the Beltway “aisle.”
Since ‘06 abd Nancy’s renunciation of “impeachment,” it has become amply clear that this nation is under the swing and sway of a plutocracy/bureaucracy in the pay and service of the oiligarchy, an “elite” that lacks even the “grace” of the soignee of the “royals” of old, and forget the “oblige” that was tacked on to the “noblesse.”
Hell, the Bushies can’t even read their Bibles properly.
Well, “intelligence”ly, that is.
That said, my guess is that a “Grassroots” interest in a mere District 3 race can be chalked up to the obvious: San Francisco and the Bay Area are one of the three “gateways” to the rising puissance of the entire “Pacific Rim,” something Rudd of Australia at least has recognized.
Which presages and foreshadows the inevitable and omnipresent Big Bro of limited vision and less grasp of factors out of “his” bias and fears.
Note well today’s London Guardian piece about the “skinhead” murders in Moscow by teenagers.
Twenty, count ‘em, 20 Soviet versions of Vincent Chin, and that doesn’t include a single young assassin’s claim to THIRTY-TWO kills. That doesn’t begin to rival Dubya’s million-plus in Iraq, but it DOES put him to personal jock shame as a macho.
So, what do “we” do with all those raunchy “homeless”? Besides ignore them, that is.
Frank Eng
P.S.: There but for the grace . . . ?
I am quite sure that David is an SF resident and is very active in District 3 affairs. I am a North Beach resident and Caucasian, and am quite sure that David will be a great listener and make wise decisions and take action on behalf of all district residents and even-handed in any conflicts. He is too high-integrity for anything less. And from what I know, David is quite well-regarded among the district’s Chinatown and Chinese/Asian-American residents.