Will today’s filing deadline, 08/08/08, be lucky for Chinese American candidates? With S.F. Democratic Party and political club endorsements in the coming weeks, supervisor candidate David Chiu will be haunted by his July 23 vote against re-electing Scott Wiener as S.F. Democratic Party’s county committee chairman. Ironically Wiener had appointed Chiu to the committee in 2006. But Chiu’s vote ran against the powerful Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club, of which Wiener was formerly co-chair… LAVENDER ACCOUNTABILITY: After the Wiener vote, the club stated on its website that it will uphold “Alice’s policy of holding our elected officials, and those whom we have endorsed, accountable for their actions in office.” If so, Toklas’ District 3 supervisor endorsement will likely swing against Chiu and could favor attorneys Claudine Cheng or Joseph Alioto, who are running to succeed Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin,. Peskin edged out Wiener in the 18-16 vote for party chair. Chiu could suffer the consequences of being a Peskin ally and betraying Wiener before the November election and the LGBT tsunami against Proposition 8’s repeal of same sex marriage … ISSUE OR GOSSIP?: The tone of Alice’s crucial endorsement could legitimate controversies about Chiu’s alleged right-wing business connections, brought up by fringe District 3 candidate and muckraking columnist H. Brown. He had questioned whether the liberal Chiu as Chief Operating Officer, founder and shareholder of Grassroots Enterprise, hired (or even worked for) ex-national leaders of the Christian Coalition and the Family Research Council (bios are at grassroots.com/who/leadership/). The latter was led by Grassroots director Darren Chong who was instrumental in confirming conservative John Roberts as U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice in 2005. Chiu has said he opposed Grassroots’ hiring of some right-wingers, and the firm has worked mostly for liberal causes and Democratic clients… LAVENDER SHIELD: Even if Alice or anyone pushes the lavender button, Chiu could inoculate himself with high profile LGBT endorsements by winning the endorsement of Alice’s rival - the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club and couple that with his support from Assemblyman Mark Leno and Supervisor Tom Ammiano…
CHIANG VERSUS ARNOLD: The budget standoff between Governor and Controller John Chiang over paying state employees the federal minimum wage is inviting comparisons to President Bill Clinton facing down House Speaker Newt Gingrich over the budget and the 1995-96 federal government shutdown. If Chiang trumps Schwarzenegger, he not only sidetracks Arnold’s political future but also elevates himself to a national figure - with wide-ranging speculation for governor and senator in 2010 and beyond…
GENERAL FOR WANG: District 1 (Richmond) supervisor candidate and Chinese Historical Society of America director Sue Lee supports retaining the JROTC program. Rival and teacher Alicia Wang, who hasn’t announced her JROTC stance, has drawn the endorsement of former Bill and Hillary Clinton top advisor and four-star General Wesley Clark, who commanded his “troops” in an email to vote and raise money for Wang, a member of the Democratic National Committee…
MAR’S MISSED OPPORTUNITY: If school board member Eric Mar had forged a compromise to save JROTC, he could have increased his odds of winning the race for supervisor in District 1 (Richmond) and defused the ire of more than 250 angry students and supporters who have qualified a citywide measure to save the leadership program which is more than 70 percent APA. Mar would have positioned himself as a “practical progressive,” enabling himself to draw second and third choice ranked choice votes for supervisor….
END OF HYPHEN, PERIOD: Obama campaign legislative director Chris Lu has assured two APAs, including Dr. Christina Fa of Yellowvisions - an APA pop culture collection - and of Asian American Media Watch, that Obama’s “AAPI team…will correct it” by removing the derogatory hyphenated “Asian-American” on their website and apparently future press releases. Fa wrote to Lu and legislative director Ramey Ko of Asian Americans for Obama campaign about their July 8 press release announcing “Obama Campaign Announces Asian-American Finance Committee.” The hyphen carries the “implication that APAs are ‘half Asian, half American’ [and] is ludicrous when we have been in what is now the U.S. since the 1500s,” said Fa. The doctor successfully helped lead community efforts allowing former Locke residents (of the last remaining rural Chinese American town) and their descendants the opportunity to acquire land once denied by state’s racist alien land law….
HOMELAND INSECURITY: And it’s lovely that San Francisco Chronicle (which doesn’t hyphenate unlike the San Jose Mercury News) misleadingly headlines sportswriter Janny Hu’s July 28 front page story “Chinese Americans See Games as Symbol of Homeland’s Progress” in its print edition. Last I remember, I was born here and the Hearst Corporation paper’s “homeland” is in New York… ANOTHER MISS: Despite an email and fax of a campaign press release, the Chronicle again was asleep at the switch last Friday, leaving Claudine Cheng out of a story about how much moola supervisor candidates had raised. Cheng garnered $100,000 herself in District 3 (North Beach/Chinatown) and support from Mayor Gavin Newsom, Self Help for the Elderly director Anni Chung, Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, College Board members Lawrence Wong and Rodel Rodis, former Supervisor Tom Hsieh and Filipina American political godmother Alice Bulos. Cheng, just returning from the Organization of Chinese Americans (where she was national president) convention in Washington D.C, has equaled or exceeded the fundraising efforts of business executive David Chiu, neighborhood activist Denise McCarthy and attorney Joseph Alioto…
SET THE EXAMPLE: Likewise, local attorneys are raising concern about an unprecedented move at the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area to endorse candidates for supervisor - which includes active attorneys like Claudine Cheng and former AABA president David Chiu, and inactive bar and school board member Eric Mar. In the past, AABA has offered guidance for legal offices like district attorney, public defender, city attorney and judge. If a few attorneys are tilting the process for a particular candidate, then they’re no better than the right-wing zealots under former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales corrupting the selection of federal prosecutors…
Reach Samson Wong at (415) 321-5886 or swong@asianweek.com.