x******7
发帖数: 8 | 1 华人参政的热情高涨可喜可贺，哪些候选人值得支持， 哪些Not ready to run? 这是
华人社区应该思考的问题。
这里分享 APAPA 湾区主席 Dr. Albert Wang 的聊天记录。供大家讨论。
===================
时间: Jun 21, 2014
地点: 微信 SVCA 义工群
小结：APAPA Bay Area Chair Albert Wang 谈论参政体会， 包括 CBC， Fremont
Weibel 学区重划, 支持候选人的标准。 他的分享受到热烈赞许，这里加以整理和补充
，奉献给大家。
（Revised on Aug 13, 2014)
Some background on CBC （华人权益服务社，简称华益社）, Citizens for Better
Community http://www.cbcsfbay.org/, a Fremont based Chinese American organization.
CBC’s forefather was a “breakfast club”, a group of Chinese Americans (
mostly from Taiwan, some from Hong Kong and ABC’s) getting together to
network for business and also learn about subjects of interest. Members (
very informal, anyone can come and go any time) would talk about their
expertise, such as CPA about tax law changes, etc. Around 1989, Henry Yin
ran for School Board, and was close but didn’t win. People started to
learn a little about politics.
CBC’s original mission was to get Chinese American involved in local
affairs, related to Business, Health, and Education, something most Chinese
cared about. After I joined, we added Community Involvement as the fourth
focus.
In 1992 CBC held its first event, a fundraiser for Asian American Donor
Program (AADP, 美亚骨髓捐赠协会), a bone marrow match program for Asians.
There were very few API potential donors of bone marrow at the time. It’s
extremely hard for cancer patients of our race to get a good match. Dr.
Chiu, CBC’s first President and a dentist, had a friend whose child needed
a bone marrow transplant but could not find one. He started, together with
others, and formed AADP. Today, it’s a very successful ongoing program and
has gotten probably 100,000′s of people registered. It is now linked to
Taiwan’s 慈济bone marrow bank, benefiting people around the world. BTW, Dr
. Chiu is actually from Shanghai, but left for Hong Kong at age 6 and came
to the US for college.
In my, and other CBC founders’ mind, the purpose of CBC is to have “our
people” in every aspect of Fremont’s life. One of the goals is to have
elected officials at every level. But it’s also important to have Chinese
Americans in Rotary, Lion’s club, PTA’s, various charity board and
foundations (hospital, college, library, women’s shelter, kids’ services,
etc), as well as being staff in government.
It is meant to establish good working relationship and trust during “peace
time”. When something happens that affects our community, there will be
channels of communication where trust has been built already and our voices
can be heard.
Around 1995, a Fremont school board member resigned due to personal reasons.
We promoted the Fremont Chinese School Vice Principal Anna Muh 乔台云 to
apply, not expecting her to be selected since she hasn’t done much at the
local school. However, school board members realized the importance to have
a Chinese American representative, given the rapidly growing student
population, and they appointed her.
Knowing that she’ll face election soon, I decided to learn about campaigns
because we didn’t have that expertise in our community and I didn’t know
who to trust to help. So I actively participated in a school bond campaign,
learning the basics of campaigning, and managed Anna Muh’s campaign next
year. We were fortunate that, Bill Harrision (current Fremont Mayor), the
campaign manager for then retired police chief running for city council (
later mayor) Bob Wasserman, has a Chinese wife who ran for the Sanitary
District board and I had supported her. Bill helped me and taught me most
of what I know about campaigns. We were very successful together and both
won with highest votes.
Winning one election for an incumbent, albeit appointed incumbent, was
viewed as an anomaly and luck. It’s not until Steve Cho （曹业云，共和党）
won a city council seat in 2000 with a native campaign without outside help
, in fact running against the Democratic party machine plus the more
independent Bill Harrison, that CBC’s people (CBC is 501c4, does not engage
in campaigns) began to gain respect for its political influence.
The reason for the long history is that it takes time and multiple efforts
to “get somewhere”. It won’t be a one time, one year event. Subsequently
Ivy Wu (吴苇，无党派，current CBC President) won school board seats in 2004
and 2008, retiring in 2012. Lily Mei （高叙加，无党派）won in 2008 and
2012 (I did not run her campaigns). Steve Cho won another council race in
2004, terming out in 2008 and failed at two mayoral campaigns, one against
Bob Wasserman and one against Bill Harrison, both ran by me against my
former mentor. But Bill and I remain good friends until today and regularly
communicate on city issues. So PLEASE do not be a single issue or single
candidate group. Long term relationships continue and respect is earned by
doing good community work, even if we may be on opposite sides of a campaign
. Standing on opposite sides of a campaign with friends is unavoidable
unless we want to be patsies for some political machine (either party or
some prominent political figure). We Chinese must seek out our own path and
build on that. Yes, Anna Muh has remained very active in the community and
runs the CBC Youth Internship and Toastmaster programs. Ivy Wu is CBC
President and also founded her own non-profit, FUSS (Fremont Unified School
Store), working with a diverse group of parents (many Indo-Americans and
whites) to support Fremont schools. Today’s CBC has mostly achieved its
goal of having “someone everywhere”.
Seeing that CAPA, Chinese American Political Association (美华参政协会，CAPA
) of Walnut Creek, had a youth internship program in the World Journal, I
started the CBC program in 1994, consulting CAPA. Subsequently, CAPA and
CBC both helped Vision New America (VNA) start its own internship program,
then APAPA’s program after that.
Toastmaster was initially a Fremont Chinese School program. But it was
losing steam and CBC took it over and ran it for the last 15 years or so.
Seeing the importance of public speaking, CBC started its own adult
toastmaster’s program too, to help mostly immigrants (not just Chinese at
this point) to improve public speaking skill so critical in this country.
And many other worthwhile programs and organizations were formed by CBC
active members – the FUSS and AADP mentioned above, and FCSN (华人特殊儿童
之友，Friends of Children with Special Needs). The relationships built
within CBC have been extremely helpful in forming these groups, both in
terms of connections (political and otherwise) and financial support.
As to the Weibel school re-boundary issue, I was one of those living in the
Weibel district and with my older daughter about to go to Junior High that
year, directly affecting me more than anyone else.
It has some parallel to SCA5 of today, although at a more local and direct
level. Whether SCA5 will affect anyone’s child specifically isn’t clear.
But moving Weibel attendance area to Horner Jr. High and Irvington High has
exact and direct effect on those living in that district.
CBC was, as I mentioned above, beginning to have some political influence at
that time （1999）, although very minimal. Dr. Chiu and I both were
directly affected and we joined the spontaneously formed group.
Unfortunately, most participants, largely immigrants from Taiwan, Hong Kong,
and India, were not politically aware. Their inflammatory and aggressive
tone angered the whole Fremont before we even had a chance to organize.
Statements made in public, like “we can’t send our kids to Irvington, it’
s like going from Palo Alto to East Palo Alto”, offended not just Irvington
residents but the rest of the city. I upset a lot of people by telling
them not to say such things, much like my honest advice to you on SCA5
recently. But with the tide of public opinion turned against “all these
rich Mission San Jose Chinese and Indian elitists”, it was a losing battle
from the very beginning. A small Chinese/Indian voter base with nascent
political involvement taking on the city with a long history of old-timer
control was not going to get too far.
But, like it is now with all of you, I got to know a lot of good people and
a few remained active and have helped me in many of the later campaigns, or
have helped their own candidates. A few have become more politically
involved. That should happen here too, for those who can think longer term
and can see beyond one issue, one candidate, or one party. Believe me,
parties have their own interest and it’s not the same as Chinese American
interest. As a small minority, the only way we can be effective is to have
good communication with both sides (actually “every side” as there are
usually more than two sides) and maintain our independence. Once we “
belong” to someone or some party, surely they’ll give us some crumbs like
appointment to ceremonial positions without real power; we will lose our
influence and be taken for granted.
Throughout these years, I have supported candidates with different party
affiliations –Republicans, Demarcates and Independents。Here I just name a
number of them who I’ve supported the most (held fundraising or directly
participated in their campaigns): Barry Chang (Dem, Cupertino City Council,
State Assembly), Steve Cho (Rep, Fremont City Council, Mayor), Ivy Wu (Ind,
Fremont School Board), Garrett Yee (Ohlone College Board, Rep before, now
Dem), Lily Mei (Independent, Fremont School Board), Sue Chan (Dem, Fremont
City Council), Henry Yin (Independent, lost Fremont City Council election),
Judy Huang (Rep, helped her appointment and first campaign, Alameda County
Water District Board), Kansen Chu (Dem, for Berryessa School board, to SJ
City Council, to State Assembly), Judy Chu (Dem, from State assembly to
board of Equalization to Congress), Matt Fong (Rep, State Treasurer, later
lost US Senate race, passed away), John Chiang (Dem, Board of Equalization,
State Controller, to State Treasurer), Ted Lieu (Torrance City Council,
State Assembly, State Senate, to Congress), Mike Honda (Dem, County board of
Supervisor, State assembly, Congress), Paul Fong (Foothill-DeAnza College
Board, State Assembly), TN Ho (Rep, SC County Board of Education), Jialin
Liu (Saratoga City Council), Phil Ting (SF Assessor, State Assembly), Wilma
Chan (Oakland School board, Alameda County Supervisor, State Assembly),
Alice Lai-Bitker ( Alameda County Supervisor), Lena Tam (Alameda City
Council), Rob Bonta (Alameda City Council, State Assembly), Jean Quan (
Oakland Mayor), David Chiu (SF Cupervisor, State Assembly), Leland Yee (SF
School Board, SF Supervisor, State Assembly, State Senate -> ?Jail ), Betty
Yee (Board of Equalization, now to State Controller), and some others.
Now onto candidates I currently support.
I supported Barry Chang for AD28 because of has been a lifelong fighter for
the interest of Chinese Americans and his local community. While he and I
argue, or even fight, over many issues, we share the commitment to Chinese
Americans and I have tremendous respect for him. From the “comfort women”,
truth of World War II, Wen Ho Lee, and starting Vision 2000 (precursor of
Vision New America), grass root work like voter registration, fundraising
for candidates, etc. He’s done them all.
While I actively sought out many candidates to run for office, including
encouraging Steve Cho, Ivy Wu, Anna Muh, and Garrett Yee to run, I need to
see interest in community affairs and abilities to get things done. Steve
Cho has long been active in Fremont Chinese (although mostly ABC) community
and was Fremont Planning Commissioner. Ivy was very active at Mission San
Jose High school, organizing Chinese parents to help the school. Garrett Yee
was active in his children’s school, the Regional President for Boy Scouts
, an officer in the US Army Reserve (now with a rank of General). Peter Kuo
has not demonstrated such interest and is far from being a credible
candidate for State Senate. I understand he is charming and may well turn
out to be a great leader for us. But at this point he is an unknown without
a track record of community service. We cannot afford an unknown at a high
level office like the State Senate who may or may not represent us well.
I am going to support Zhao Yan 赵嬿 in her run for Saratoga City Council. I
have known her for a long time, back to her days with SV Chinese Engineer
Association, but did not know her well. She has done all the right things-
volunteer at local events, serve on non-profit boards, network with a
diverse group of activists; donate to politicians, getting appointed to
planning commission (completing 8 years of service), etc. I believe she is
worth supporting. She has done the necessary preparation work and has not
done anything against our community. Just being associated with Paul Fong
isn’t a negative. In fact, it shows she has the ability to work with all
sides. She should have a bright future.
My support for George Yang is based on similar reasoning. He is young and
does not have the long history of Zhao Yan or Barry Chang. We met a few
years ago through APAPA and I’ve heard of him running for State Assembly (
Rich Gordon’s seat). I was impressed by his knowledge of policy issues and
enthusiasm for politics and community service. He has since been very active
within the Republican Party framework, helping candidates up and down the
state. Although he is too close to the extremist tea party types for my
taste at this time, I believe he will soon learn as he is intelligent and
analytical. Challenging the Lt Governor’s race is a far stretch for me. He
has yet to hold office and show he is able to handle politics. But his youth
allows for learning opportunities. I hope he will use the next two years to
find a suitable local seat where he can demonstrate his abilities.
- See more at: http://www.weidb.com/p6965 | x******7
发帖数: 8 | | n****l
发帖数: 6652 | 3 俺怎么记得这位Albert是sca5的支持者？
【在 x******7 的大作中提到】
: 华人参政的热情高涨可喜可贺，哪些候选人值得支持， 哪些Not ready to run? 这是
: 华人社区应该思考的问题。
: 这里分享 APAPA 湾区主席 Dr. Albert Wang 的聊天记录。供大家讨论。
: ===================
: 时间: Jun 21, 2014
: 地点: 微信 SVCA 义工群
: 小结：APAPA Bay Area Chair Albert Wang 谈论参政体会， 包括 CBC， Fremont
: Weibel 学区重划, 支持候选人的标准。 他的分享受到热烈赞许，这里加以整理和补充
: ，奉献给大家。
: （Revised on Aug 13, 2014)
| x******7
发帖数: 8 | 4 作为APAPA 的湾区主席， Albert Wang 对华人社区的贡献是巨大的。 反SCA5， APAPA
做了许多幕后和幕前的工作。
http://www.backchina.com/forum/20140304/info-1184532-1-1.html
For the record, Albert Wang 是注册民主党的选民， 职业是医生。
【在 n****l 的大作中提到】
: 俺怎么记得这位Albert是sca5的支持者？
| d********f
发帖数: 43471 | 5 民主党医生？lol
APAPA
【在 x******7 的大作中提到】
: 作为APAPA 的湾区主席， Albert Wang 对华人社区的贡献是巨大的。 反SCA5， APAPA
: 做了许多幕后和幕前的工作。
: http://www.backchina.com/forum/20140304/info-1184532-1-1.html
: For the record, Albert Wang 是注册民主党的选民， 职业是医生。
| s******n
发帖数: 158 | 6 据说， Cupertino city Councilman 多个华人竞选， 说不定， 自相残杀，都选不上
。 | o**********e
发帖数: 18403 | 7 赞LZ,APAPA. 坚持不懈地努力.
良性竞争还是好的. 恶性竞争,
互相拆台,跟外族勾结打击陷害
老中,背叛信任,那是另一回事.
赞民主党医生! 谁找医生
还管医生党派? 谁因为
老中不同党派不同政见而
陷害异己老中的?
我们老中100年的兄弟残杀
该有个完了.
【在 s******n 的大作中提到】
: 据说， Cupertino city Councilman 多个华人竞选， 说不定， 自相残杀，都选不上
: 。
|
|
