I'm reporting from DC on the second meeting of the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders. Last September, I had the honor of being appointed to serve on this commission, which works in conjunction with the White House Initiative on Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders, an entity with full time staff within the Administration. Originally created by executive order of President Clinton in 1999, the Initiative and Commission serve as a bridge between the Obama Administration and the AAPI community to help educate and connect AAPIs to government resources and programs, and to advise the Administration on how to better serve the community. President Bush reduced the Initiative and Commission to a small entity narrowly focused on select business issues and allowed the order to expire in 2007; President Obama re-established the Commission and Initiative by executive order on October 14, 2009, fulfilling a campaign pledge. Our Commission is focusing on five main areas:
-Civil Rights
-Economic Growth
-Educational Opportunity
-Healthy Communities
-Sustainable Communities
The 17 currently serving members of the 20 member Commission represent the diversity and talent of the AAPI community with an emphasis on including individuals with a track record of fierce advocacy and community organizing experience. Our first meeting was in September 2010 and focused on strategic planning. In the last six months, our hardworking staff and amazing commission members can already boast some impressive accomplishments. These include:
- Substantial work in ensuring equal access to services for Southeast Asian seafood workers affected by the BP oil spill. ~1 out of 4 seafood industry workers in the Gulf are of Southeast Asian descent, and almost half of all commercial fishing licenses are held by Southeast Asian Americans.
- Convening a summit on data issues for AAPIs. Despite enormous diversity within the AAPI community and thus tremendously different needs, e.g., high education level and median income among Indian Americans versus poverty rates around 50% and less than half with high school diplomas among some Southeast Asian communities versus diabetes rates over 50% for Pacific Islander communities, many government entities fail to disaggregate data and lump all AAPIs together. As a result of the summit, a permanent AAPI data consortium comprised of universities and other organizations has been created.
- The first ever AAPI Small Business & Entrepreneurship Summit, held in Silicon Valley, which welcomed over 800 AAPI CEOs and entrepreneurs (and hundreds more participated online), headlined by Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke. Administration officials held workshops and roundtables to educate the AAPI business community on resources for new and small businesses, financing, accessing the government contracting process, and to provide opportunities for entrepreneurs to interface with each other and share best practices.
At this meeting, we were able to announce another major milestone in our work - the presentation of 23 agency plans to President Obama on how to better serve AAPIs. This is the first time in history that federal agencies have done this for any community, and we were able to get all 23 agencies from which we requested plans to respond.
Law school clinics are programs run by law schools that provide students the opportunity to gain practical experience by taking real cases and representing actual clients in court or in other ways. Typically, clinics focus on various areas of need, such as domestic violence, immigration, or civil rights. Since they provide free services to marginalized populations, clinics naturally represent the "little guy," often against government or wealthy corporations. The New York Times reports that corporations and politicians that are unhappy with law schools are now attempting to lobby state legislatures to cut off or restrict funding for clinics that sue the government or corporations, as well as force clinics to disclose information about their clients and work.
(Another event for folks to attend later this week during the DNC meeting in Austin. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
Recognizing the growing opportunities for political change in Texas, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is holding their next quarterly national meeting in Austin from September 10 through 12.
The Texas Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community has played a key role in the state's tremendous political transformation. AAPIs comprise approximately 3.5% of the state population, but exceed 15% or even 20% in certain political subdivisions in Austin, Dallas, and Houston; additionally, AAPIs are one of the fastest growing populations in Texas. And like other Texans, AAPIs are voting more and more Democratic. According to exit polling conducted by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, 76% of AAPIs voted for President Barack Obama. Among US-born AAPIs, President Obama's margin was even higher with 87% of the vote.
Democrats believe that Texas and the AAPI community are central to their efforts to achieve meaningful and lasting reform. The Asian American Democrats of Texas - AADT, recognized by the Texas Democratic Party as the representative Texas caucus for Asian Americans, is hosting a reception for local AAPI Democrats, members of the DNC's AAPI Caucus, and local and national party and elected officials. The reception will take place at Chinatown Restaurant at 3407 Greystone Drive near MoPac from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. Complimentary appetizers will be served, and the event is free and open to the public. More information is available at the Asian American Democrats of Texas's website, www.aadt.us, or by e-mailing mail@aadt.us or calling 512.326.0222.
My name is Ramey Ko, and I'm running to be a delegate for Obama to the Democratic National Convention from Senate District 14, and I am asking for the chance to earn your support. As a young Asian American, I hope to bring a vibrant grassroots perspective to Denver, as well as provide a voice for a community that is just beginning to receive some attention in politics.
Working for Change
I have been an Obama supporter since 2003, when I first met then State Senator Obama as one of my law school professors at the University of Chicago. I helped collect petition signatures to get him on the Democratic primary ballot for US Senate. After he announced his intention to run for president, I founded Asian Americans for Obama in December 2006. Our efforts have lead to the creation of translated outreach materials and Obama videos subtitled in several Asian languages, numerous AAPI targeted voter registration drives, stories in numerous national and local ethnic media outlets, visibility at Asian community events, Asian American phone banks, and even the opening of a grassroots campaign office in the Philadelphia Chinatown.
You can learn more about why I'm running and my work as an activist for Obama at www.RameyKo.com. Please don't hesitate to e-mail me at Ramey.Ko@gmail.com with any questions or comments.
Correction: According to IVR, the initial numbers we posted were slightly off because they accidentally updated the linked values in the file they sent us without the correct file to which the values were linked. The corrections are reflected below. None of the numbers changed significantly enough to alter the analysis. We apologize for the confusion.
On Wednesday, April 16, the Capital Area Asian American Democrats (CAAAD) Asian American Progress PAC commissioned a poll with IVR Polls for the upcoming Austin City Council elections.
The results reveal few surprises. As with previous council races, most likely voters are currently undecided. In line with expectations, Council Member Leffingwell has a sizeable lead in the Place 1 race, the Place 3 race is the most competitive, and the six way race for the open seat in Place 4 is wide open with the largest percentage of undecided voters.
As with any poll, take the info with a grain of salt. Given the huge percentage of undecided voters and the fact that this poll was taken almost a month before the election, the numbers are almost guaranteed to change substantially. History has shown that most voters don't start paying attention to City Council elections or solidifying their decisions until the last few weeks before Election Day; very few people are thinking about this race right now.
If you like the work CAAAD has been doing to help Democrats win and would like to support our efforts on behalf of the Democratic Party, please visit our ActBlue page and leave us a tip!
IRV Polls surveyed 517 likely City Council voters on April 16. The survey's margin of error is +/- 4.3%.
Place 1 Lee Leffingwell 36.6% Lee Leffingwell 37.5%
Jason Meeker 12.1% Jason Meeker 13.7%
Allen Demling 4.8% Allen Demling 3.9%
Undecided 46.6% Undecided 44.9%
Place 3 Randi Shade 24.5% Randi Shade 26.4%
Jennifer Kim 23.5% Jennifer Kim 24.9%
Ken Weiss 11.4% Ken Weiss 11.3%
Undecided 40.6% Undecided 37.4%
Place 4 Cid Galindo 12.6% Cid Galindo 11.9%
Laura Morrison 11.2% Laura Morrison 10.3%
Jennifer Gale 9.3% Robin Cravey 10.2%
Robin Cravey 8.1% Jennifer Gale 8.0%
Ken Vasseau 4.3% Ken Vasseau 4.8%
Sam Osemene 3.6% Sam Osemene 4.8%
Undecided 51.1% Undecided 50.0%
Last night, Thursday, April 03, the Capital City Young Democrats (CCYD) held its endorsement election for the upcoming Austin municipal election on May 10, 2008.
CCYD endorsed the following candidates:
Austin Community College Board of Trustees, Place 1 Tim Mahoney
Austin Independent School District Board of Trustees, District 3 Jerry Garcia
On Super Tuesday, the nation saw the growing influence of the Asian American vote. Texas has the fourth largest Asian American population in the United States and the Asian American population continues to grow at high rates.
For Democrats in Texas, winning the Asian American vote means being the first to reach out to this oft-ignored constituency. To that end, our organization is hosting an event this Wednesday to raise money to turn Central Texas Asian Americans blue! We'll also be honoring three terrific local Democrats. Come enjoy the free food at the event before heading over to the US Senate debate between Rep. Rick Noriega and Ray McMurrey at 8 PM.
Capital Area Asian American Democrats
2008 Fundraiser and Democratic Awards Ceremony
Wednesday, February 13
5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
AFL-CIO
1106 Lavaca St.
2008 Honorees: Lifetime Achievement Award - Judge Jeanne Meurer
Democratic Legislator of the Year - Representative Mark Strama
Democratic Activist of the Year - Nicholas P. Chu
Money raised will help support CAAAD's 2008 in 2008 Project to increase Asian American voter registration and turnout in Travis County for the 2008 municipal and general elections and our efforts on behalf of our endorsed candidates.
Appetizers and heavy hors d'oeuvres generously provided by Buffet Palace (4608 West Gate Blvd, Austin, TX).
For sponsorship or questions, please contact Ramey Ko at 512-577-5729 or ramey.ko@gmail.com.
Please make checks payable to "CAAAD Asian American Progress PAC." Tickets can be purchased at the door.
Pol. adv. paid for by CAAAD Asian American Progress PAC
