Saturday, November 08, 2014

We won big. ACCOUNTABILITY established



CONGRATULATIONS!  You and I won BIG by defeating Paul Fong by a larger than 20 point margin in Fong's bid for a council seat in San Jose..  

Q: What exactly did we win?
A:  We won the historic accountability of AsAm elected officials to us.  

In the past, almost all AsAm officials raised their campaign funds primarily from AsAms. However, once elected, some of the them have NOT been responsive to our rightful interests.  This sad situation must be corrected.  Otherwise, AsAms will never get to be equal citizens through the political process.

Q: How do we get AsAm elected officials to be accountable to us?
A:  We drive those bad AsAm officials, who are unfaithful to us, out of politics.  Such actions will please the responsive AsAm officials, while warning the bad ones. Believe me, no elected AsAm official will want to be another Paul Fong.

Q: Are you sure that the mere defeat of Paul Fong will be sufficient to establish such an IMPORTANT and beneficial tradition for the AsAm community?
A:  It is not just the defeat of Paul Fong.  We have already driven a bigger politicians, former Sen. Leland Yee, out of politics earlier.

Q: Really?  Tell me more.
A:  A number of CA elected officials in CA were not attentive to the rightful interests of Asian Ams. in our struggle to stop SCA-5.  Among those, former Sen. Leland Yee and Assemblyman Paul Fong were the worst.  Hence, as soon as SCA-5  was stopped, 80-20 announced to drive these two unfaithful AsAm officials out of politics to set example for others.

On 3/21/14 80-20 announced to punish Yee.  On 3/26/14, Yee's illegal arms-trading news broke.  On 3/27/14, Yee withdrew from his CA Secretary of State race,  Later, he was stripped of his membership in the CA senate.  

80-20 PAC announced to defeat two.  We defeated both!  That is a fact that all AsAm elected officials will pay attention to.

Q: What made you think that 80-20 has caused Fong's defeat?
A:  A good question.  80-20 doesn't claim to be solely responsible for defeating Paul Fong.  The major credit goes to Fong's opponent Chappie Jones. Howeer, 80-20 is certainly an important force in defeating Fong.  Here are 4 evidences:

(1) Chappie Jones stated, after learning of his victory, that "We thought it would be more of a nail-biter." Instead he won by more than 20 points.

(2) The Unions supported Paul Fong and Raul Peralez in the City Council seats' races.  Peralez won handily, while Fong lost badly.

(3) 80-20's last 3 e-newsleters urged CA AsAms to either talk against Fong
or vote against him.  80-20 also bought tens of thirty-second radio ads against Fong, airing them for 9 days prior to the election date.  80-20 also worked with SVCA to recruit volunteers to work for Chappie Jones.

(4) While 80-20 directed the "defeat Fong"  campaign independently of Chappie Jones, as was required by election laws, Chappie is likely aware of 80-20's effort.  He emailed 80-20 President S.B. Woo, to thank him.

80-20 will likely die at the end of 2016, unless it succeeds in raising $1 million per year for 5 years by Oct. 21, 2015 - a war chest to compensate for the retirement of S. B. Woo.  To donate, click here.
      
S. B. Woo, a volunteer
President, 80-20 National AsAm Political Action Committee, Inc.  
http://www.80-20initiative.net


Monday, November 03, 2014

Right lessons from stopping SCA5



Q: SCA 5 is old news.  Why is 80-20 rehashing SCA 5 a days before the general election?  
A: As the election approaches, 80-20 is increasingly aware that some of us have NOT drawn the right lessons from our magnificent victory in stopping SCA 5.  
     
Q: What are the proper lessons that we should have learned?
A: Two major lessons:
(1) Had there been a tradition of accountability by the AsAm elected officials to the AsAms, the 3 Ch-Am senators would not have voted for SCA 5.  Consequently, SCA 5 would have died in the Senate.  Conclusion? We MUST have accountability.
            
(2) Political parties have always known that the power of a party is small when compared with the power of an enraged constituent.  Hence, for reasons of self-preservation, political parties usually give their elected legislators a lot of leeway if a specific vote will cause the legislators to enraging his/er constituents.  Our victory in STOPPING SCA 5 testified eloquently to that fact.  None of the AsAm legislators has been punished by the Democratic Party in CA, to 80-20's knowledge.

Q: What qualification do you have to speak on such matters?
A:  I was the President of the Delaware Senatefor 4 years. I was in a position to know.

Q: Why is 80-20 so outspoken in wanting to defeat former Sen Leland Yee, and Assemblyman Paul Fong in his coming San Jose race?
A:  To establish a tradition of accountability by the AsAm elected officials to the AsAm community, by punishing those who have been unfaithful to our rightful interest.   

Q:  Why is such severe punishment necessary?
A: Political parties, for understandable reasons, want to exert party discipline, bearing in mind that the US is not China.  In the US party discipline is very lax.  
     
An elected officials who has bucked the party leadership too many times could be punished. Examples are striping a desirable committee assignment from that official, delaying the passage of his/her legislative proposals, and less election support. Hence, the AsAm community must let our elected officials know that if they betray us in a major way, then our punishment for them will be worse - the death of their political career.

Q: There are talks that establishing accountability is NOT enough.  AsAms in CA must vote for Republicans to deny the Democratic Party a super-majority in CA's 2 legislatures.  Do you agree with it?
A: No. No!  However, if I were a leader in CA's Republican Party, I'll certainly argue that way to fool the AsAms into voting for Republican legislators.  :-)   

80-20's goal is different from that of either the Republican or the Dem. Party.  We want AsAms to be politically knowledgable & strong. Hence, we always tell you the truth.   

80-20 is trying to use the 2014 election to establish the historic first tradition of accountability. Help vote against Paul Fong.  Tell your friends in San Jose how he refused to help us during our struggle against SCA 5, and how he shamelessly claimed credit as soon as SCA 5 was pronounced dead by CA senate.
       
S. B. Woo, a volunteer
President, 80-20 National AsAm Political Action Committee, Inc.