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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (October 30, 2016)
Contact Person: S. B. Woo, (302)-366-0259
80-20 PAC, the largest Asian American Political Action Committee, announced today its endorsement, with reservation, of Secretary Hillary Clinton for President. The unanimous decision was reached at an Endorsement Convention of elected delegates representing the membership of the 80-20 organization. Delegate positions are equally apportioned between Republicans, Independents, and Democrats. Each affiliation controls one-third of the available delegate slots. The initial vote was 19 for endorsing Clinton with reservation and 6 for other choices. At the end, the majority view received unanimous support from all delegates.
80-20 endorses Sec. Clinton as the better choice of the two main candidates for President for her overall stance on minority rights and the overall better record of service of the Democratic Party to Asian Americans over the last four years in comparison to the Republican record. The endorsement is made 'with reservation' because of Sec Clinton's lack of recognition of the unique concerns of Asian Americans including the unequal higher standards in college admissions currently in place for Asian Americans. The delegates resolved that neither major candidate satisfactorily addresses Asian American concerns. Both Mr. Trump and Sec. Clinton were invited to address the delegates at 80-20's Endorsement Convention via a brief teleconference call, but neither accepted. Sec. Clinton replied to 80-20's issues questionnaire with narrative responses rather than yeses and nos. Her response was satisfactory on some points but wholly unsatisfactory on the issue of barriers to college admissions for Asian Americans. Mr. Trump did not respond to 80-20's questionnaire.
"We don't like that Sec Clinton doesn't think we are important enough to her campaign for her to talk to us," said Dr. S.B. Woo, former Lt Gov of Delaware and the founding president of 80-20PAC. Addressing Clinton directly, Woo said, "You need to re-evaluate your prioritites. We will not accept benign neglect."
The "endorse with reservations" recommendation means that 80-20 leaves it to its members who already hold a strong preference for one candidate or the other to continue that support. 80-20 will not be putting out its full effort to flip votes as they would do for a candidate who did show strong support for Asian American concerns. Undecided voters are encouraged to vote for Sec Hillary Clinton.
80-20's strength is its ability to influence the Asian American community via its extensive mailing list and its ability to aid specific candidates via independent advertising expenditures. 80-20 will be doing neither on behalf of Sec Clinton in this general election. 80-20's view is that Sec Clinton needs to re-evaluate her stance and to engage in direct dialogue with Asian Americans. The message being sent is "If you support us strongly, we will support you strongly. If you support us weakly, we will support you weakly."
80-20's power is delivering Asian American votes as a bloc vote. This concentrates the political power of Asian Americans, the second smallest minority in the US (after Native Americans) at 4.9% of the electorate, but the fastest growing minority group in the US today. New York Times polling showed that 73% of Asian Americans followed 80-20's recommendation in the 2012 presidential election.