San Francisco Chronicle: August 28, 2000

In Historic Move, Asian American PAC Votes to Back Gore

Connie Kang, Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles -- For the first time in U.S. history, an Asian American political action committee endorsed a presidential nominee yesterday and pledged to deliver 80 percent of Asian American votes to Vice President Al Gore in the November election.

The 80-20 Initiative's action in Los Angeles culminated two days of spirited discussions, debates and caucusing over which presidential nominee would best serve the interests of the nation's 11 million people of Asian ancestry.

In announcing the decision at a packed news conference at the Universal City Hilton, Chang-Lin Tien, the former chancellor of the University of California at Berkeley and chairman of the Asian American group's endorsement committee, was quick to note that neither political party has treated Asian Americans well. But on balance, he said, Gore and the Democrats have done more ``to advance issues'' important to Asian Americans than the Republican nominee, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, and his party.

Gore received 26 votes and Bush seven from 33 delegates, evenly divided among Democrats, Republicans and independents.

Tien called the group's decision ``historic'' and said members will urge all Asian Americans to help ``form a swing vote bloc of 80 percent to become a vital political force in the outcome of this year's and future elections.''

Tien, an internationally renowned engineer who helped solve the problem of keeping heat-shielding tiles from falling off U.S. space shuttles, said he has put his reputation on the line.

The UC Berkeley professor acknowledged that some of his friends have tried to dissuade him, but he said he feels ``strongly'' about the movement as a way to empower the Asian American community.

Most of the 33 delegates and seven alternates who had come from across the country for the three-day convention, which began with a fund-raiser Friday attended by 700 predominantly ethnic Chinese immigrants, were at the news conference, during which Republican members spoke about why they chose to go with Gore this presidential election.

It was a difficult decision, said molecular biologist Kenneth Fong, a longtime Republican Party activist and donor from Palo Alto.

``It would be a great challenge for me to cross over to vote for a Democrat,'' he said, ``but I am putting my personal interest aside for the sake of the Asian Pacific American community.''

Fong, president of Clontech Laboratories, said he reached the decision because ``at this point,'' the Democrats have done more to earn the group's endorsement.

``I hope in the future, a Republican candidate can win that kind of endorsement from (80-20),'' he said.

Former Delaware Gov. S.B. Woo, a Democrat and a prime mover of 80-20, said his group is preparing a $700,000 fund-raiser for Gore.

Nearly 40 percent of the nation's Asian Americans live in California, where they are 12 percent of the population and 6 percent of the registered voters.

The group has begun radio and TV spots in Chinese language stations in Los Angeles and San Francisco, two cities with the largest concentrations of Asian Americans.