Pol. Secrets VII: What An Election Is All About In America

Many Asian Ams. were surprised.

They ask, "How could 80-20 get away with fighting the leading presidential candidates and yet succeed in getting our grievances addressed by the same candidates?"

80-20's secret is knowing what an election is about in America.

New immigrants often mistakenly believe an election is ONLY about voting for the best candidate. However, that's not all there's to it.

The American Forefathers meant for elections to assure democracy. That is, during the election time, even the "weak and powerless" such as the Asian Americans, who are mostly new immigrants not knowing much about politics and not having the money* to hire lobbyists in Washington D.C., can still make politicians sit up and listen to their grievances.

Each adult Asian American has a vote just like he/she who is among the "richest and mightiest." If there is a grievance that most Asian Ams resonate with**, we can deliver a bloc vote. Politicians pay attention to even a small minority such as the Asian Americans that have proven to be capable of delivering a bloc vote.

That is what 80-20 is all about -- to organize our community so that our grievances will be heard during the election time and in that process help make America "a more perfect Union."

But more importantly, that is what elections in America are all about -- giving the ordinary people a chance to have their grievances addressed by the political establishment. If some of the presidential candidates show that they don't share our concerns, then 80-20 PAC*** will lead a bloc vote to defeat such candidates. The real world of politics is just like the real world we see in our workplaces. Its proper functioning depends on carrots and sticks.

Comments are welcome at
http://www.80-20educationalfoundation.org/politicaledu/posterboard.asp


Respectfully yours,

S. B. Woo
President
80-20 Educational Foundation, Inc.

* Actually there are many very rich Asian Americans. However, owing to their lack of interest or understanding of Am. politics, they have mostly shied away from politics or been extremely ineffective. I wish more will soon step up to shoulder their social responsibilities.

** The issue that has hit the resonant cord of a large majority of Asian Americans is their lack of equal opportunity in workplaces and, if qualified, to be Federal judges. Fortunately, most prominent Democratic presidential candidates have already made iron clad commitment to help
Asian Americans achieve equal opportunity, except one -- Senator Obama. Is he too inexperienced to know that equal opportunity is America's core value?

*** 80-20 Educational Foundation conducts political education only. 80-20 PAC leads the bloc vote.

Dawn of a New Era in AsAm Politics is Arriving

The Dawn of a New Era in AsAm Politics

There is an increase in Asian Americans' political savvy and
desire to serve our community. How come? The recent exposure
of the foolishness of our old practices in politics!

Bad Money Exposed By Recent News

(1) Selfish Asian Ams. who have raised money for politicians for their
personal vanity, or commercial interests or political careers have been
repeatedly exposed as suckers who sucked our community's money and
in turn got sucked by politicians. Indeed, many of them, Norman
Hsu and John Huang to name two, got in deep trouble with the law.

(2) Even well-intentioned but politically naive Asian Ams fundraisers have
also been exposed as suckers. A politician's apparent pro-immigrant
stands can change over night. When the fundraisers' over-zealousness in
raising money got exposed, politicians publicly embarrasses them.

(3) Executive Order 11246 that has been enforced for all Americans is not
enforced for Asian Ams. by an Asian Am. Labor Secretary. Visit
http://www.80-20initiative.net/news/preselect2008.asp Click on A. 3.

In other words, our hard earned money when donated in a bad way
to politicians got us nothing but trouble. That is, bad publicity and
discrimination! We must STOP donating in such foolish fashions. When
BAD MONEY dries up, good money will come in.

What is Good money?

When a fundraiser (bundler) asks you to donate to a politician, ask
yourself and/or the fundraiser 4 questions.

a) What deeds has this veteran politicians done to help our community?
Did he/she help win equal opportunity and/or adopt enlightened
immigration policy? If none, save your money. Only deeds deserve
our donations.

b) Does this fundraiser know American politics? If no, save your money.

c) Will this bundler likely use his/her political connections to help our
community? If no, save your money

d) If a novice politician is raising money, will he/she likely share our
community's concerns? Sharing our concerns, not ethnicity, is what
counts.

"GOOD MONEY"is money donated after passing those 4 checks.
Such money will bring our community immense political clout.

A Changing Wind

Asian Am. elected officials used to endorse presidential candidates
without asking what would the presidential candidates do for our community
if elected. All that has changed this year!

The following co-chairs of "Asian Pacific Islander Americans for Hillary"
have asked Sen. Clinton to reply with "6 yeses" to 80-20's questionnaire to
her campaign i.e for her to give an iron clad commitment to our dire
needs. These elected officials are our heroes/heroines. Their names are:

Judy Chu, member of Calif.'s State Board of Equalization,
Mike Eng, Calif. State Assemblymen,
John Liu, City Councilman of NYC,
Gary Locke, Former Gov. of Washington,
Fiona Ma, Majority Chip of CA State Assembly,
Henry Manayan, Former Mayor of Miltpitas,
Doris Mastui, Congresswoman and National Chair of AAPIs for Hillary,
Otto Lee, Mayor of Sunnyville, CA, and
Ellen Young, City Councilwoman of NYC.

Will Senator Clinton, who wanted these co-chairs to endorse her, share
these co-chair's concerns? We don't know yet. 80-20 EF shall keep you
posted. We are certain that these officials will know what to do, if Hillary
doesNOT listen to them.

Comments are welcome at
http://www.80-20educationalfoundation.org/posterboard.html.

Thank you.

Respectfully,

S. B. Woo
President
80-20 Educational Foundation, Inc. (EF)

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT: 80-20 EF continues to receive generous donations:

Dr. Stephen Ko $1,000, Lawrence and Mary Tom $750
Larry & Sophia Ho $500, Tom & Laura Hsu $500
Eric Chengfen Liu $500, Betty & Brian Ng $250 and
Xinhai and Scott Chai with matching gifts from Adobe and Boeing
of $100.00 each.

Los Angeles Times Article & Cong. Honda's Retort

Another fitting title for this newsletter is " Obligation of Asian Am.
Fundraisers (Bundlers) ."

On 10/19, LA Times published an article on Sen. Clinton's fundraising
entitled "An unlikely treasure-trove of donors for Clinton." For details, visit
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-donors19oct19,1,7444827.story .

It has some good points. For example. could Sen. Clinton be taking
advantage of the political naivety of new Asian immigrants? That is a
point that 80-20 EF has raised before. Remember our email " Don't Be
Suckers" and names like Johnny Chung, Charlie Trie, Maria Hsia, Robert
Lee and Yogesh Gandhi?

Congressman Mike Honda's retort to that article also has good points.
"Could our media be too suspicious about political donations from Asian
Ams?" The media certainly erred in 1997. When John Huang and a few
others raised money illegally for Pres. Clinton and DNC, the media made it
seem like an Asian Am. cabal aimed to undermine our Federal government.
Hard to believe!

However, neither has raised the REALLY IMPORTANT POINT:
What have we gotten back for our political donations?
Among ethnic groups, Asian Ams' political donation is second only
to Jewish Americans. Shockingly, Asian Ams. don't even enjoy equal
opportunity in workplaces yet -- a right enjoyed by all other Americans.
For evidence, visit
http://www.80-20educationalfoundation.org/wpad.jpg
which is a full page ad in Washington Post & carefully documented.

For a brighter future, we must

(1) ask for accountability from our fundraisers (bundlers). The
fundraisers are there when pictures are taken and their personal needs
taken care of by the politicians. They need to be there be there to ask
the politicians to promise to work for Asian Ams' equal opportunity &
in turn hold the politician accountable! If they deliver, we must thank
them for their leadership. Otherwise, such fundraisers are using hard
earned money from the little people to buy their personal glory. We
need to reject them!

(2) also ask for accountability from those Asian Am politicians
who have raised money from us playing up their Asian roots and/or
endorsed presidential candidates in our name. If they deliver concrete
benefits to our community &/or solid promises from presidential
candidates to us, thank them & continue to support them. Otherwise,
hold them accountable & stop supporting them!

Voice your support for or objection to this view at
http://www.80-20educationalfoundation.org/posterboard.html

Respectfully,

S. B. Woo
President, 80-20 Educational Foundation, Inc.

What Is Expected Of Asian Am. Elected Officials

Help the right Asian Am. elected officials (AAEOs), all AsAms may
benefit. Help the wrong ones, all AsAms shall get hurt.

When a wrong AAEO gets support from our community, other AAEO
may imitate him/her. "Bad money drives away good money!"

What is expected of an AAEO? That is what our community needs to
discuss and reach a consensus in order to achieve the kind of political
cohesion necessary to win our basic rights like equal opportunity at work
and to be appointed federal judges. Here is my personal view.

What America Expects Of Its Elected Officials

Elected officials are expected to primarily serve those who live in their
respective election districts. Hence AsAms living outside of an AAEO's
district should NOT expect help from him/her. The life of any AAEO is
tough enough. Don't make their lives even tougher. Let them focus on
doing a good job for constituents in their own political district which still
indirectly serves our long term interests.

Two Big Exceptions!

I) Those AAEOs who have raised campaign funds primarily from AsAms
living within and without their election districts while emphasizing their
Asian ethnic origin, have the obligation to share the concerns of all
AsAms.
II) Those AAEOs who endorsed presidential candidates by becoming
members of "Asian Ams for XXX" therefore playing up their ethnic
connection have the obligation to persuade the endorsed presidential
candidate to promote the rightful aspirations of AsAms.

Asian Americas Deserve these Basic Rights

AsAms deserve

1) to enjoy equal opportunity in workplaces by the enforcement of Exec.
Order 11246 that is enforced for all Ams. except us, and
2) to have many more AsAm Federal judges -- currently only 0.6 % while
the % of our population and lawyers is about 4.5%.

80-20 has asked all presidential candidates to give us those to promises.
See http://www.8020initiative.net/news/preselect2008.asp.

AAEOs who fulfill their obligations are the right ones! Support them.
We will soon publicize a list of such Vmodel AAEOs.

Your views and comments are most welcome via
http://www.80-20educationalfoundation.org/posterboard.html

Respectfully yours,

S. B. Woo
President, 80-20 Educational Foundation

Grateful Acknowledgement for $22,800 in the last 2 Weeks:

Woo's Foundation: $10,000 Henry and Valerie Lee: $ 2.000
Theodore Chen Vora, $ 1,000 Po-Zen Wong $ 1,000
Christine Mei $ 1,000 Philip Choong $ 1,000
Ting, Michael and Laura $ 750 Thomas C. Shen $ 500
Peter Chen $ 500 TzuFann & Jeannine Shao $ 500
William Tao $ 500 Susan and James Wu $ 500
Dongzi Liu $ 500 S. B. Woo $ 500
T. K. Chu $ 500 Soo Tang (pledge) $ 500
Loi Chi $ 300 Chang, Alec $ 250
Fred and Jane Wu $ 200 Ray Wu $ 200
Scott Xinhai Chai $ 100
Donations to EF are tax deductible. Cash, stocks, bequeath, United Way and matching-funds are all welcome. Keep 80-20 EF in your mind please.

A New Asian Am. Scandal?

80-20 EF's "Don't Be Made A Sucker" was only 6 days old, when
another Asian Am. who raised funds for Sen. Clinton is clobbered in the
media and will probably end up in jail. His name is Norman Hsu. By now,
you have likely heard of him.

What can be learned form this and other similar campaign finance
scandals that have occurred too frequently in OUR community?

I like to suggest 3 DOs.

1) Respect the rules of democracy,
2) Realize that in Asia, people like us live as a part of the majority.
Therefore, politics can be a hobby and is often used for personal gains.
In the US, we live as a small minority, with much prejudice against us.
Therefore, politics is a must because we need GROUP political clout
to defend ourselves.
3) To achieve the above, we must give time and money to political orgs
such as the 80-20 PAC. That is how Jewish Ams and Cuban Ams won
their equal opportunity and justice.

To help get the above points across, here are 3 DO- NOTs.

1) Don't ever go against the laws governing politics/elections in America,
2) Don't be seduced by the sweet talks of politicians. Examine their record
of service to us before helping them,
3) Don't believe that politicians will do things for us unless we have
the clout to reward or punish their political careers.

How are Norman Hsu's political friends treating him now? Just read these
headlines.

"A Fundraiser Shunned" - The Washington Post, 8/30/07
"Democrats Turn From Hsu" - The Los Angeles Times, 8/30/07
"Democrats Abandon Fundraiser ?? " - San Francisco Chronicle, 8/30/07

All this after Norman Hsu has given/raised so much money for Sen. Clinton
and other Democratic candidates. Now you know why 80-20 PAC sent
questionnaires to presidential candidates and asked for signed written answers
in Yes or No.

To read "Political Secrets VI: Don't Be Made A Sucker" again, visit
http://www.80-20educationalfoundation.org/posterboard.html. Your
comments to be left at poster board will be most welcome.

Forward this and the above email to your friends. They may benefit from them.
Support 80-20! We work for you free. Some of us have even promised not to
run for offices and NEVER to accept a government appointment.

Best regards,

S. B. Woo
President,
80-20 Educational Foundation

Political Secrets VI: Don't Be Made A Sucker

"He who doesn't learn from history deserves to relive it"
-- George Santayana

In the 1996 election, many Asian Ams gave &/or raised big bucks for Bill
Clinton and DNC (Dem. Nat'l Comm.) & got zonked.

Remember these Asian Am. names?

John (F.O.B.*) Huang, Maria Hsia, Robert S. Lee (S. Korean), Yogesh
K. Gandhi (Indian Am), Pauline Kanchanalak (Thai), Charlie
Trie, Antonio Pan, and Johnny Chung. *Friend of Bill.

All of them helped raise money for Bill Clinton &/or DNC. All of them
were so eager to "serve" the politicians that they violated the law, some
were jailed and fined, others were put on probation and fined. Lives ruined!

For proof, see a press release issued by the Justice Dept. under the Clinton
Administration: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/1999/June/275crm.htm.
Indeed, much worse things were said about them by GOP politicians & their
press releases.

Their motives might have been good -- to help the politicians they
believe in and in the process help establish Asian Am. political clout.
But the results were disastrous -- for themselves and our community.

Day after day, mainstream media ran negative headline articles on
those individuals, fanning the belief that Asian Ams were "perpetual
foreigners" aiming to sabotage the American election system. Indeed, for
about 2 more years, D. and R. parties competed to distance themselves
from our community and went out of their way to stiff Asian Am big
donors to make each Party seem clean. HAVE WE FORGOTTEN?

To avoid a repeat, please be aware of the following:

1. Many politicians want you to believe that the more money you'll give
or raise for them, the more you'll get a personal reward after he/she is
elected. But they'll tell you that they can't discuss it in concrete
terms because it is against the law. "Caveat emptor." Don't be a sucker!

You may think that you are a F.O.B (Friend of Bill) or F.O.X. Chances are
that neither B nor X will remember you after the election is over. He/she
will have bigger interests after getting into the White House -- the affairs
of the nation.

2. In contrast, you can openly press the politicians about what he/she'll
do for the Asian American community. That is NOT against the
law. The American forefathers had designed elections to be occasions
for little people like us to protect our rights, using the "power of the
ballot box." In addition, you'll feel great about yourself for having
pressed politicians to do the right things for us.

Only 3 Presidential candidates, Senators Biden, Dodd and Gravel, have
promised in concrete terms and in iron-clad manners to help Asian Ams.
achieve equal opportunity and justice, should they be elected. We are
confident that many more will do so. However, before they've done so,
don't help them in money or any other means! Don't be a sucker!

Note that not a single Rep. presidential candidate has made a similar
promise yet. Countless AsAm Republicans have given most generously
to the GOP. What did they get back for our community? Ask them!

Love to get your feedback. Visit
http://www.80-20educationalfoundation.org/posterboard.html,

S. B. Woo
President, 80-20 Educational Foundation

Political Secrets V: How to become strong politically

Cuban Ams (only 1.2 million in population) & Jewish Ams. (6 million)
have big political clout and enjoy equal opportunity in America. Cuban
Ams. have 2 US senators, 4 representatives and one cabinet member.
The number of Jewish Am political leaders? I have lost count. :-)
How come Asian Ams. don't enjoy equal opportunity yet, although we
are 13 million in number?

If the emerging anti-China political undercurrent alarms you in that its
aftermath may hurt Chinese/Asian Ams for decades to come, then
internalize the following two "MUSTS" to make ourselves politically much
stronger.

(1) Politically, make very different choices while living in American

In Asia, we are members of the majority. A member of the majority
can take or leave politics, since the society is not prejudiced against us.

In USA, we are members of a very small minority composed mostly of
new immigrants. There is a lot of prejudice against "Asians" &
"immigrants" in America. Hence, every Asian Am. MUST participate in
politics to build up our GROUP political clout. At the very least, you must

1) register to vote, and vote in all important elections,
2) give at least 0.1% of your gross income to Asian Am.
political organizations that truly fight for you, and
3) practice bloc votes to enhance our GROUP political clout.

(2) ONLY support politicians who help us achieve equality

Mainstream politicians have always known our folly to do just the
opposite. That is, we support "apparent winners" rather than those who
have performed services for us. Therefore they never bothered to do
anything to help us. When they wanted our money, they would sweet-talk
us into believing that they would be the likely winners.
Even Asian Am politicians are now exploiting our folly. They know that
the key to raising money from us is NOT their records of services to us. It
is whether they are likely winners in the next election, or whether they
have a high rank, or whether they will be holding the highest office in one
meaningless sub-classification or another. We need to demand service
from all politicians.

Please remember the above two lessons by heart, and we'll be much
stronger politically. Pass this message.

Visit http://www.80-20educationalfoundation.org/posterboard.html
to share your view.

Best regards,
S. B. Woo
President, 80-20 Educational foundation

Please place " AsianAmericanUnity@80-20.us " & " sbwEF@80-20.us " into
the address book of your computer mail software.