John Liu Wins Election for New York City Comptroller
Posted on 20. Nov, 2009 by Lulu Yilun Chen in Beats Blog, Politics and Government
John Liu, democratic candidate for comptroller and a Queens councilman, last night won the election for New York City Comptroller, the city’s chief financial officer, in a landslide victory, making him the first Asian American elected to citywide office in the city’s history.
Liu beat his competitor, Republican candidate Joseph Mendola, with 75.98 percent of the votes, adding up to 696,330 votes.
“I’m ready to make changes,” said Liu as he greeted voters near Washington Heights on Tuesday night. “It’s been an exciting campaign. It’s been over four years.”
The elections of Liu, as comptroller, along with Margaret Chin and Peter Koo to City Council seats represent a significant political watershed moment: Asian American politicians on the east coast rising to political power.
“Chinese Americans being elected at a city level will change the perceptions of New Yorkers toward Asian people,” said Cynthia Lee, 39, the chief curator of the Museum of Chinese in America based in Chinatown. She explained that Asian Americans have experienced greater difficulty being accepted as Americans compared to other white ethnic groups.
Liu, 42, moved from Taiwan to America at the age of 5. A former actuary who majored in mathematical physics at Binghamton University and graduated in 1988, he was first elected to the council in 2001, and defeated Councilman David Yassky in this September’s runoff election for the Democratic slot in this fall’s comptroller race.
Liu said he plans to implement reforms to the city comptroller’s office within his first six months in office. Some of Liu’s top agenda items, listed on his official website, include dealing with the economic slump, leveling the playing field for minority and small businesses, creating jobs, and eliminating waste from the city budget.
Having had no sleep on the night before the election, Liu began his day at around 7:00 am on Tuesday. He greeted morning commuters in Queens dressed in a black suit and red tie, with his hair waxed and combed back.
“Who needs sleep? Sleep is overrated,” said Liu, with his customary energy.
Crowds gathered around Liu and he acknowledged their handshakes and hugs with a big smile and words of thanks.
“John Liu did well in the eight years he was councilman in Flushing. That’s why I voted for him,” said Zhang Lihong, a Chinese immigrant in Flushing.
Backed by strong support from the Chinese community, Liu boosted his chances of winning by reaching out to different communities and ethnic groups in New York.
“It’s different neighborhoods, but it’s one city,” said Liu. “We’re trying to unify the city and make sure that everyone gets counted.”
Liu is following on the steps of more successful Asian politicians on the West Coast. According to Linda Akutagawa, the vice president for resource and business development based in California, Asian Americans who have done well in elections pay special attention to coalition strategies – reaching out to different neighborhoods.
This has been a challenge for many Asian American candidates in New York, according to Hu Jie, the vice president for the Beijing Association of New York, based in Flushing.
“We know the Asian Americans candidates well, but it’s a challenge for them to let other ethnic groups understand them and trust them,” Hu said in Chinese. “They have to work on that hard.”
During his campaign, Liu not only traveled in different neighborhoods in New York, but also used social networking websites to promote his campaign. Even on the night before Election Day, at around 4 a.m., Liu was responding to Facebook messages and posting links to promotion videos on Youtube.
At around 4:00 p.m. on Election Day, Liu traveled to Fulton Street and Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn, a predominantly black neighborhood, and greeted commuters as they got off from work.
“His family struggled when he first moved here as an immigrant. He understands what common people need,” said Gregory Collins, 51, who has lived in Brooklyn for more than 40 years.
After numerous handshakes and several photos shot with commuters, Liu rushed off to 125th Street and St. Nicholas Street to join Bill Thompson in Washington Heights, a predominantly Dominican neighborhood. The two Democrats greeted commuters as they traveled down the street and popped their heads into buses parked at stations, urging people to vote.
Liu ended his day’s trip on 43rd Street between Eighth and Ninth avenues in Manhattan where he received the news of his victory.
According to Lee, the Chinese Museum chief curator, the change in demography has played an important role in helping Asian American rise to political power this year.
Asian Americans on the west coast have risen to political power faster than those on the east coast because for a long time Asians were demographically concentrated on the west coast, said Akutagawa, the vice president for the Business Development organization in California.
That is changing now. The Chinese population in New York grew by 19 percent, according to an estimate from 2000 to 2007, while the city’s total population grew only by three percent over the same period, according to studies released by the Asian American Federation.
About 5.4 percent of all New York City residents are from China, up from 4.7 percent from the 2000 Census, according to the federation.
Photo essay: Election Day in Flushing, Queens.
Posted on 04. Nov, 2009 by Lim Wui Liang in Politics and Government
A voter inside a booth at the Active Learning Elementary School in Flushing, Queens, which was used as a polling station. All photos: Lim Wui Liang
A sign inside the Active Learning Elementary School caters to the diverse community in Flushing.
Publicity material from Democrat Yen Chou’s campaign sits along an alley outside her office. Chou is the first Asian woman to run for City Council District 20.
Volunteers hand out publicity materials and flyers along Barclay Avenue, just before the polling station at John Bowne Elementary School. Any form of publicity must be done 100 feet away from the polling station.
Bernadette Koo, 56, gives out flyers to passers-by along Barclay Avenue to get them to vote for her husband, Peter Koo, Koo, 57, who is president of the Flushing Chinese Business Association, is a Republican candidate running for City Council in District 20.
Peter Koo chats with a staff member at a polling station in John Bowne Elementary School. Koo eventually won the election, edging over his closest competitor, Yen Chou, by just over 800 votes.
Evergreen Chou, 48, gives out flyers along Kissena Boulevard. Chou is an independent candidate from the Green Party and is running for City Council in District 20
