Campaign Dirty Tricks referring to  Asian-Americans'  race.

5/25/05 e-mail from Jun Policarpio:
    Jun Policarpio was born in the Philippines . He obtained his high school and college education there.  He got his Master's degree in Public Administration from New York University . He speaks grammatically correct English with a slight tinge of Filipino accent.
    He ran for Congress as a Republican in 2004, 5^th District of New York . He remained unchallenged among Republicans until a few days before the deadline. The Queens County Republican Party under State Senator Serphin Maltese surprised Jun Policarpio's Republican supporters and campaigners when the party leaders convinced an American born Caucasian from Tennessee to challenge Policarpio in a Republican Primary with a promise of party endorsement. This "carpetbagger" candidate, Stephen Graves, accepted the deal and switched his candidacy from the 7th District to the 5th District in order to challenge Policarpio. 
    Before his nomination, Stephen Graves was never heard of anywhere in the 5th District.  He is a total stranger in the district using multiple addresses.  During the campaign, he was able to collect about $1500 in donations with one donation amounting to $200 from a pharmacist in Brooklyn . This guy has no fixed income or job. He described himself as a businessman dealing with vitamins. 
    A few days before Primary day, the Queens County Republican Party funded a two-day mailings showing Graves with former President Bush and President George W. Bush.  Since only a few Republicans went to the polls on Primary Day, Graves defeated Policarpio, 74% to 26%.  Graves ' brochures only showed the caricature of Uncle Sam endorsing him. Policarpio complained to Karl Rove's office about the unethical use of the President's picture before primary day. The White House disavowed any involvement in the dirty trick.
    When interviewed by a New York Sun reporter on the eve of primary election why he was the one endorsed by the local Republican Party, Graves told the reporter that Policarpio has communication problems because of his ethnicity.
    The local press in Queens , particularly Newsday, never mentioned this racial bias against Policarpio despite the fact that he stressed it in all his opening statements at the candidates' Forum.

 
5/8/05 Los Angeles Daily News: Racial politics could sully mayoral campaign,
by Garry South, Guest Columnist
    As campaign communications director for City Councilman Michael Woo in the 1993 Los Angeles mayor's race, I witnessed firsthand how racial stereotypes and innuendo are used to damage the candidacy and unfairly impugn the integrity of a minority candidate.
    During the months leading up to the 1993 primary election, Woo, the first Asian-American to run for mayor, had been leading the 52-candidate field. An "anybody but Woo" movement gained a head of steam, and disgruntled constituents from his Hollywood-based council district began showing up to heckle and harass Woo pretty much wherever he went. Much of the criticism had an undeniable anti-Asian tone; some of it was blatant. 
    At one anti-Woo rally held at the corner of Hollywood and Vine, in the heart of Woo's district, yahoos were coursing back and forth on the boulevard with hand-lettered signs that said, "Honk if you want to send Mike Woo back to China on a slow boat" - an almost unbelievably racist line that startled a number of people walking or driving by. 
    In the runoff election, the campaign of Richard Riordan, led by San Francisco-based Democratic consultant Clint Reilly, who should have been ashamed of himself, began pumping out ads and mail pieces falsely insinuating that Hong Kong banks were financing the Woo campaign. In case anyone missed the point, they included a four-color shot of the Hong Kong skyline. 
    The basis: Cathay Bank, a Chinatown-based financial institution founded by the native-born Woo's immigrant father to serve the Chinese community, had opened a branch in Hong Kong for Americans of Chinese descent who traveled to and did business in that Asian economic center. The hit pieces were a cheap shot and a classic example of playing to racial fears. 
    Could it have gotten worse? Actually, it did.
    In early June, just five days before the runoff, I debated former L.A. Police Chief Daryl Gates on his KFI-AM radio show. Woo had been the first elected official to call for Gates to resign after the infamous Rodney King beating, and Gates, a Riordan friend and supporter, was on a jihad against Woo. 
    At one point, here's how that conversation went:
    Gates: As you know, early in (Woo's) campaign there was a lot of cash coming from people in Chinatown into his campaign, and then being laundered in his dad's bank.
    Me: No, that's not true, either.
    Gates: Did any of that money come from the tongs (Chinese gangs) in Chinatown ?
    Me: That is an absolutely despicable accusation and I can't believe you would make it on the air.
    Gates: You can say you don't know. Hey, I been dealing with Chinatown for years, do you know there are tongs? Has Michael Woo not gone all over the nation going to Chinese and asking for money?
    Me: Well, so what?
    Gates: Do you know that tongs exist?
    Me: What are you trying to say? Are you trying to link Mike Woo in some fashion to organized crime?
    Gates: I simply have said, cash came into his campaign. And I've simply asked if any of that money came from tongs.
    Me: Of course, it did not. What are you trying to suggest?
    Gates: I'm not suggesting - I asked the question. Because I know tongs and I know tongs give cash money and that comes from years of experience. And I just asked you the question.
    Uh huh, no harm in asking.
    Ultimately, of course, Woo lost to Riordan fairly handily, with 67 percent of Anglos voting against him. Any wonder why?

October 2003 Democratic Primary:
New York City Council (Flushing, Queens)
John Liu (D) - incumbent
Primary results:
John Liu  64%
Isaac Sasson   36%
Sasson's supporters distributed campaign literature that called on constituents to vote against the "oriental candidates" in the race. 

2002: Ralph Appezzato (R) sent out a campaign flyer asking "What color is your supervisor?" which featured photos of the entire Board of Supervisors, two of whom are African American, two Caucasian, and one Asian Pacific American.  Appezzato's second  campaign flyer contained a long list of contributors with predominantly Asian surnames and stated, "Alice Lai-Bitker has taken $56,000 in campaign contributions from special interests outside our community." with "Us vs. Them" at the bottom. Candidate for County Board of Supervisors in Alameda County.  Alice Lai-Bitker won.

11/7/02 Associated Press: "Candidate Who Questioned Opponent's Ethnicity Sent Packing,"
    Swati Dandekar, a Democrat, defeated Karen Balderston for the House District 36 seat by a margin of 57-43 percent, with 100 precincts reporting.
    In a Sept. 29 e-mail to a conservative political action committee, Balderston questioned whether Dandekar, an immigrant from India, was ``adequately prepared to represent Midwest values and core beliefs.''
    Dandekar, who has lived in Iowa for 30 years, celebrated her victory at a Marion art gallery. She said she didn't know if the e-mail controversy had influenced voters.
    ``I think people really looked at the issues, they liked my platform. I ran, along with my campaign committee, a good and positive campaign, based on making Iowa a better place to live,'' Dandekar said.
    GOP leaders had called Balderston's remarks inappropriate, withdrew financial support for her campaign and canceled mailings on her behalf a week before Election Day.

11/4/02 Asian-American Village by S.D. Ikeda: "Playing the Hate-Card in the Midterm Elections: Racial attacks in campaigns aren't just politically effective, but politically correct": September 2002: In an e-mail to a conservative P.A.C., GOP Iowa State House candidate Karen Balderston challenges India-born Democrat Swati Dandekar's ability to represent Iowans' "Midwest values and core beliefs, let alone understand and appreciate the constitutional rights guaranteed to us in writing by our Founding Fathers? (not her Founding Fathers).''  The unrepentant Balderston calls the leak to Gazette of Cedar Rapids a "dirty trick" by Democrats, and further asserts that "repressionist views" presumed to stem from Dandekar's "[caste in India], the most repressive form of discrimination on the planet," make the 30-year Iowa resident unable to represent House District 36's interests. 

11/4/02 Asian-American Village by S.D. Ikeda: "Playing the Hate-Card in the Midterm Elections: Racial attacks in campaigns aren't just politically effective, but politically correct":
June 2002: David Chiu loses his race for re-election as Mayor of San Marcos, Texas after being targeted by an eleventh-hour mailing campaign. Letters from the so-called "San Marcos Citizens for Traditional Values" equated Chiu's governing style with that of an "oppressive communist China regime" and went on to list the ethnicity and marital status of several council members: "His sidekicks in this election are a Hispanic male and a Hispanic female. We already have (a) Hispanic male, a black female, and (an) unmarried white male on the city council. Isn't it time for a council that reflects traditional Texas family values?'' His opponent, Southwest Texas State University professor Robert B. Habingreither, won the race by a mere 23 votes.

2/27/02: Letter from Christopher Cabaldon, candidate for California Assembly  - District 8 (West Sacramento, Davis, Vacaville)
    Steve Hardy's allied interest groups have sent out two mailers highlighting Asian American and Latino officeholders (all members of the Legislature or Congress) who support me. More than 60 elected officials have endorsed me; Hardy's mailers selectively highlight just 12 with ethnic names. 
    In brief voter calls about "outside contributions", Lois Wolk's phone banks emphasize that I am "supported by Filipinos and got contributions from the Filipinos"--a sad revival of Pete Wilson's "They Keep Coming" scare tactics.  

The national office of the Organization of Chinese-Americans reported receiving e-mails showing fake dollar bills depicting Al Gore as an Asian.  11/16/00 Dallas Morning News: "Voting Bloc Gave Gore Solid Support".

George Nakano retained his seat in California's State Assembly even though the web site of his opponent, Gerald Felando, accused the Japanese-American of accepting money from foreign sources, including Chinese arms dealers, military intelligence and Communists.  The site also featured a photo of Mr. Nakano dressed in a Japanese sword-fighting outfit.  11/16/00 Dallas Morning News: "Voting Bloc Gave Gore Solid Support".