Campaign Finance Lessons for Disillusioned Asian-American Group

15 january 2013

Concerned about the dampening effect that a fund-raising scandal involving the city comptroller could have on Asian-American voters, the New York City Campaign Finance Board held a workshop on Monday night on the dos and don’ts of campaign finance.

The workshop was requested by a new coalition of community groups, the Asian American Civic Alliance, which was formed after the fund-raising woes of the comptroller, John C. Liu, who had been regarded until recently as a likely candidate for mayor, came to light. Over the course of two hours, Daniel Cho, the board’s director of candidate services, responded to granular questions about house parties and in-kind contributions, while also offering, with a PowerPoint slide show, broad guidelines on disclosure forms and personal information.

His recommendations included:

¶Underscore just how important it is, legally, for donors to read and sign a contributor card affirming that they are not being reimbursed for their campaign contributions.

¶Don’t forget to ask each contributor to fill out as much information about himself or herself — including place of employment — as possible.

¶Remember, there is nothing wrong with being a bundler or an intermediary.

Mr. Cho stressed that the workshop was not about “any specific candidate.” But there was little doubt that many people were thinking about Mr. Liu, whose campaign treasurer was arrested last month on charges of illegally directing campaign money using fake donors.

Mr. Liu, the first Asian-American elected to citywide office, has long been a symbol of pride and achievement for a fast-growing population. So if he, or anyone close to him, becomes ensnarled in an investigation, many people would feel great disappointment, some workshop participants said.

“I worry about John Liu,” said John Y. Park, president of the Korean American Community Empowerment Council. “But I am more worried about how this will hurt Asian-Americans’ political involvement and scare off contributors.”

At another point, Mr. Park, in one of the more emotional outbursts of the evening, questioned whether Asian-Americans were being singled out by federal investigators.

“I’m not crying the race card, but why us?” he said.

“I understand the frustration,” Mr. Cho responded. “But I definitely want to stay focused on how do we move forward.”

Mr. Cho then beseeched the participants to act as “ambassadors” to inform the public “so that it may lead to a better place.”

There are plans, tentatively, to hold the workshop again in other neighborhoods (like Flushing, Queens, and Sunset Park, Brooklyn) and in other languages (like Mandarin and Korean). There are also plans to prepare printed instructions and to recruit lawyers to answer questions pro bono, said Cao K. O, executive director of the Asian American Federation, which held the workshop in its Lower Manhattan office.

Edward S. Ma, a psychotherapist who is a member of Community Board 2 in Manhattan, said: “Asian-Americans have learned a hard lesson, because everyone hoped that John would be mayor. But there are land mines, and they are very clear — don’t do this, do this. It’s very preventable for any politician.”