7/23/04 www.asianweek.com: “Winning for Dummies,”
By Maeley Tom
    After 30 years of political involvement with elected officials, I am often asked by an Asian Pacific American candidate whether or not he or she should run for an elective office. I generally ask questions and give them the following advice.
    Evaluate the District
    You must be totally familiar with the demographic breakdown of the district. You must know how your personality and political philosophy fits with the district. For example, is the district liberal, moderate, conservative, business oriented, labor oriented? What are the income levels, educational needs, environmental issues, business development issues? What is the voter profile of the district?
    Evaluate Yourself
    Quit thinking of yourself as an APA candidate. Just focus on your being the best-qualified person for the job. Evaluate how you can best represent all the special interest constituencies that make up the district. What type of cross coalition, mainstream networks have you established (i.e. chamber of commerce, professional and civic organizations, political party activities)? What leadership roles have you assumed that have made an impact and name for yourself in the district?
    If you are a local elected official deciding to run for higher office, accomplishments as an elected official, name recognition, a good base and your ability to raise money will be keys to your success.
    What type of a volunteer base do you have to help you with campaign tasks such as staffing the campaign office, scheduling, phone banking, precinct walking, putting up signs, raising money and organizing events?
    And, of course, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your opponents and secure a realistic assessment of your chances from trusted district leaders.
    Personal Characteristics
    Do you have the “fire in the belly”? Are you willing to forsake a lot of personal and family time in order to campaign 100% of the time? Do you have the energy and enthusiasm to fundraise, fundraise and fundraise until election time?
    If you are not among the independently wealthy, can you overcome the awkwardness of having to ask strangers, family and friends for money over and over again without having the ability to guarantee that you will win? Do you have the communication skills and the ability to think quickly on your feet to allow you to comfortably articulate issues before the media and an audience? Will you be able to assert yourself and debate effectively in confrontational situations? Are you able to demonstrate passion and commitment about issues that are important to you? Do you present the right image for your district? For example, a successful candidate running in Iowa will have a different image than a candidate running in Hawai’i.Do you have the character to handle losing an election? APAs have a poor record of running again once they have lost an election. Many cannot over come the “loss of face” syndrome.
    The Right Campaign Manager
    A key to any successful campaign is the campaign manager. Before you select your campaign manager conduct a thorough reference check on the consultant’s successes and failures. Evaluate the consultant’s campaign workload, management style and familiarity with your district, personality compatibility and the consultant’s fee scale. Determine how much personal involvement the consultant will commit to your campaign. Oftentimes, a staff person will be delegated to handle the day-to-day tasks of your campaign while the manager only provides strategic oversight.
    Meeting the Ethnic Test
    Ethnic political networks often provide funding, training, networks and mentors to their ethnic candidates seeking elected offices. However, these seasoned caucuses are tough in screening out candidates who do not meet the expectations of credibility and effectiveness they deem worthy of their support.
    The APA communities and their elected caucuses have been very generous in trying to help any APA candidate who runs. However, this trend cannot last forever. The good news is that there are more APA candidates running for office than ever before. The bad news is that APA resources are being tapped to the limit, forcing the community and the elected caucuses to start limiting their resources to only the most viable candidates who possess the greatest potential to succeed.
    Let’s put more APA candidates in the “winners” column.


4/4/03 Asianweek.com
"Washington Journal: Cy Thao: How I won my seat"
By Phil Tajitsu Nash

You can tell that Cy Thao used to be an actor from the moment he enters a room. His wide grin, prancing eyes, and sure steps convey a "presence" that is magnetic. He knows how to modulate his speech, and moves easily from Hmong to English while keeping his multicultural audience on the edge of their seats.

But Thao, a freshman state representative from St. Paul, Minn., is not just an entertainer these days. "Politics drove me to art, and art drove me back to politics," he joked at the 8th Hmong National Conference, held last weekend near Washington D.C. The conference was organized by Hmong National Development (www.hndlink.org) a well-organized and far-sighted group.

Rep. Thao served as an intern at the Minnesota state capitol ten years ago, but decided that he would rather be a painter and actor. After ten years working as an artist, teacher and nonprofit executive, however, he realized that his community, his art and, indeed, his whole life, were controlled to varying degrees by decisions made by lawmakers. Instead of writing letters, lobbying and then protesting bad decisions, he decided that part of his energy should be devoted to becoming a legislator himself.

At a workshop called "What It Takes To Run For Office," convened by Irene Bueno of the Asian American Action Fund (www.aaa-fund.org), Rep. Thao shared the evolution of his thought process as he made up his mind to run for state assembly. Here is a summary:

1. Do some initial research. Find out about the job you aspire to fill. Work, like he did, as a student intern in the office. Make sure you will find the job fulfilling, because any public service job is going to demand long hours.

2. Do some family planning. Make sure your family is behind you, as there will be some sacrifice. Thao worked on his campaign full-time for a while, so his wife had to support the family.

3. Stand for something. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to community service. Thao had spent years as a community volunteer, so he knew that the key issues in his neighborhood were fixing the housing stock, reducing crime, improving education and providing economic development. These issues helped him relate to people of all backgrounds in the neighborhood, not just those of Hmong descent.

4. Create a team. With years of helping others behind him, Cy Thao had a lot of favors he could "call in" as he began his campaign. A treasurer agreed to register his campaign and add up the money raised. A campaign manager agreed to run the operation while he did the television appearances, voter drives and fundraising calls. A volunteer manager who had just graduated from college was able to recruit college-aged friends to supplement the support of older constituents. Marching in parades, posting yard signs and other outdoor activities take time and energy, and this younger crowd had some of both. Finally, the communications director wrote the first draft of the press releases, talked to the media and kept the campaign "on-message."

5. Start walking. Rep. Thao wore out a pair of shoes while visiting 10,000 people in his district over a three-month period. There is no substitute for going to a door and saying, "Hello, I would like your vote." This allowed him to meet his neighbors, hear their concerns, develop some rapport and ask for their votes.

6. Start raising money. Getting the word out takes more than time and commitment. As Rep Thao joked, "This job pays only $30,000, and I spent that much just getting elected." Direct mail pieces to an entire district can cost $2,000 each, and must be done four times. Websites, radio, television and other communication channels also cost money. A candidate must be able to approach friends and family and ask for contributions.

7. Plan way ahead. Almost two years before his election, Rep. Thao was already making his plans. He was pulling together his team, learning the relevant filing deadlines and exploring how to raise money for his campaign. The Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor (DFL) Party (www.dfl.org) has a caucus system where delegates to the party convention are picked from volunteers at a caucus meeting long before the convention. Thao encouraged 200 local Hmong Americans to come to the caucus, and half were chosen as delegates. By the time the party was ready to endorse a candidate for state representative from Thao's district, many of the delegates already knew him and were predisposed to voting for him.

8. Be a uniter, not a divider. Family and clan ties are very important to Hmong communities, as in many other communities, so Thao made sure to reach out to people outside the Thao clan. The years he had spent as a teacher of ESL to Hmong elders helped him to have the Hmong language skills he needed at this crucial moment.

9. Deal with setbacks. Opponents decided to challenge the Hmong American voters by saying that they had to bring certificates of citizenship before they could vote in the delegate meetings. Thao, with the assistance of high-ranking DFL leaders, got his opponents to back off by asserting that if Hmong had to bring citizenship papers, then EVERYONE would have to bring their birth certificates to prove where they were born. Aside from dealing with a potentially fatal blow to his campaign, Thao used this as a "teachable moment" to educate his own party members about immigrant rights.

10. Get out the vote. On election day, Thao and his supporters worked the phones and called potential voters five times between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Volunteers were ready to drive supporters to the polls to vote.

Victory on election day was sweet, but then the work began. He was no longer Cy Thao, advocate for Hmong Americans, but Rep. Cy Thao, representative of all people in Minnesota's District 65A.

Reach Phil Tajitsu Nash at pnash@campaignadvantage.com.