PolickTips: August 2014

By Michelle Phipps-Evans

Asian Fortune magazine’s column explores news, views and cues in the exciting political sphere. The column touches the three branches of the federal government, state-level political tidbits, little known historical facts, and on occasion, a dose of gossip.

D.C. street to be renamed after imprisoned Chinese dissident

The U.S. House Appropriations Committee voted late June to rename the stretch of road in front the Chinese Embassy as the “Liu Xiaobo Plaza,” in a nod to the 2010 Nobel Prize-winning dissident who was sentenced and jailed for human rights activism in 2009 for 11 years. The proposal would rename the section of International Place in front the Embassy as 1 Liu Xiaobo Plaza, NW. The House committee approved the amendment, sponsored by Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), to the 2015 State Department spending bill that directs the change on the federally owned property. Signs will be posted and the mailing address changed. Although there’s bipartisan support in the House, the Obama administration has taken no position on the stance. Some postulate that it’s due to fear of angering the Chinese who called the proposal “a complete farce,” according to the New York Times.

RNC stands behind fighting words

A majority of Americans, including Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs), say the Obama administration is incompetent in running the government, writes the Republican National Committee (RNC)’s Research Department in a recent briefing on how the President’s governing style is weighing down Democrats ahead of the November general elections. Obama’s mismanagement of his own government will continue to drag down Democrats in the upcoming elections. AAPIs are tired of these failed Democratic policies, it states, concluding that AAPIs will not support 2014 Democratic Senate candidates because of their support for Obama’s “failing policies.” Examining the Veteran’s Affairs scandal (that led to the resignation of Secretary Eric Shinseki, the VA’s first Asian-American director and the first Asian-American four star general), to the border crisis (with undocumented children sneaking over the U.S. border alone because of legislation that President W. Bush signed into law that offered provisions for undocumented migrant children), the RNC states that “Obama has demonstrated failed leadership on how to handle these issues. Because of this, Republicans are energized at their prospects for the upcoming elections.

White House statement on the second Malaysian Airline disaster in 2014

Following the tragedy of the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 on July 17, which was on its way to Malaysia from Amsterdam, the White House released the following statement:

“The United States is shocked by the downing of (the flight), and we offer our deep condolences to all those who lost loved ones on board. It is critical that there be a full, credible, and unimpeded international investigation as quickly as possible. We urge all concerned – Russia, the pro-Russian separatists, and Ukraine – to support an immediate cease-fire in order to ensure safe and unfettered access to the crash site for international investigators and in order to facilitate the recovery of remains. The role of international organizations – such as the United Nations and the OSCE in Ukraine – may be particularly relevant for this effort…In the meantime, it is vital that no evidence be tampered with in any way and that all potential evidence and remains at the crash site are undisturbed. While we do not yet have all the facts, we do know that this incident occurred in the context of a crisis in Ukraine that is fueled by Russian support for the separatists, including through arms, materiel, and training. This incident only highlights the urgency with which we continue to urge Russia to immediately take concrete steps to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine and to support a sustainable cease-fire and path toward peace that the Ukrainian government has consistently put forward.” In March, Malaysian Airlines 370, which was on its way to Beijing, China, from Kuala Lumpur International Airport, disappeared off the radar and has not been seen since.

Dr. Howard Koh to leave DHHS

Several Asian-American health-related advocacy organizations recently commended their appreciation for the 14th Assistant Secretary for Health Dr. Howard Koh at the Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) who’s leaving after five years. “We will always be indebted to Dr. Koh for his efforts to curb tobacco use in our communities,” said Rod Lew, executive director of the Asian Pacific Partners for Empowerment, Advocacy & Leadership. “He has been one of our greatest champions for the past 20 years in the fight for a tobacco-free society.” Jeffrey Caballero, the executive director of the Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations, expressed his gratitude as well. “We thank him for the notable contributions he made in the areas of tobacco control, cancer screening, suicide prevention and viral hepatitis.” Dr. Koh, who has contributed more than 10 years of public service, has been on the ground as a primary care physician striving to improve individual health, as a researcher at premiere academic institutions generating new data with the potential to affect change, and has also very prominently developed and implemented strategies that have improved public health systems and the health status of populations across the country. Koh will continue his career and his decades of work toward improving public health by returning this fall to Harvard University’s School of Public Health as professor of the Practice of Public Health Leadership. In a very strange twist, there’s nothing on the DHHS website about Koh’s departure, even though the advocacy organizations were aware since early July. Also, Harvard published a July 10 press release on its website about his return.

Little Known Historical Fact

Following Dalip Singh Saund who became the first Asian elected to Congress in 1956, Patsy Takemoto Mink became the first Asian-American congresswoman in 1964 when she was first elected as a Democratic representative from Hawaii. Mink, a Japanese American, served in the House until 1977 when she launched an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate. From 1975 to 1977, during the 94th Congress, Mink was as Secretary of the House Democratic Caucus. She held a degree in zoology from the University of Hawaii and a law degree from the University of Chicago Law School where she met her husband, John Mink, there. She died in 2002 from complications with chickenpox.

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