Posted by kalo on August 29, 2001 at 18:32:34:
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Debra Rhinehart
Wednesday, August 29, 2001 360-725-4021
ASIAN AMERICAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER COMMISSIONERS
EXPRESS CONCERN WITH BUSH ADMINISTRATION
(Seattle, WA) Members of the first President's Advisory Commission on Asian
Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) joined together today to express
strong concern about the Bush administration's lack of support for and
engagement of the nation's growing AAPI communities. The announcement
follows news on Friday that the President intends to appoint 14 new
individuals to serve on this Commission. Additionally, the Office of the
White House Initiative on AAPIs, which coordinates the work of the
Commission, has been operating without a budget since October of 2000, and
the administration has made no formal commitment to fund the office in the
next year.
Former Commission Chair Martha Choe stated that while the President was
expected to make his own appointments to the advisory body, she was
disturbed by the complete absence of formal communication between the White
House and the original Commissioners. "Over the past eight months, the
President and HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson have ignored repeated requests
from the Commission to provide the necessary support for us to conduct a
meeting and to begin working with them to ensure a smooth transition," said
Choe. "We were quite surprised at the abrupt announcement by the White
House of the new appointments on Friday afternoon during a Congressional
recess, and there was no communication with any of the previous
Commissioners. This raises serious questions about how this administration
intends to work with our communities."
Choe also noted that none of the original Commissioners were retained in
Friday's announcement. "This poses a significant challenge in ensuring the
work of thousands of community members continues to move forward. We spent
over a year traveling around the country, conducting town hall meetings,
building coalitions with local and national community groups, and compiling
a comprehensive report on the state of AAPIs in America. There are high
expectations that the Commission begin to implement the recommendations. It
is imperative that this work not be lost."
The fifteen members of the original Commission were sworn-in on May 18,
2000, for a term of two years. Secretary of Transportation, Norman Y.
Mineta served as the first Chair of the Commission and was succeeded by Choe
in August of 2000. On June 6, 2001, President Bush issued Executive Order
13216, renewing the order that initially established both the Commission and
the Office of the White House Initiative on AAPIs. Both are
administratively housed in the Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS).
Haunani Apoliona, a former member of the Commission and Chair of the Office
of Hawaiian Affairs, expressed concern about the quality of representation
on the new Commission. "While the President has chosen some excellent
leaders from our communities, where are the voices of the Chamorros of Guam?
Why is there only one Southeast Asian on the list? These are some of the
most vulnerable subpopulations within our communities and the Commission
cannot truly address these underserved groups without strong participation
from them."
Lee Pao Xiong, a former Commissioner from Minnesota added, "How can
Filipinos and South Asians, who constitute the 2nd and 3rd largest
percentages of our population, respectively, have only one seat on the
Commission for each? And where are the Commissioners from the Northeast,
Midwest, Pacific Northwest of the United States? Without real ethnic and
geographic diversity, the Commission looses credibility with the community."
Choe said the former Commissioners will continue to support efforts to
increase the participation of AAPIs in federal programs where they are
underserved. "We have always believed that the work of this Commission was
nonpartisan," said Choe. "The issues we raised and the recommendations we
made were neither Republican nor Democratic. Our work was aimed at opening
the doors of government and empowering the members of our communities to
participate more fully in this society. We hope that the new Commissioners
will continue to focus on the priorities we identified in our interim
report, A People Looking Forward. As leaders who are invested in the AAPI
communities, we will continue that work as private citizens and as
advocates."