Yen Chou only won because of the increased turnout by the Chinese for John Liu. She hasn’t done anything for the Chinese community and has no track record of working with other groups. She is totally unqualified.  Just listen to her during a candidate forum!  http://boropolitics.com/stories/1/6/01_06_0902_d20_debate_video.html

Peter Koo is even worse. I feel like my only choices in November are between Tweedledee and Tweedledum.

Flushing deserves better.

I hope that APA for Progress isn't going down the same road as so many other Asian Am orgs -- and that the "for Progress" in your name stands for something.  Should we be excited that these 3 candidates were elected to office, just because they're Asian American -- I don't think so.  Maybe the only person we should rightly celebrate for being elected is Margaret Chin -- as she's been a community organizer and leader for decades and has fought for affordable housing, immigrant rights and other progressive issues.  Kevin Kim looks great on paper, and is a nice guy, but hasn't gone to bat for the community on any issues of significance, and certainly hasn't done anything to earn him the title of being a "progresssive."  His being elected maybe makes Korean and Asian Ams get a warm fuzzy -- but his record thus far doesn't exactly inspire confidence that he'll be any type of champion for progressive causes.  I hope he proves me wrong though. Yen Chou isn't progressive by any stretch and has little appeal outside of the Chinese community.  In fact, she beat out two people who have been working hard for the community for a long time now -- John Choe and SJ Jung.  If anything, we should be decrying her election because her victory was probably ethnic politics at its worst.  Sad. 

Reporting on news and candidates of note does not consitute an endorsement by APAP.  I am personally opposed to Yen Chou as well and I worked with John Choe over the summer, but that doesn't stop me from reporting on election results.

Furthermore, I am convinced that Kevin Kim can (and will) be one of the better representatives in Bayside's history.

i hope that folks will write about the wackness of people and call their asses out.

Thanks for the thoughts on Yen Chou, David. We are definitely a progressive organization first.  If you have some thoughts on Yen and how we can hold her more accountable, please feel free to write a post.

I'm keeping an eye on Flushing, thats for sure.  I called her out for not even having a platform in a previous post.

well all your other candidates are john choe, sj jung, isaac sasson, james wu and constantine kavadas. so you would rather have them instead of yen chou?

john choe and sj jung are all talk. isaac sasson is anti azn and constantine has skipped so many debates -- more than one hand can count. james wu -- dont get me started. he just uses negative campaign. for that, i think yen chou is by far the best choice.

Yen Chou's biggest accomplishment seems to be her Taiwanese typhoon relief efforts!  A worthy cause I'm sure, but not something to highlight as the major accomplishment of one's City Council campaign.  She doesn't match up in the least to John Choe or SJ Jung, both of whom have done far far more than just talk.  John Choe is John Liu's longtime chief of staff and has a strong record of accomplishments on major issues.  SJ Jung has been the longtime president and former Exec Director of an enormously effective Flushing-based non-profit that delivers services to thousands of folks and is a longtime  community organizer and leader.  They both have contributed tremendously to the community, in very positive ways, and articulated a detailed agenda and strong vision for District 20.  Yen Chou has no platform, no vision & no record of working in coalition with other groups (unlike both Choe and Jung).  She only won because of the huge Chinese American turnout for John Liu, who is running for Comptroller.

With her as our next City Councilperson, the ethnic and racial visions in District 20 will probably get even worse.  Four years from now, we might even see an even stronger Isaac Sasson sail into office -- he came in third only a handful of votes behind SJ Jung in the official tally.  Really scary. 

David, everything you said is right, except for the fact that Sasson actually came in second. His voting base is essentially people who hate new Asian immigrants.  Scary indeed.

In spite of the new Asian-American civic empowerment in New York City the large numbers of candidates are actually hurting the community by dividing it and allowing others more say and influence that they should have

Calvin, hopefully some day we'll have that same problem here in Texas.  =)

SJ came in second.  Board of Elections certified the offical results this past weekend.  Paper and absentee ballots (which are counted after the primaries) probably jumped him over Isaac Sasson into second. 

http://www.vote.nyc.ny.us/pdf/results/2009/Primary/1.44QueensDem20CouncilRecap.pdf. 

wow, look at that.  thanks for pointing that out.  if thats the case, SJ ought to run on the WPF in november hm?

I have been following this race for a while and like what I see in Mr. Jung.  I very much hope that he will run on the Working Families party ticket in the general elections.  I'm all for breaking out of our 2 party system, especially when it means that more progressive folks with community organizing backgrounds move into elected office!

Wow! How did I miss this??? I just learned more about NYC Asian politics in 5 minutes reading everyone's comments than I could have ever done reading a mainstream paper like the Times. 

I'm really proud of Calvin's work covering NYC and I'm even more proud that commenters are here and vetting his work and that of APAP as well.

David and Wynne Chou especially are to be commended. I live in NYC also but without this site I don't really know what's going on politically simply because I didn't grow up around here. I find the NYC Asian politics scene a little labrynthine but this comments thread was like gold to me.

Glad to be of help Allan.  Since we're throwing around kudos, I should give a shoutout to the groups that got me tuned into this race, and to SJ Jung in particular - Org of Chinese Ams, NY Chapter (www.oca-ny.org) and Korean Ams for Political Advancement (www.kapany.org).  I believe that almost the entire leadership of OCA-NY supported Mr. Jung (in their individual capacities of course).  As a Chinese American, I found this interesting given that there were 2 other Chinese candidates in this race -- and that it spoke well of Mr. Jung's history of working in coalition wiith other groups.  My girlfriend is very involved in KAPA (which endorsed Mr. Jung -- they're a great grassroots progressive group that was also very active in the Obama election), and I got a chance to meet Jung personally at a meet and greet KAPA held for him.  Was very impressed by what he had to say, as well as the energy folks at KAPA and other volunteers were bringing to his campaign.  

It was cool to see so many Asian Americans of different generations throwing themselves into local politics, and for a progressive candidate.  And it's great to see other folks taking an interest on this site as well. 

Keep it up APAP.

What's even funnier is that in Chou's campaign manager's post-election comments, he was proud of the fact that she hadn't received any endorsements from anybody.  >_>

I'm not worried about what she would do in the City Council, I'm worried about what she WONT do.  That list seems rather long.

Peter koo is definitely the best choice for this general election. He has the honesty, integrity, principle, and experience to represent the people of Flushing.  Like many of us, he worked and still work hard to archieve his goals. He has been helping our community ever since he established in Flushing. He is a role model that anyone can identify with and a great example for the young generation. Yen Chou in the other hand, is not really clean in what she claim of herself.  She said she was a teacher for CUNY. In reality, she never qualified as a professor to teach in any NYS public school.  She tutored for a while in Queens Borough Community College because of a donation given by Sam Chan. And of her non-profit school, it is a lie. She does charge students a fee and not just a fee, but 2 to 3 times more that other simillar school. The reason, she claims that she is the only one who has materials and test that will help students to improve their scores. She uses her name to push her business. Also, as s US citizen it is ones reponsibility to vote. She did not for the last ten years and not even in her own primary!!! She does enroll in different associations but almost never attend? From here, we can see what kind of person she is.  How can we trust in someone like her the future of our community? The future of distric 20 will be lost.  I'm an idependant and I'm so proud to vote for Peter Koo this coming November 3.  I really wish him and Flushing good luck. Please, don't vote because you belong to this or that party.  Vote from your heart, who you think the best for the seat. If you just vote like Yen Chou suggested "vote for your party" then it shows that you are just another follower, someone without dream nor aspiration, someone who does not know what he/she wants nor who he/she is. Lest vote for the best;Peter koo.  And, not everything is bad. Not because someone is a republican he/she is bad. Likewise, not because he/she is democrat he/she is good. Yes, Peter koo is a republican. But, he is a person of pure honesty, integrity, and excellet principle. He is one of the nicest person one can ever meet. If he wins, he will not have to pay back to no one. He will just work hard to make Flushing better and better. He is not after the money or to take advantages of the seat like others. To proof this, last week he announced that if he wins, he will use his entire salary to help district 20. There are lots of community centers that need help because they are non-profit and do not get much help from the governent. Thanks you everyone.

Yen Chou is running a very negative campaign, full of dirty tricks and lies.  For this reason, and for her lack of experience, I'm voting for Peter Koo tomorrow!

im glad peter koo won. I actually worked for yen chou, and i definitely got the impression that she did most things out of just appearances. She is not really invested in the community or its people. She's pretty much in it for self promotion and profit. Just meeting her for the first 5 minutes you already get a negative impression.