2016 Presidential Candidates Q & A Response

Presidential Election of 2016 and How We Win Our Equal Opportunity

1. 80-20’s Questionnaire to Presidential candidates

  1. Cover letter
  2. Our questions
  3. Response from Sec. Hillary Clinton


 


1a. Cover Letter to Presidential Candidates

80-20 National Asian American PAC, Inc.
http://www.80-20PAC.org

Via Priority Mail, December 22, 2015
The Honorable xxxx xxxx

Dear xxxxx:

The strength of America lies partly in individuals like you. You know full well the punishing nature of a presidential campaign and the immense challenge in the White House were you to become our president. Nevertheless, you offered your body and soul. As a citizen, I wish to pay you the deepest respect.

I am writing on behalf of The 80-20 Initiative (henceforth 80-20) to inquire your views on Asian Pacific American (APA) concerns. A questionnaire is enclosed. I hope you will endorse our aspirations promptly and unequivocally.

80-20 is by far the largest national APA political organization with an e-mail list of over 180,000 supporters. It is nonpartisan prior to endorsement and is dedicated to winning equal opportunity & justice for APAs through a SWING bloc vote. However, once 80-20 has endorsed a candidate, we become partisan. [1] We have used our emails, ethnic cable TV and radio to independently but most effectively support the endorsed candidate. Our endorsement criteria are objective. They are based on a candidate’s response to our questionnaire and the record of service to the APA community by a candidate’s political party in the past 4 years.

80-20 has the record of delivering four consecutive bloc votes in the years of 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012. The following are exit polls published by New York Times. Note that Asian Americans favored the Republican presidential candidate in 1996 before 80-20 came on the scene in 1998. Afterwards, however, none of the GOP candidates were willing to answer 80-20’s questionnaire. As a result, 80-20 endorsed a Democratic candidate in all four subsequent presidential elections, delivering large bloc votes. However, 80-20 is not tied to supporting Democrats.

How 80-20 changed Asian American voting in recent presidential elections:

1996 80-20 not yet in existence
Clinton 43%/Dole 48% /others 8%
2000 Gore endorsed: +13 point gain
Gore 54%/Bush 41%/others 4%
2004 Kerry endorsed: +12 point gain
Kerry 56%/Bush 44%/others 0%
2008 Obama endorsed: +27 point gain
Obama 62%/McCain 35%/others 3%
2012 Obama endorsed: +47 point gain
Obama 73%/Romney 26%/others 1%

80-20 expects to deliver an even larger bloc vote to the candidate that we will endorse in 2016. We anticipate achieving our namesake and delivering 80% of the 3 million Asian American votes to the candidate endorsed by us.

Political considerations aside, helping an American underclass achieve equal opportunity in the workplaces for their adults; in college admissions for their children; not to be racially profiled; and to attaining an equitable proportion of federal judges are the right things to do. You will just be honoring your pledge of allegiance to the flag that ends with ” … with liberty and justice for all.” That is what our questionnaire is all about.

Sincerely,

Kathleen To
President (2007-2008) and Treasurer
The 80-20 Initiative
(830) 798-9302 kto@tstar.net

Cc: Board of Directors

[1] 80-20 endorses the general election candidate at an Endorsement Convention that consists of equal numbers of Republican, Democratic, and Independent delegates. During the primaries, 80-20’s Board decides on any endorsements. 80-20’s board members are pledged to withhold support from any primary candidates who have NOT affirmatively responded to our questionnaire, and we urge our supporters to do the same. For more information, please see 80-20’s bylaws, Article 7, “Protocol Regarding Presidential Elections of Our Nation,” at www.80-20pac/bylaws

 


1b. Our questions

  1. If elected, will you issue a directive to the Department of Labor asking it to focus on enforcing Executive Order 11246 on behalf of Asian Americans including the usage of debarment for persistent violators? In the past similar efforts have already been made on behalf of women and other minorities with remarkable success (see Chart 1).
  2. If elected, will you issue an Executive Order asking the federal agencies to promote qualified Asian Americans to the Senior Executive Service?
  3. If elected, will you make it a top priority of your Administration to nominate qualified Asian Americans to serve as Article III life-tenured federal judges, whenever such vacancies are available? These include the Federal District Courts, Courts of Appeal, and the Supreme Court.
  4. If elected, will you be willing to make a public statement in your first year in office that it is difficult for you to conceive that on the average Asian American students admitted to first-rate colleges are holistically so much worse than the white, Hispanic and black students admitted that the Asian Americans students will need to score 140 point higher than whites, 270 points higher than Hispanics and 450 points higher than blacks in a 1600-point SAT scoring system to have an equal chance to be admitted?
  5. If elected, and if the Supreme Court bans the use of race as a factor in college admissions, will you direct the Department of Education to withhold federal funding from colleges that continue to use race in college admissions?
  6. If elected, in your 3rd year as our President, will you host a meeting at the White House to review with a group of Asian American national leaders, put together jointly by 80-20 and your administration, the progress on the three issues above: equal opportunity in the workplace; equal opportunity in federal judicial appointments; and equal opportunity in college admissions?
  7. If elected, will you direct your Attorney General to conduct an independent investigation of the wrongly prosecuted cases of Drs. Sherry Chen, and Xiaoxing Xi, and to diligently continue this investigation if it has already been initiated?
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