By Maeley Tom, Capitol Watch

January 5, 2007

Now or Never: During the 20 years I served as a staffer in the state Legislature, being a state legislator was a big deal during those years because there were no term limits. This allowed many state legislators to pursue lifetime careers in the legislature giving them tremendous power in the governing of California.
Due to term limits, times have drastically changed. The opportunities to make an impact as a state legislator are very limited, and as a result, the influence of state legislators has diminished. Therefore, it is critical that our elected members take advantage of every opportunity to excel, develop an area of expertise, and find a niche on how they can leave their legacy in helping California address some of its most critical issues during this limited window of opportunity.

Don’t Forget Where You Come From: There are and have been a number of APA legislators who tout their APA credentials during election time and receive a significant amount of resources from the APA community for their campaigns. But, once elected, some of these legislators don’t have the same eagerness to give back to their communities when it comes to championing relevant legislative issues, participating in meaningful events that give the APA community political visibility, or mentoring new talent.
When there was a small token number of APA state legislators, this behavior and attitude was overlooked by the APA communities who were just happy to have APA representation in the State Capitol, period. But, times have changed and this was exemplified by this election cycle when APA candidates found that they can no longer expect a free ride from all APA voters based on ethnicity alone.

No More Nice Guys and Gals: For the first time here in California, we saw a number of APA groups publicly support non-APA candidates running against APA candidates. For whatever reason, taking a public stance in supporting an APA candidate’s opponent is a very bold move for the traditional polite APA communities. However, compared to the hardball negative politics that exists in the political mainstream, these APA groups were still reluctant to openly criticize or expose some of the concerns they had relating to the APA candidates they were opposing because they were just "too polite."
As the number of qualified APA candidates grows and as the APA communities become more demanding for quality representation despite ethnicity, I envision that this community will overcome its politeness and, like other groups, will no longer hesitate to publicly expose, scrutinize, criticize and raise expectations of their APA state representatives and candidates to the mainstream public.

Advance, Don’t Retreat: Therefore, it is my fervent hope that our current crop of APA state-elected officials will use this opportunity to demonstrate to their critics they can be effective leaders and will serve a higher purpose by heeding to the advice of former President Lyndon Johnson who said to succeed in politics, "Don’t get even, get ahead," or in my own view, "Don’t look backward, look forward."

Three’s Company for First Chinese American State Senator in ‘08: Leland Yee has created quite a stir as the first Chinese state Senator in California. There is reason to celebrate as the only other Asian to have served in the state Senate decades ago was the late Korean American Senator Art Song.

There is a good chance that in 2008, Yee will be joined by former Assembly Member Wilma Chan (D), who has declared her intention to run for Senate Majority Leader Don Perata’s Senate seat when he is termed out in ’08. Assembly Member Carol Liu (D) has also indicated an interest in running for Senator Jack Scott’s seat, which also vacates in 2008.