nwasianweekly.com
Aug. 2, 2008

Gregoire and Rossi battle over the International District

By Stacy Nguyen
Northwest Asian Weekly

Gregoire notably absent at Seafair parade

Dino Rossi, Republican candidate for 2008 Washington state governor, was all smiles at the Chinatown Seafair Parade. Notably absent from the event was incumbent Democratic candidate, Gov. Chris Gregoire.

The parade took place on Sunday, July 20, running between South Jackson and South King Street. The successful event was a community celebration involving girls’ drill teams, street vendors and a 100-foot Chinese dragon that twisted its way through the International District.

Local businessman Ted Choi carried Rossi signs at the parade. “We just wanted to get our Asian community to understand him,” Choi said. “He had a great time, was very accessible and was well received. There were lots of thumbs up. Dino appreciated all the hard work the Seafair volunteers do for the City of Seattle.”

In contrast to Rossi’s prominent presence at the parade, Gregoire’s absence, in person and in signs, was palpable, leaving some individuals puzzled as to whether she sees the I.D. as a done deal for her campaign or whether she just doesn’t feel the area is important.

Former Gov. Gary Locke would disagree with this. In his introductory statement at an API Leadership Meeting on July 23 at the International District/Chinatown Community Center, Locke emphatically stated, “We should be proud of (Gregoire’s) record of standing up for diversity. We need to help her. This is a close race. This should not be as close a race.”

At the same meeting, Gregoire reaffirmed the value of the Asian American community to her campaign. With a grim smile, she stated, “There’s nobody that knows as well as I do that every vote counts,” referring to her historically slim margin of victory over Rossi in 2004.

In response to an inquiry from an individual on why one is able to see Rossi signs all over and no Gregoire signs to match, Gregoire responded with, “I just don’t have any consultant that will tell me to put money in signs. Signs don’t get you votes. We have a certain amount of funds. So it’s a matter of, ‘Do we put up signs?’ or ‘Do we put up an ad on the radio or television?’ Signs are not the right place to put your limited dollar.”

As stated by Dennis Su, the parade’s organizer, the entry fee, set by the Greater Seattle Chinese Chamber of Commerce, for all political candidates is $100 (community organizations and cultural groups do not have to pay a fee).

However, it is worth nothing that Gregoire has been a familiar face in the community. She has attended numerous events in the International District, including the grand opening of the Chinese gate this year as well as the Wing Luke Asian Musuem re-opening. At the API Leadership meeting, Gregoire admitted to being limited in what events she could attend in the community. “If you have ideas of places I should be, tell Kelly,” she said with a grin, referring to her deputy campaign manager.

Signs in restaurant windows creates controversy

On July 3 in a walkthrough organized by Nora Chan, Ted Choi and others went around Chinatown introducing Rossi to the local Chinese business owners, trying to show community members how important Chinatown is to Rossi. They also asked several restaurants to display Rossi signs in their windows. Choi asserted that the businesses that chose to display the sign did so voluntarily in support of Rossi.

Of these businesses, only Jade Garden displays signs from both candidates. According to owner May Chen, Dino Rossi and a group of Chinese supporters — also Jade Garden’s customers — shook hands with the business owners of each place he visited. One of Rossi’s supporters asked if he could put a sign in Jade Garden’s window and told her it wouldn’t affect her business. After the walkthrough, many Chinese businesses carried Rossi’s sign.

In Chinese, Chen said, “Any candidate who visited us and asked for permission to put up a sign — I would let them as a courtesy. If the governor visited us and shook our hands, we would have done the same for her. It doesn’t mean we are siding with them or voting for them. We just want to do business. We are politically neutral. We are not interested in becoming involved in politics.”

Chen has received a bit of grief over her Rossi sign, and that is why she later opted to put up Gregoire’s sign too. “Two Asian women speaking English went into my restaurant and shouted at me for hanging Rossi’s signs. They were asking me if I supported Rossi during our lunch rush hour. They had no right to ask, and I don’t have to tell them how I vote. We were embarrassed because everyone in the restaurant heard them yelling.

“They demanded that I take down Rossi’s sign. I told them I could not do that. So they said in order to be fair, I should post a Gregoire sign there too.”

Jade Garden did. Nevertheless, one of the women returned the following week and demanded to know which candidate Chen supported. “I don’t have to tell her how I vote. We have the right (to choose). It’s obvious what these women are doing doesn’t help Gregoire, but is helping Dino instead.”

Chen said, in the future, she will not allow any political sign to be hung in her window after this election.

Assunta Ng contributed to this report.

Stacy Nguyen can be reached at stacyngu@nwasianweekly.com.

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