WASHINGTON–The Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) recently held its 9th Leadership Academy for elected officials on Nov. 18-19 at the Marriott Hotel here, followed by a reception on Capitol Hill.

APAICS President and CEO William H. (Mo) Marumoto noted there were two additional Asian Pacific Americans who were elected to the incoming Congress: Steve Austria (R-Ohio) and Greg Sablan (I-Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas).

He added that after the high turnout of voters in the Nov. 4 elections, with its significant minority votes, “We are living in the moment when history was made.”

APAICS’ Class of 2008 participants are as follows: Charlice Byrd, (R) Georgia State Representative; Patty Kim, (D) Council Member-Harrisburg City, Pennsylvania; Ted Lieu (D) Assemblyman, 53rd District, California; Curtis Oda (R) State Representative, 14th District, Utah; Quang X. Pham (I) San Juan Capistrano, California; and Pennsylvania State Senator John Pippy (R).

APAICS started the Leadership Academy in 1999 to provide a workshop program for Asian Pacific American candidates at the city, town, state or federal levels. Sempra Energy and Verizon sponsored this year’s program.

Participants heard from APAICS Founder and Vice Chair Norman Y. Mineta, who gave welcoming remarks. APAICS board members, including Frances Nam, Sodexo Vice President of Government Affairs, introduced the panelists.

Covering the issues on aging, the mortgage crisis, and ethics were the National Asian Pacific Center on Aging President and CEO Clayton S. Fong, Senior Policy Representative for the National Association of Realtors Anthony Hutchinson, and House of Representatives Committee on Standards of Official Conduct Committee Counsel Susan Olson, introduced by APAICS Board Secretary Fred Underwood, RCE, of the National Association of Realtors.

Terry Ao and Tuyet Duong of the Asian American Justice Center talked on immigration, voting and census. Founder and Managing Director of Sun Associates Andrew I. Sun talked about communication strategy. Lawyer and writer Phil Tajitsu talked about using Internet tools for political campaigns. Nash gave helpful fund-raising suggestions using the Internet in a political campaign.

Managing Director of the Realtors Political Action Committee of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Scott Reiter, State Government Manager at Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceutical Paul Chen, and Sun spoke on Political Action Committee outreach strategy. Private Consultant Lenna Aoki spoke about “How to Get around Washington, D.C. APAICS’ Senior Advisor and former Chief of Staff to Congressman Frank Horton (R-NY) Ruby G. Moy and Chief of Staff to Congresswoman Grace Napolitano (D-CA) Daniel Chao spoke on staffing a political office.

APAICS Corporate Advisory Councilmember Leslie Moe-Kaiser, Ph.D., CLU, Corporate Relations Manager at State Farm stated, “This program fulfills the needs for non-partisan education of Asian Pacific American elected officials by providing training and coalition-building opportunities.” Program facilitator Ed Chow said, “We have many success stories and we hope that the Class of 2008 will add to them.”

AMGEN Director of Global Government Affairs Howard Moon, who is also an APAICS’ board member, hosted the reception. Also present were the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Staff (CAPASA) and Javier Martinez president of the Congressional Hispanic Staff Association. The new CAPAC officers for the 111th Congress present were Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA), Chair; Rep. Eni Faleomaevega (D-Samoa), vice chair; Rep. Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam), secretary; Rep. Al Green (D-TX); Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), and CAPAC Executive Director Vicky Tung.