By Keith Kamisugi, Curtis Chin and Mike Fong

October’s Filipino American History Month is an opportune time for other Asian American communities to evaluate our progress in supporting the efforts of Filipino Americans in achieving fair and more equal representation for their community in politics.

One glaring fact demonstrates why this issue is ripe for discussion: no Filipino American has ever been elected to the California State Assembly, a body representing a state that is home to approximately 60 percent of Americans of Filipino heritage.

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The AP Seattle Times reports that a senior administration official says that President Barack Obama’s likely pick for Commerce secretary is former Washington Gov. Gary Locke.

And from POLITICO: “Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D-Mich.) tells POLITICO that she heard former Gov. Gary Locke (D-Wash.) floated as a nominee for Commerce Secretary in a one-on-one conversation she had at the NGA meeting with another governor.”

And more from The Fix.

Gov. Locke was the first Asian American governor of a Mainland state and the first Chinese American governor in the country. Gov. George Ariyoshi (D-HI) was our country’s first Asian American governor (1974-1986); his successor, John Waihee (D-HI) was our first Pacific Islander and Native Hawaiian governor (1986-1994) and Benjamin Cayateno (D-HI) was our first Filipino American governor (1994-2000).

UPDATE:  Article in tomorrow’s Washington Post.

UPDATE (Feb. 24, 5:30 p.m. ET): AP is reporting that President Obama will in fact appoint Gov. Locke to SecCommerce.  Official announcement expected tomorrow.

Asian Pacific Americans for Progress PAC (APAP PAC) today announced the launch of its Glen S. Fukushima Campaign Fellowship and the placement of the Fellow with Dr. Judy Chu’s campaign for California’s 32nd Congressional District, which will be vacant should current Congresswoman Hilda Solis resign to become the U.S. Secretary of Labor.

The campaign fellowship is made possible through a donation by Glen. S. Fukushima, a former Deputy Assistant United States Trade Representative for Japan and China at the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), Executive Office of the President.

APAP PAC is currently accepting applications. Go to www.apaforprogress.org/apap-pac to learn more and apply. Applications are due on Feb. 28, 2009, at 11 p.m. Pacific Time.

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David Hou invited me to write this for ningin.com, a site covering Asian media and pop culture.

A Black man born in Hawai’i with an Asian sister was sworn into office Tuesday as our President. He took the oath of office on the same bible used by Abraham Lincoln for the exact same oath 148 years ago, realizing the dreams of countless African Americans and others who previously never imagined this moment.

President Barack Obama now leads our country into uncertain and troubled times. But he begins work on our nation’s ills with unprecedented numbers of Asian Americans in substantive roles in this Administration.

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Less than an hour ago, Obama supporter David Chiu was elected the President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

David was elected Supervisor this past November in District 3 of San Francisco, which covers the northeastern quadrant of the city, including Chinatown, Union Square, North Beach, the FIsherman’s Wharf area and the FInancial District.

In addition to being the first Chinese American elected from the district, he becomes the first Chinese American to serve as board president.

Coverage here in the Chronicle and the Bay Area Reporter.

UPDATE: Post by Valerie Soe on David and Eric Mar, also an early Obama supporter.

The Vietnam Veterans of America today described President-elect Obama’s selection of Gen. Eric Shinseki as Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs a “promising choice” citing Shinseki’s “integrity and personal fortitude to usher in the real changes needed to make the VA a true steward of our nation’s veterans and their families.”

“Veterans of all political persuasions should take heart and applaud this choice,” said John Rowan, the organization’s national president.

Shinseki would be only the third Asian American appointed to a Cabinet position, following Norman Mineta’s tenure at both Commerce and Transportation and Elaine Chao’s stint at Labor.

Veterans Affairs is the second largest department in the federal government, established 20 years ago this coming March by President Reagan.

The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder mistakenly noted that Shinseki’s name was absent from any speculation of potential nominees. Dale Minami and Maeley Tom both mentioned Shinseki as a superbly qualified Cabinet member.

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The NY Daily News reported yesterday that soon-to-be Secretary of State Hillary Clinton passed up an offer to chair the Senate Appropriations Committee, which was just relinquished by Sen. Robert Byrd of W. Va. The article failed to mention that Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawai’i was being tapped to succeed Byrd and that the move would have been a seismic break with Senate leadership tradition.

But given that the article cited no sources, even anonymous ones, and that no other news outlet independently reported this, the account was most likely vapornews.

The article’s omission of Inouye and his role in the musical chairs makes me wonder how, or if, Sen. Inouye will break his practice of working mostly under the radar as Appropriations chair. The Senator has never sought the spotlight and he’s not one of those making the Sunday talk show rounds.

Being quiet and effective as a politician is maybe not as lauded today as it was in another era of Hawai’i politics. “Quiet and effective” was in fact a camapign slogan for Hawai’i Gov. George Ariyoshi, who became the country’s first Asian American governor.

Sen. Inouye’s style of leadership on the high-profile committee may be perfect for the new Obama era and our tough economic times: we need more things getting done without all the political posturing.

President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden’s Inaugural Committee launched the official inauguration website today at pic2009.org and outlined plans for an inauguration that will underscore their commitment to change business as usual in Washington and ensure that as many Americans as possible, both inside and outside Washington, will be able to come together to unite the country and celebrate our common values and shared aspirations.

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The Hawai’i Visitors and Convention Bureau now has a Barack Obama microsite on the offical tourism website, gohawaii.com. The page lists some of the places there were part of President-Elect Obama’s life growing up in Hawai’i and also some spots that he visited on his recent trips.

Matt Haney, Steve Ngo, Nate Mezmer have formed a group called Citizen Hope, which seeks to continue the momentum of the Obama grassroots by empowering change through social networking and community action. We’re having a launch party in San Francisco on Dec. 2.

Here in the Bay Area, we’ve created a new vibrant and diverse political community capable of influencing the direction of our country. We feel it is our responsibility to continue to build upon these gains in efforts to impact our collective future.

Citizen Hope will begin by holding regular events around the San Francisco Bay Area, with each event highlighting a specific issue or cause. Many of our events will involve fundraising and/or an associated “action” that we will ask attendees to take part in—-from volunteering at a local shelter or youth program to finding targeted avenues to further the values of inclusion, opportunity, and diversity. By uniting attendees through awareness and service, we will build our political and social community and push forward our shared values and goals.

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