Board of Directors Meeting Dockets
Physical Meeting Docket for February 1-2, 2003
AGENDA for Feb. 1, 2003 (Saturday):
[A] ORGANIZATIONAL MATTERS
1.
8:00 – 8:30 a.m. Self Introduction (30 minutes):
Let's each take a
minute to two. Be sure to mention
your name, state, profession, your role at this organization, and what
you hope to accomplish during your term of office. You may want to refer back to your campaign
statement. We’ll also have some chapter officers and guests with
us.
2.
Report by Treasurer of
2002 (10 minutes): Larry Ho on Income/ Expenditure
of 2002
3.
Structures of Our Treasury (10 minutes): David
Chu on who handles which part of our receipt and expenditure procedure.
4. Membership projection
for 2003 (10 minutes):
a. 2002 membership:
Jing-Li Yu.
b. A Rough Projection for 2003: S.B. Woo
5.
Required Meeting Procedure -- Robert's Rules of Order
(20 minutes): S. B. Woo
on what one needs to know that will suffice for most meetings
6.
Tien Chang-Lin Summer Internship (10 minutes): S. B. Woo on purpose of the Internship &
amount raised thus far. Larry Ho and
Susan Wu of AL were the ones who helped established the fund
7.
Budget for 2003-04 and Personnel
Matters (15 minutes): S. B.
Woo
8.
80-20's
Achievements/Failures in Its Political Endeavors (60 minutes): S.
B. Woo
Our method of operation
is what gave 80-20 its successes. Thus
far we've succeeded in every political endeavor except for one. The ratio is about 10 to 1. However, we've not achieved our highest goal
set since day one: equal opportunity
in workplaces for all APAs.
9. Fundraising and Endowment Fund
(60 minutes):
a. Fundraising
i. Purpose
ii. Electing
a Fundraising Chair (Volunteers for members?)
b. Endowment
i. Purpose for
an Endowment
ii Setting up
an educational arm (David Chu)
iii. Appointing
an Endowment Committee (Volunteers for
Chairs/members?)
10.
Membership Expansion (60 minutes):
a. Setting a goal
b. How to achieve the goal
i) How each Board
member can help,
ii) How chapters and
“Friends” can help, and
iii) How the Tien
Chang-Lin Fellowship can help
iv) Creating a pamphlet
to recruit members (Any volunteers to
draft and
design the pamphlet?)
11.
National/ Chapters Relations (60 minutes):
a. Chapter contributions in the past
i) During presidential
election
ii) In Fundraising
iii) In recruiting
membership
b. What motivates chapters and where the problems
are
c. Are there alternatives?
If not, how to resolve it??
12.
Election for New Board Members in Nov. 2003 (10 minutes): Kenneth Fong
13. Election Related
Articles of the Bylaws (10 Minutes): athleen
To
14.
Our Web Site (20 minutes): Ying Yang
15.
Bylaws Amendments, if any (45 minutes):
16.
Adjournment at about 4:30 p.m.
Special Reception at
the Chinese Consulate, hosted by the Consulate
General CG Wang from 5:00 p.m. to 5:50 p.m.
DINNER (Social hour
at 6:30 p.m., 2 hours)
Special Guests include officers
from our “Affiliates,” and sister orgs.
AGENDA for Feb. 3, 2003 (Sunday):
[B] SERVING OUR COMMUNITY
1.
Liaison with The Congress (60 minutes): S. B.
Woo
a) Senate
b) House (whose top leader is the Speaker: Dennis
Hastert of IL)
i) The Republican Side: Tom Delay of TX, Majority Leader
ii) The Democratic Side: Nancy Pelosi of CA, Minority Leader
2.
Protecting Our Community's Scientists against Wrongful Investigative
Tactics (60 minutes): S. B.
Woo
A review of recent
series of seemingly wrongful or over-aggressive local and federal
investigative tactics used against APA scientists, including the
W.H. Lee case, the Bin Han of UC, Davis episode and others. A common thread of those cases is the following
sequence of events: exaggerated charges followed by press leaks;
verbal threats to the accused of dire consequences; groundless objection
to letting the accused out on bail, and gross failure to prove the
case in court.
3.
The Presidential Election of 2004 (45 minutes): S. B. Woo
a. The Primary Season
i.
What issues do we want our next president to address?
ii. Drafting a letter
to the presidential candidates
b. Our Endorsement Convention:
i. A review of our
own protocol – electing 1/3 D/I/R, each, .., etc.
ii. Documenting what
each party has done for us?
iii. Timing
of our Convention: advantage/disad.
of an early or late Convention.
c. The General Election:
Preparing radio, TV, newspaper ads, and
group troops.
4.
Stepping into Key State & Federal Races where We have
Significant Influence? (30 minutes): S. B. Woo
Discussion of Advantage/disadvantage
5.
A Better Way to Handle Requests for Help? (15 minutes): SB Currently
about 10 requests per weeks for help come to 80-20 from APA individuals. We always answer, “Given 80-20’s very limited
resources, it chooses to focus on macro-level issues with deep impact
on the APA community.” In other
words, we say, “Sorry. No.” Could there be a better alternative?
6.
Other Items/New Businesses
7. Adjournment
2. Report by the Treasurer of 2002 on our
02'
Income/expenditure: Larry Ho
80-20 PAC Inc.
From: Y.C. (Larry) Ho
Treasurer, 10/1998-12/2002
Subject: Report
of Financial Operations 2001 and 2002
Date:
Jan. 22, 2003
I
have the honor of submitting to you the consolidated financial reports
(un-audited) for the years 2001 and 2002 (attached). The financial
details have all been reported to the Federal Election Commission
(FEC) as required by law and are available for public inspection.
The financials for 1999 and 2000 have been previously audited by
an independent outside CPA firm and published on the 80-20 web site.
80-20 2002 Financial Report
3. Structures of Our Treasury (10
minutes): David
Chu
4. Membership projection
for 2003 (10 minutes)
a. 2002 membership: Jing-Li Yu
Total Receipts:
$137,116.78 received ($138,425 paid)
Classification
number (dollars)
% of membership %
Income
1) Family Members:
898 ($24,946.84)
56.4
18.2
2) Basic Members:
623 ($21,834.87)
39.1
15.9
3) Life Members:
38($34,944.90)
2.4
25.5
4) Family Life
Members: 26 ($20,368.80)
1.6
14.8
5) Honorary Life
Members: 3 ($15,000)
0.2
10.9
6) Honorary Family
Life Mem.: 4 ($20,000)
0.3
14.6
In addition, 39 families contributed 100 or more dollars
each (total: $4,508.33). Perhaps
they can be a source for life member recruitment, if we let them pay
their pledge over a # of years. Note
that roughly 5% of our members (those who
are Life Members) supported 70% of our
financial needs.
b. A Rough Projection
for 2003: S. B. Woo
Roughly
the same number, i.e. 1,600 members, unless the Board/chapters/affiliates
make a concerted effort to help recruit members and organize fundraisers. As of 1/31/03, we have about 700 persons who
have paid the 2003 dues. Of those about
25% are new members. However, I
also anticipate that 25% of the 2002 members may not renew its
membership. For an organization with
600,000 plus families and individuals on its e-mail list, 1600 dues-paying
members is NOT enough. It’s not a flattering
comment on 80-20 and our community.
5. Meeting Procedure Specified by 80-20 --
Robert's Rules of Order (20 minutes):
S. B. Woo
Q and A On Robert's Rules of Order --
Knowing enough to handle most meetings
1) Why does 80-20 emphasize Robert's rules of order in its meetings?
So
that its meetings will be democratic but not chaotic. That is, although all participants are
given a say, the discussions will be focused and efficient.
2) What are the key motions?
- I move to ....
(A motion is not valid until it is seconded.
That way unsupportable ideas will be disposed of quickly. Since can be only one motion on the
floor at one time. The debate is
also very focused.)
- I second the motion.
- I move to amend the main motion ... (An amendment must basically support the
spirit of the motion. Otherwise, one
should vote to oppose the motion instead of amending it)
- I move to amend the amendment ... (The chair will
normally not permit going beyond amendment to an amendment.)
- I move to question or I call for
the question. (i.e. I move
to close debate. It’s non-debatable
& requires a 60% vote to pass. If
closing the debate is passed, then the motion on the floor is
immediately put to a vote without further debate)
3) What are the other motions that may come handy?
·
I move to table the motion
(non-debatable upon a second. A simple
majority will vacate the previous motion.
A vacated motion can be brought back after a second by stating
I move to lift from the table ..)
·
Point of order
(to interrupt the Chair, if a proceeding seems out of order. For example, a motion is being debated without
a second.)
·
Point of information
(to interrupt the Chair to request for information that
is necessary for the debate to proceed meaningfully)
·
I move to
substitute the motion with
... (non-debatable upon a second; simple majority required to pass. It is used when the motion on the floor,
though seconded is obviously not going to pass.
It is considered an unfriendly motion that should
not be used unless there are pressing reasons.)
·
I ask for a roll
call vote (automatically granted; votes will identified with
names for the record.)
·
I ask for a secret
ballot. (automatic; paper
ballots will be distributed)
·
I appeal the
Chairman's ruling. (non-debatable;
a simple majority will suffice. A
chair has a lot of latitude. He/she
may rule which side wins the voice vote; whether a certain amendment is
germane to a motion and therefore allowing or not allowing it, ...,
etc. The chair is normally given the
benefit of the doubt by his/her colleagues.
However, when the chair seems to step out
of the line, he/she can be challenged.)
4) What makes a good Chair?
All
of us may be chairing meetings one day, so it’ll be nice to know.
A
good chair is one who knows Robert’s rules but let the principle
of having a democratic and efficient meeting guide him/her. A good chair may make a ruling for the
benefit of the meeting that is not in strict accord with the Robert’s
rules by stating; “If it is without objection, I’ll rule ....” The Chair should pause for a decent moment
for people to voice objections. Not
hearing any, the ruling is sustained by the body.
Respecting the will of the participants is the best way for
the Chair to win the respect of the participants.
He/She
should keep the meeting moving by saying things like: Do I hear a motion?
Do I hear a second? Do
I hear a motion to question? (i.e. closing the debate), .., etc. He/she’ll normally call for a voice vote
by saying: “All those in favor say ‘aye.’” Pause
for the voice vote. “Against
say “nay.’” Wait for a voice vote. “Those abstaining raise your hands.”
The Chair may then rule by saying “The ayes (or nays) have it.” If the voice vote is not clear,
then the chair may ask for a raising of hands.
5) An important maneuver you may want to remember:
For
obvious reasons, a motion that has been voted on (whether passed
or defeated) cannot be brought back for discussion again. Otherwise, there is no end to a debate.
However,
occasionally a mistake is made in the handling of a motion. The mechanism to change a body’s decision
is for a member who has voted on the “winning side” to move to
bring the motion back for another vote. [If
a motion was defeated earlier, then persons who voted to defeat
the motion are persons voting on the “winning side.”] Hence, if there is a motion that you really
want to see passed or defeated, but you know that the other side
will win at this particular time, you need to vote with the OPPOSITE
side against your own conscience just so that you may move to bring
it back for another vote at a later time.
6. Tien Chang-Lin Student Summer Internship (10 minutes): S. B. Woo
Susan
Wu of Alabama, acting on behalf the National Taiwan University
1955 Mechanical Engineering Class (class in which Chang-Lin graduated),
and Larry Yu-Chi Ho were the ones who helped established the memorial
fund.
Amount Raised: About $4,220,
as of 1-10-03. By summer of 2003, the
amount raised shall be more than $6000.
Purpose: To work with our
youth and for them to experience the joy and frustrations of providing
service for our community. They will
be given 1 to 2 weeks of training in person or via cyberspace and
asked to recruit enough dues-paying members in the duration of the
fellowship to provide a return equal to or larger than $3K. That way, the Tien Chang-Ling Fellowship
shall be self-perpetuating, as deserving of the name of the Memorial
fund. S. B. Woo is personally committed
to make up the $6K amount, if the goal is not reached.
Our
incoming staff, Harrison Leong, and S. B. Woo will be in close
contact with the 2 student interns on a weekly basis.
Qualification & Stipend: Graduating high school seniors
or university students having a passion to serve our community;
an outstanding academic record; good letters of recommendation on
applicants' character, people skills, and passion to serve the
community. A good academic
record is required because it represents a fairly strong evidence
that the applicant has strong self-discipline.
Working for a cyberspace organization requires strong
self-discipline, because a cyberspace organization can not provide the
close personal supervision available otherwise.
The stipend shall be $3K for 3 months beginning June 1, 2003. Commission should not be applied. It makes our Fellows seem like salesmen.
7. 2003-04 Budget & Personnel
Matters (15 minutes): S.
B. Woo
Explanatory Note 2003 Budget Proposal:
1)
The proposed budget assumes an annual income of $120K, with a surplus
of $15 K going into our 2004 war chest.
2)
Normally, 80-20 has two full-time staff. However,
this year we will have only one full-time staff and one part time
staff until May, thereby causing a significant decrease in “people
money.”
3)
Income above $120K will be allocated to the war chest for 2004,
when we will need an annual budget of at least $200K owing to the
huge cost in making TV, and radio spots and buying the air time. In addition, we may also give financially
to political candidates. Ideally, we
should aim for income of $170K this yr. to boost 2004 war chest..
4)
We have a reserve of about $90 K from 2002, which is roughly 2/3
of our annual budget. Ideally, it should increase at a 15% rate
each year.
INCOME:
1.
Membership Dues
Honorary
Life Family Members: 1
$10 K
2 members
Honorary
Life Members: 2
$10 K
1 members
Family
Life members: 5
$7.5 K
10
Life
Members: 10
$ 10 K
10
Family
members: 650
$ 32.5 K
1300
Basic
members: 650
$ 23 K
650
2.
Solicitation to current Life Members
$27 K
Total:
$120 K
2000 members
EXPENDITURE:
1.
Salary and Benefits
Jing-Li Yu for 12 months, Harrison Leong part time for
4,
full-time for 7months
$55K
2.
Payment to ISPs & e-mail related consultant fee
$15K
3.
Equipment & Postage
$5K
4.
Meeting Expenses (rough estimate)
$5K
5.
Printing cost & Phone Bills (conference calls)
$5K
6.
War Chest (radio and newspaper ads, legal fees)
14K
7.
Two Chang-Lin Tien Summer Interns
$6K
8.
Reserve for 2004 war chest
$15K
Total:
$120K
Personal Matter: Written
evaluation of our staff is for Bd. members only.
8. 80-20's Achievements/Failures in Its Political Endeavors (60 minutes): S. B. Woo
80-20’s
consistent success in the political arena was due mostly to the
fact that we adhere to the “rules of the game” of American politics. That is, “Leverage is the currency
of politics.”
We did add a twist of our own to
80-20’s modus operandi: “Apply
leverage with the two political parties, but be tolerant & patient
with the internal contradictions of the APA community.” We felt that to forge a unity, we must be
willing to take a few knocks from some folks within our own community. In time, those folks may be shamed into modifying
their behavior upon witnessing how tough we are towards the politicians
and political parties and how nice and tolerant we are toward them.
The second
part hasn’t worked yet, :-) although I still
believe that it is the best strategy. Maybe
we ought to count the number of knocks coming from the same individuals. If the count exceeds a certain number, then
we’ll hit back. However, we should never dwell on internal fights.
That’s not a way to serve our community.
Successes: For descriptions with exact dates, see
http://www.80-20initiative.net/unity1.html
and http://www.80-20initiative.net/unity2.html
1. Summer, 1999: Bill Bradley became the first presidential
candidate of 2000 to respond positively to 80-20’s “Declaration
to Presidential Candidates of 2000,” henceforth just Declaration. Leverage: help to his fundraiser
in SF & our implied endorsement of his candidacy during the
PRIMARY provided that no other Dem. candidate would also respond
positively to our Declaration. In the
primary, 80-20 would be neutral towards all candidates who reacted
positively to our Declaration.
Note: While leverage
was applied, there was NEVER any explicit discussion along the
line of if you give me this, then we’ll give you that. Such agreements are illegal! So one needs to learn how to play politics.
2. Spring, 2000: Gore responded positively to the Declaration
a few hours prior to the deadline that 80-20 set. Leverage: 80-20 would
become neutral in the Dem. primary, instead of helping Bradley.
3. Summer 2000: Urged President Clinton to appoint Norm Mineta
to be the historic first cabinet member, as was stated in our Declaration. Leverage:
Massive e-mails and faxes to remind the Dem Party of the
approaching 2000 presidential election.
4. Late Summer
2000: Bush’s refusal to respond formally
and positively to the Declaration. Leverage: 80-20 subsequently endorsed Gore in the GENERAL
election and delivered better than 2 of every 3 APA votes to Gore. Note:
If the desired goal is NOT attained, but a commensurate
response is delivered, then it is still a success. It builds up 80-20’s future probability
of success.
5. Fall 2000: Forcing the Rep. Party to withdraw its “Daisy”
TV ad in one day. The ad fanned the
message of “yellow peril.” Leverage: instead
of focusing on getting vote for Gore in CA, where the GOP was not
likely to win, 80-20 would go into contested states to work against
Bush.
6. Winter 2000:
Getting President Bush to ALSO appoint an APA cabinet member. Leverage:
Demonstrate with massive e-mails and faxes to the Transition
Team that if the appointment was not made, then there would be reckoning
in the 2004 election.
7. Summer 2001: In
response to a C-100 survey that revealed a large fraction of our
compatriots consider us as foreigners, 80-20 started the July 4th
Flag Project. It was a huge
success. Method: massive
communication capability within the APA community and persuasion.
8. Spring, 2002: Seattle Times’ second apology on its headline:
"Hughes good as gold:
American outshines Kwan, Slutskaya in skating surprise" Leverage: Massive e-mails
to Seattle Times from citizens in Washington and nationwide.
9. Late Spring, 2002: Getting the Abercombie
and Fitch to withdraw its new line of 4 T-shirts with derogatory
portrayals of Asians in two hours. Leverage:
....
10. Primary Election Season of 2002: Seeing racist attacks on APA political candidates,
80-20 took pro-active action to deter future racist attacks on APA
political candidates. Leverage:
Commit to spend significant financial resource&
use our communication power to defeat the racist candidate in this
election or his/her next; also commit to find ways to drive the
candidates’ paid political consultant out the political business
11. Winter, 2002: Helped
induce the Republican House Caucus to hold a re-vote on Sen. Lott’s
pro-segregation statement which eventually forced Lott’s resignation. Leverage: Letter to Republican
Leadership with hint of our ability to reach 500 k voters in 1 day.
Failure: Our one and only failure
Fall 2000: 80-20
urged its supporters to fax the White House to give a full pardon
to W.H. Lee. More than 900 faxes,
that were also copied to my fax machine, went into Clinton’s White
House. All proudly identified themselves
as 80-20 supporters in the fax.
The real number of faxes that went to
the White House probably went way above 1,000.
No result. Why? (1) We didn’t do careful homework, and (2)
we didn’t apply implicit/explicit leverage.
We also failed to follow up.
But it was not a total failure.
The quality and quantity of our supporters who proudly
identified themselves with 80-20 in the faxes certainly impressed
the White House.
A Significant 80-20 Success in 2002:
80-20 has institutionalized. All Directors and
Officers are directly elected by the dues-paying members. Anyone can be a dues paying members upon the
payment of $35. From 01/01/2003 onward,
80-20 is no longer subject to the will of one individual or a group
of individuals. It is the written words
of our bylaws that count. Those words
can be amended according to a prescribed procedure only.
All who care about our community must deeply
respect the “rule of law” in guiding 80-20.
80-20 has become a political tool of the community,
by the community and for the community.
9. Fundraising and Endowment
Fund (60 minutes)
a.
Fundraising
i. Purpose:
(1) Money talks. The larger
our war chest, the larger our clout. (2)
In politics, money equals support. (3)
80-20 has not been short of money for the basic things we want
to do (e.g. the presidential election), however, it is severely
limited in its scope of operation.
We had to say not say no to an average of 10 requests for
help per week.
ii. Electing a Fundraising Chair
(Volunteers for members?)
b.
Endowment
i. PURPOSE FOR AN ENDOWMENT:
A big endowment is a stabilizing
element for an organization. It serves
as a magnet that will attract warring internal political factions
to stay together.
There are two huge centrifugal
forces at work within 80-20.
1)
80-20, being the first and largest pan-Asian grass-roots
organization, faces the immense pressure coming from the immense
diversity of the APA community, and
2)
80-20 is extremely political.
However, it must operate in a community that lacks political
experience and maturity.
These factors are time bombs
waiting to blow 80-20 apart. Once it
gathers a significant endowment, 80-20 will still experience internal
explosions periodically, but the losing faction(s) will be unlikely
to pick up its marbles and leave 80-20 for one certain reason –
not wanting to leave all that money to the sole control of their
“contemptible” opponents.”
ii SETTING UP AN EDUCATIONAL
ARM (DAVID CHU)
iii. APPOINTING AN ENDOWMENT
COMMITTEE (VOLUNTEERS FOR CHAIRS/MEMBERS?)
10. Membership Expansion (60 minutes)
a.
Setting a goal
I’d like to suggest that we double 80-20’s membership
by June, 2004.
b. How to achieve
the goal
i) How each Board member can help,
As a group of 15, we should be able to recruit 300 or more
new members within a year.
ii) How chapters can help, and
I hope it can account for 100
additional members within a yr.
iii) How the Tien Chang-Lin Fellowship can help:
The two interns should recruit
200 new members in a summer
iv) Creating a pamphlet to recruit members (A Any volunteers
to
draft and design the pamphlet?)
It’s something we need to do. See below which happens to agree with this
view:
Date:
Fri, 17 Jan 2003 07:21:02 -0500
From:
Edma55@aol.com
Dr.
Wu,
Congratulation
for 80-20 and all Asian Americans that we have gained recognition
little by little and we'll get there, sooner or later.
Thanks
to your vision, wisdom, leadership, perseverance and modern technological
and publicity skills.
May
I suggest that a small brochures about 80-20 to reach out to those
who are computer illiterates and motivates them to join us.
All
the best
Ed
Ma
11. National/ Chapters Relations (60
minutes)
a. Chapter
contribution in the past
i) DURING PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
Houston chapter got 10,000 APAs to sign a petition
to the then candidate Bush Jr. to endorse the 80-20 Declaration
presidential candidates of 2000. LA held press
conferences on behalf of 80-20’s endorsement of Gore, its members
helped did exist do exit polls during the presidential election,
ii) IN FUNDRAISING
LA chapter did a fundraiser
on the eve of 80-20’s Endorsement Committee meeting. About 700 attended, and netted about $20K
out of $55K. $10K was reverted back to the LA
chapter at $5K per year.
To put things in perspective,
80-20 did a fundraiser in SF where we have 3 Friends but not a chapter,
we netted $60K out of $100K.
IIII)
IN RECRUITING MEMBERSHIP
When the rule of law spreads
to chapters, chapter could be of some help in recruiting members. Recruiting members is NOT an easy
job. Throughout the nation, whether
they are professional or social organization, dues-paying members
are decreasing drastically.
B. WHAT MOTIVATES
CHAPTERS AND WHERE THE PROBLEMS ARE
To
be the local political king-maker is a strong motivation, because
80-20 is a brand name. This would be
ok if the local endorsement is consistent with the national’s goal
to win equal opportunity in workplaces for APAs.
A
smaller problem is that people without the political experience
and the higher ideals often want to endorse local candidates without
doing the hard work to back up its endorsement.
C. ARE THERE
ALTERNATIVES? IF NOT, HOW TO RESOLVE
IT??
I think a lot of people get the
wrong idea when they think they are forming a “chapter.” Because
many organizations work from chapter à national (ie, people
first join chapter, then national), many people unfamiliar w/
80-20’s model feel slighted by 80-20’s policies, since for 80-20,
the model so far is national à
chapter. So maybe a better name than “chapter” would help alleviate
misunderstandings.
12. Election for New Board Members in Nov.
2003 (10 minutes): Kenneth Fong
We have five one-yr. Board
member who must face re-election this November.
They are eligible to be elected to two more two-year terms.
Our bylaws also require that every elected position must be contested.
The five members are : Jerry
Yang, Richard Mak, Peter Luh, Giga Andreyev, & Adam Chou.
The nomination Committee for the next two years are:
T. S. Chung, Adam Chou, Larry Ho and Peter Suzuki
are members. Kenneth Fong is the Chair.
13. Election
Related Articles of the Bylaws (10 Minutes): Kathleen
To
Copies of the INTERIM BYLAWS will be available. All articles and paragraphs pertaining
to election procedures will be reviewed.
14. Our Web Site (20 minutes): Ying Yang
The presentation will be made through a video
screen.
Presentation:
Our Web Strategy
Web Site and Mirror Sites
Challenges for 2002
Proposed Change for 2003
Demonstration:
·
Informing
·
Recruiting
·
Fundraising
·
PR
Discussion:
·
Suggestions to make more out
of our web site
15. Bylaws Amendments (45 minutes):
Proposed
amendments: proposed additions are underlined. Proposed deletions are in ( ).
1)
Article 6.2 to: “A chapter must have
25 or more persons who pay both national
and local dues. The amount of the local
dues is $5 or more. A chapter must apply to the Board
of Director (alternatively referred to as the National) and be granted
recognition after a review of a chapter's bylaws.
A list of a chapter’s members must accompany the
application. The application must
be renewed every three years. Renewal
is automatic except for cause, i.e. for violating one or more of
bylaws' provisions. A citation of cause
must be in writing and be presented to the Board by the President
while inviting a rebuttal from the local chapter.”
Reasons: There are normally more national dues-paying
members than local chapter members in every city and state. Hence, in order to avoid legal disputes in
a controversial issue, it is important to specify who qualify as
a chapter members, who can vote for chapter officers, bylaw changes
and referendums. In additional, chapters
require a lot of maintenance from the National.
Hence a minimum size must be set.
2)
Article 6.2.1 Chapter Privileges to: The
official name of a chapter shall be 80-20xx, where xx shall be the
identification of the city, or county or state, depending on what
is appropriate, in which the chapter is located.
A chapter may adopt its own bylaws provided that they
are not in conflict with those of the National.
It sets its own local dues which should be $5 or
more. For the first two years
of a chapter’s existence, national dues of those members who pay
local dues are automatically rebated to the chapter provided that
it bylaws have been approved by the National and its officers are
elected according to the specifications of its own bylaws. A Chapter may endorse political
candidates residing in its state who are not running for the US
president. A Chapter may apply for financial
assistance from the National up to the maximum permitted by Federal
Election Commission.
Reason: The National needs to be more helpful to chapters
during their initial formation period
1)
David Chu may wish to amend the first paragraph of Article
3.4.2. to:
“The
Nominating Committee shall consist of a chair elected by the Membership
in the second week of November every other year, and four members
appointed by the Board of Directors in the second week of December
after the election of the new directors. All
vacancies shall be filled by appointment by the Board. No member shall serve more than two consecutive
complete terms of service, counting elective and appointed services
together. Members of the Nominating Committee shall not be eligible
to be nominated as candidates for any elective position, unless
they are nominated by the Board. (A
Member of the NC may not nominate him/herself, and must be absent
during the deliberation and balloting of his/her candidacy if nominated
by other persons.)”
Reason: It may be a better procedure than the current version.
16. Others
The following is for information purposes.
The President of 80-20 is empowered by the bylaws
to appoint Ad Hoc Committees. However,
SB wants input so as to benefit from your comments.
(1)
S. B. intends to appoint an Ad Hoc Awards Committee
whose charge is to recommend a list
of 5 persons to be honored by 80-20 during its 2004 Annual Board
Meeting. A banquet is to be organized
centered upon that ceremony. It is
to work closely with the Ad Hoc Committee for the next Board Meeting
(2)
He’ll also appoint an Ad Hoc Organization Committee
for the next Board Meeting, whose charge is to organize the
first annual Board meeting accompanied by a fundraiser.
It
shall recommend the date and location of 80-20’s next Board meeting,
complete with a list of two or more keynote speakers. The date of the meeting shall be well
before the California primary election on presidential candidates. The first committee report to the Board
should be by August 1.
17. Adjournment at about 4:30 p.m.
Special Reception at the
Chinese Consulate, hosted by
The Consulate General CG Wang from 5:00 p.m. to 5:50
p.m.
Special Guests include officers from our “Affiliates,”
and sister orgs.
Agenda Items of Feb. 2, 2003
1.
Liaison with The
Congress (60 minutes): S. B. Woo
a)
Senate
b)
House
A wonderful opportunity
is developing for the APA community in the House of Representatives. Rep. Tom Delay of TX District 22 has 11%
APAs residing in his district. He is
now the majority leader. Rep. Nancy
Pelosi of CA District 8 has more than 33% APAs residing in her district. She is now the Minority leader. If Dem. gains the control of the Houses, she
could even be the Speaker of the House, who ranks above the Majority
Leader.
Powerful politicians could
be arrogant towards a lot of people.
However, they are NEVER
arrogant towards their own constituents. The
constituents are the ones who grant the politicians their power. Hence the motto of all politicians is:
“We serve those who elect us.”
Most of the time, elected politicians place the will of their
constituents above their own!
Since the APAs are still
struggling for equal opportunity and justice, let us ask ourselves
if we could be “wise and tough enough” to put the information
above together to create a win-win opportunity for ourselves and
the two political leaders.
Our children's ability
to enjoy equal opportunity depends on us.
Note:
The results of the congressional election in 2000,
and 2002 are shown below. One should
also be aware that an x% of APA residing in a district should be
translated roughly to an x/2 % in voters.
Tom Delay
won 60/36 in 2000, and 63/35 in 2002.
Nancy
Pelosi won 85/12 in 2000, and 80/13 in 2002.
Shall we appoint an ad hoc committee
in SF and Houston, TX to explore the situation?
Such jobs must go to people with ample political experience. Otherwise, we could get things off in the
wrong footing. I can not stress more
that we must create a win-win situation, while not being cowed
by the political leaders.
2. Protecting Our Community's Scientists against Wrongful
Investigative Tactics (60 minutes): S.
B. Woo
There might be three such recent
cases: Wen
Ho Lee, Bin Han and the case of JiangYu Zhu and his wife, Kayoko
Kimbara. The
first two cases have been adjudicated in court. The third case
is still going on, although Dr. Zhu was already cleared of wrong doing
by his employer.
There seems to exist a common thread
in the first two cases.
Both started with exaggerated government
charges against the scientists, followed first by press leaks,
then verbal threats to the accused of the dire consequences the
scientists will face, then groundless objection to letting the
accused out on bail, and finally gross failure to prove the case in
court.
I believe that 80-20 has the responsibility
of protecting our community's scientists against wrongful investigative
tactics. However,
80-20's human and financial resources are extremely limited. We can not
afford to react to each case while it is still proceeding in court. Legal
cases lasting several years are common.
As a result we must adopt a pro-active
policy that may deter the investigative arms of our government from
future abuse of our innocent scientists and engineers. You may recall
that, after the 2002 primary elections, 80-20 publicized a pro-active
policy to protect Asian American political candidates from facing
racist attacks by their opponents. In the general
election of 2000, our policy proved to be 100% effective in deterring
such attacks.
Proposed Motion:
Upon the application of a scientist/engineer,
upon adjudication in court of a verdict vastly against the original
charges, and upon the verification by an ad hoc 80-20 investigative
committee that the government investigative tactics seem grossly
improper, 80-20 shall offer to support the wronged scientist/engineer,
including joining the wronged scientist/engineer as a “Friend of
the Court” (amicus curiae) in asking for damages and/or offering
financial support.
Further 80-20 will use its political assets and considerable
communication prowess to press for the censure of the wrongful
investigators.
This motion or
a similar motion, if passed, will be posted prominently on our
web site for 3 months. After that it'll
be a part of the “Discrimination Watch,” which is a regular subject
on our site.
3. The
Presidential Election of 2004 (45 minutes):
S. B. Woo
Reading Article 7 of our bylaws is a must for
individuals aiming to participate in the following discussion. Please do so. A
copy of our “Declaration of 2000” is seen below.
Note that only the 4th of our 4 requests has
been substantially achieved.
Declaration
Concerning The 2000 Presidential Election
by The 80-20 Initiative
"With liberty and justice for all." Thus ends our pledge of allegiance to the
flag with a ringing commitment to all citizens.
Unfortunately, liberty and justice remain an unrealized
dream for Asian Americans. A low glass-ceiling
hangs instead over our heads, denying us the opportunity to rise
to the top of our professions, just as it hung over women and blacks
until recently.
Statistical evidence, mostly gathered by government
sponsored studies, shows a dismal picture: Asian Americans have
only one-third the opportunity of all other Americans to "rise
to the top," in the academic world, in corporations, or even in federal
government.
To illustrate, Asian Americans represent 3.5% of the
population of this nation. However, of
the 875 active federal judges, only 7 are Asian Americans; of the
250 plus cabinet and sub-cabinet positions in President Clinton's
Administration in 1998, only two were held by Asian Ams.
The situation is no better in universities, the so-called
bastion of idealism in our society. University
administrators are recruited almost exclusively from the ranks
of faculty and professionals already employed in universities. Hence the ratio of [administrators / (faculty
+ professionals)], broken down to races, is a measure of the opportunity
enjoyed by American citizens of different races.
Nationwide, that ratio for blacks (non-Hispanic) is 0.21. That is, for every 100 black faculty and professionals
there are 21 black administrators.
The ratio for Native American is 0.20; for white (non-Hispanic)
is 0.16; and for Hispanic is 0.15. However,
it is only 0.06 for Asian American.
The picture that emerges from the supposedly "enlightened"
academic world and federal government is one of inequality and injustice
for Asian Americans. The situation in
the corporate world is worse, much worse.
All Asian American CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, with one
recent exception, started the companies themselves.
Therefore, we, the Asian American citizens, declare
that the time has come for all presidential candidates to commit
themselves to the following to realize the ideal of equal opportunity
for all Americans:
1. If elected, will direct his/her cabinet
officers to work with Congress in holding public hearings regarding
the validity of the huge amount of statistical
data strongly suggesting discriminatory practices against Asian
Americans in workplaces today,
2. If the data were shown valid, will issue a public
statement to reaffirm your Administration's intention to vigorously
prosecute all cases of racial discrimination against Asian Americans
in the workplace,
3. If the data were shown valid, will work to induce
the lifting of the glass-ceilings so that Asian Americans will
be well on our way to equal opportunity to "rise to the top" within
the first term, and
4. If elected, will give due recognition to the services
and talents of Asian Americans by appointing qualified persons
to policy-making positions in the Judicial and Executive branches
of the federal government, possibly including a historic first
cabinet position. The number of appointments will represent a significant
improvement upon the current drastic under-utilization of Asian Americans.
Asian Americans have contributed with distinction
to the well being of the nation. We work hard at our jobs, we help
to run business, we serve in governments, and we are well educated,
with bachelor degrees per thousand persons twice that of the nation. It is time we are finally given equal
opportunity for professional advancement, and to serve in the federal
government in positions we deserve.
We ask fellow Asian Americans
to join us in our declaration to WITHHOLD financial and other forms
of support to any presidential PRIMARY candidates who fail to pledge
his/her commitment to our request for equal justice in the workplace.
During the GENERAL presidential election, a different
approach is taken. To be effective, we shall
form a block-vote in favor of the presidential candidate of that
political party that will have helped Asian Americans the most in
achieving equal opportunity, between now and August 2000.
Our cause is just. Our requests
are fair. As individuals our
voices may be weak; TOGETHER WE SHALL OVERCOME.
a.
The Primary Season
i. What
issues do we want our next president to address?
ii. Drafting a letter to the presidential candidates
b.
Our Endorsement Convention:
i. A review of our own protocol – electing 1/3 D/I/R,
each, .., etc.
ii. Documenting what each party has done for us?
iii. Timing of our Convention: advantage/disad. of an early or
late Convention.
c.
The General Election: Preparing radio,
TV, newspaper ads, and
group troops.
4. Stepping
into Key State & Federal Races where We have
Significant Influence? (30
minutes): S. B. Woo
Whether 80-20
decides to step into political races other than the presidential
election or not, some awareness of the following table is important. If one wants to raise money from the APA
community, please focus on the 5th column from the left. If one wants to exert political clout,
please focus on the last column from the left.
The map on the next page contains a wealth of information. It is extremely helpful in providing a forest
view.
Advantage/Disadvantage of
getting into key federal/state races:
ADVANTAGE:
·
More political clout, especially
during non-election years;
·
local chapters will enjoy more
respect from local politicians;
·
could tie chapters closer to the
National
DISADVANTAGE:
·
Requires more human and financial
resources;
·
could create some conflict between
the National and local chapters.
5. A Better Way to Handle Requests for Help? (15 minutes): SB
Currently about 10 requests per weeks for help come
to 80-20 from APA individuals. We
always answer, “Given 80-20's very limited resources, it chooses
to focus on macro-level issues with deep impact on the APA community.” In other words, we say, “Sorry. No.” Could there
be a better alternative?
What could be an alternative?
One idea may be to publicize that 80-20 will
take at least one individual case per year if the request comes from
a member. We'll publicize the frequency
of the requests so that no one is mislead into thinking that the
chance of getting selected by 80-20 is high.
We'll also state clearly that there is no guarantee of
success. However, once a case
is successfully resolved, we'll select another case.
I believe it'll get more of our folks to pay attention to
80-20 and become members.
If you like the
idea, we may want to adopt such a policy for a trial period of 2
years.
6. Other Items/New Businesses
7. Adjournment
A QUESTION for Directors: Do
we want to schedule a press conference after the meeting is adjourned?
My feeling is that if we adopt one or more of the major
policies proposed on Sunday, then we may want to schedule a press
conference. I'll survey the Board members
early Saturday, because we need to give reporters sufficient time
if a press conference is to be held.
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