WASHINGTON — APIAVote congratulated President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden, and commended the naming of Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) to the Obama-Biden transition team.

One of them is former APIAVote board member Sonal Shah of the Google Foundation.
“We are extremely proud of Sonal and other Asian Americans who have been named thus far on the transition team,” said APIAVote Executive Director Vida Benavides. “With her background as an economist, Sonal’s appointment is indicative of the talent and expertise needed to guide us through these hard economic and financial crises.”

“Sonal’s appointment should only be just the beginning,” said APIAVote board member Doua Thor. “We have high hopes for the incoming Obama-Biden Administration and Congress, and intend to work closely with both so that they continue to be more inclusive of Asian AAPIs throughout the transition process and into appointments and hiring of staff.”

“Having a diverse staff which includes AAPIs at all levels will help ensure that AAPI issues and concerns are sufficiently addressed in the policy agendas of President-elect Obama and the new Congress,” said APIAVote board co-chair EunSook Lee.

“We further encourage the Obama-Biden transition team to recruit and seek diverse candidates that also reflect President-elect Obama’s experiences,” said APIAVote board co-chair Noe Kalipi.

Shah, an Indian American, is among three of Asian descent who have been named by Obama to advise and staff his transition team. She is director of global economic development for the Google Foundation.

Peter Rouse, who is of Japanese descent on his mother’s side, has been named to co-chair the transition team. He is Obama’s chief of staff in the Senate.

Chris Lu, a Chinese American who is Obama’s legislative director in the Senate, has been named as transition executive director.

APIAVote’s presence in key states like Nevada, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Mi-chigan, and Washington was instrumental in turning out the AAPI vote on Nov. 4.

The organization worked to get out and protect the AAPI vote with over 30 partner organizations and coalition partners in Hawaii, California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Massachusetts, Virginia, Louisiana, Georgia, and Florida.

National polling shows that among AAPIs, 62 percent voted for Obama and 35 percent voted for the Republican candidate, Sen. John McCain. APIAVote awaits further details about the AAPI vote, and will provide updates as they are made available.

“We want to especially thank Obama AAPI Vote Director Charmaine Manansala and AAPI Vote Deputy Director Betsy Kim, as well as McCain AAPI Outreach Directors, Peter Su and Kishan Putta, for their instrumental roles in each of these campaigns,” said Benavides.

“We encourage national parties and campaigns to continue to strengthen and expand their AAPI outreach. The National Asian American Survey showed that only 27 percent of undecided AAPI voters were contacted by the campaigns, meaning that campaigns have more work to do to engage AAPI communities.”

Asian Pacific Islander American Vote is a national non-partisan, non-profit organization that encourages and promotes civic participation of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the electoral and public policy processes at the national, state and local levels.

APIAVote does not endorse parties or candidates. For more information, visit www.apiavote.org.

About Peter Rouse

Rouse has served as chief of staff to members of Congress for more than 30 years. Before joining Obama in December 2004, he was chief of staff to former Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) for 19 years. He also served as chief of staff to Rep. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) from 1984 to 1985 and Lt. Gov. Terry Miller of Alaska from 1979 to 1983.

As Obama’s chief of staff, Rouse was part of a small group of advisors who helped the senator through the process that led to his decision to run for president in 2008. He currently splits his time, and salary, between his Senate duties in Washington, D.C. and the campaign in Chicago.

Rouse received a BA from Colby College, a MA from the London School of Economics, and a MPA from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.