Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 09:48, 27 March 2012

John C. Liu 劉醇逸
Liu at the 2009 West Indian Day Parade.
New York City Comptroller
Incumbent
Assumed office January 1, 2010
Mayor	Michael Bloomberg
Preceded by	Bill Thompson
Member of the New York City Council from the 20th District
In office January 2002 – January 2010
Preceded by	Julia Harrison
Succeeded by	Peter Koo
Constituency	Queens: Flushing, Queensboro Hill, Mitchell Gardens, Kissena Park, Harding Heights, Auburndale; part of Whitestone
Personal details
Born	(1967-01-08) January 8, 1967 (age 58) Taiwan
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Jenny Liu
Children	Joey
Residence(s)	Flushing, New York, United States
Alma mater	Binghamton University
Profession	Politician
Website	Office of the Comptroller

John Chun Liu (born January 8, 1967 in Taiwan) is a New York City elected official, currently serving as New York City Comptroller and running for the 2013 mayoral race. Liu previously served on the New York City Council representing District 20. He was elected to the City Council in 2001 to represent northeast Queens, and was re-elected in 2003 and 2005.

Liu entered the New York City Comptroller election in 2009 and won the race on November 3, 2009, becoming the first Asian American to be elected to a city-wide office in New York City. He was succeeded in the City Council by pharmacist Republican Peter Koo. Koo, along with Democrat Margaret Chin, a Council member from Manhattan, comprise the Asian-American delegation of the Council.

Liu's campaign fundraising practices are under investigation for violations of campaign finance law and possible use of foreign funds. Two individuals tied to the Liu campaign have been arrested on charges of wire fraud and obstruction of justice.

Biography

At the age of five, he moved with his family to the United States from Taiwan. Chang F. Liu, his father, was a Master of Business Administration student and bank teller who worked 12 hour days. In honor of John F. Kennedy, Liu's father changed his sons' names to John, Robert, and Edward, and his own name to Joseph. Although both his parents spoke Chinese, Liu cannot speak it himself.

He attended PS 20 in Queens and the Bronx High School of Science to 1985, doing community organizing and volunteer work in his spare time.

He attended Binghamton University where he majored in Mathematical Physics and graduated in 1988. He worked as a manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers and served as President of the North Flushing Civic Association before his election to the City Council.

Liu is married to Jenny Liu, an engineer, and has one son, Joey. He resides in Flushing, near where he grew up.

Political career

Elected to the New York City Council in 2001 to represent District 20, the northeast Queens area (Flushing, Queensboro Hill, Mitchell Linden, Murray Hill, Holly, Kissena Park, Harding Heights, Auburndale, part of Whitestone), Liu is the first Asian American to be elected to the City Council. He served as the Chairperson of the New York City Council's Transportation Committee and also served on the committees on Education, Consumer Affairs, Health, Land Use, Contracts, Oversight & Investigations and Lower Manhattan Redevelopment.

In March 2009, Liu announced that he was running for the post of New York City Comptroller. Liu has raised $3 million for his political run, more than his competitors.

Beginning in May, Liu picked up several endorsements. The Village Independent Democrats, The Queens County Democratic organization, the local Americans for Democratic Action chapter and the Working Families Party, 1199 SEIU union local and the Uniformed Firefighters Association endorsed him. On September 1, the United Federation of Teachers endorsed Liu.

In the September 15 Democratic primary, Liu was the front-runner, ending up with 133,986 votes, or 38 percent of the vote. Because he did not manage to reach 40 of the vote, a run-off election was required between Liu and runner-up David Yassky, who received 30 percent of the vote in the primary. Two weeks later, Liu won the run-off by taking 55.6% of the vote against Yassky.

In the general election on November 3, Liu won the comptroller election with 76% of the vote, a total of 696,330 votes. Republican candidate Joseph Mendola came in second with 19.3% of the vote. After he was officially sworn in to the post, Liu became the first Asian American to hold a city-wide political office in New York City.

Asian Political Leadership Fund

Liu is one of the leaders of the Asian Political Leadership Fund, a federally-designated 527 fund whose purpose is to promote political leadership from within the Asian American community.

Controversy

Fundraising irregularities

Investigations into the fundraising practices of Liu's election campaigns found numerous irregularities, including the use of straw donors and undisclosed bundling. A New York Times article in October 2011 documented several inconsistencies: after canvassing 100 households that were listed as having donated to the campaign, 24 irregularities were found, including donations from individuals who claimed they never donated, whose employers donated in their names, and several purported donors who did not appear to exist and could not be found. Campaign finance laws stipulate that each individual donor must fill out donor cards themselves, and that individuals who "bundle" donations must be disclosed. Liu's donor records, however, did not disclose the identity of bundlers, and included multiple instances where several donor cards were written by the same hand. Many of the irregularities in Liu's campaign were connected to the Chinese business community in Queens. In New York City, every dollar donated to a candidate is matched with $6 in taxpayer money.

Following publication of the New York Times article, the Federal Bureau of Investigation began investigating the irregularities in Liu's campaign. In November 17, 2011, one of Liu's top fundraisers, 46-year-old Oliver Pan (潘心武, Pān Xīnwǔ), was arrested on charges of wire fraud from illegal donations. Pan was approached by an undercover FBI agent posing as someone who wanted to donate US$16,000 to Liu, which was over the city donation limit was only $4,950 for individual contributions. Pan then arranged for 20 fictitious donors to make donations to Liu's campaign with the money provided by the undercover FBI agent.

Initially in the first half of 2011 Liu has already received more than $1 million from fund raising contributions to his mayor run for supposedly 2013.

In light of the allegations of campaign finance fraud, Liu hired former state attorney general Robert Abrams to conduct a review of his campaign finances. However, in November 2011, Liu asked Abrams to suspend his inquiry in light of the ongoing FBI investigations. Abrams resigned on November 17.

In February 2012, a treasurer with the Liu campaign was arrested. 25-year-old Jenny (Jia) Hou was charged with using straw donors to circumvent campaign finance laws and gain more matching funds from taxpayers.

Foreign fundraising issue

In late 2009, Manhattan federal prosecutors launched an investigation into the possibility that foreign money had flowed illegally into Liu's campaign for comptroller.

Pan is the president of a company called "Golden Arrow Property" (金箭房地產有限責公司). Oliver Pan's office is in 35 East Broadway, New York room 506 handles finance, banking, insurance and real estate. He also has an office in Mendham New Jersey. Some people in the Chinese community believe Liu is being framed. Pan's funding activities extended beyond Liu, as he was listed as a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton during the 2008 presidential campaign. Ru Mei-hua (盧美華 Lú Měihuá), director of planning for John Liu, helped him rise from a councilman 10 years ago to a major political force mainly connecting Liu to a network of Asian American businessmen in NY. She has been considered a key to understanding the fund raising details from donors, but denied requests to be interviewed.

See also

• Government of New York City

References

1. ^ "2009 Election Results". The New York Times. November 4, 2009. Retrieved November 4, 2009.
2. ^ Victoria Cavaliere (November 4, 2009). "Liu Becomes First Asian-American in City-Wide Office". NBC. Retrieved November 4, 2009.
3. John Liu, Peter Koo, Margaret Chin Sworn Into New York City Offices
4. ^ Benjamin Weiser and William Rashbaum, "Fund-Raising by City Comptroller Is Investigated", New York Times, November 14, 2011.
5. Reuters, NYC comptroller campaign treasurer charged with fraud, February 28, 2012. Accessed February 28, 2012.
6. ^ Janet Dang (May 25, 2000). "Building Trust: Candidate vies to become first API New York City Council member". AsianWeek. Retrieved November 8, 2007.
7. O'Donnell, Michelle (April 22, 2006). "Political Trailblazer Is Quick to a Microphone". The New York Times. Retrieved September 9, 2007.
8. ^ Official Biography of John C. Liu on the NYC Council website. Accessed September 30, 2009.
9. Official Opening of Bronx Science's New Foreign Language Laboratory on December 3, 2008: Queens Councilman John C. Liu, a Bronx Science alumnus, Class of 1985, was instrumental in procuring the funding for this Laboratory. Found at The Bronx High School of Science official website. Accessed September 30, 2009.
10. "About John Liu". People for John Liu. Retrieved March 20, 2009.
11. "John C. Liu". New York City Council. Retrieved March 20, 2009.
12. Pete Davis (March 11, 2009). "John Liu now running for City Comptroller". The Queens Courier. Retrieved March 20, 2009.
13. JONATHAN P. HICKS (September 25, 2008). "Queens Councilman Leaning Toward Comptroller Run". New York Times City Page Blog. Retrieved July 9, 2009.
14. "Village Independent Democrats". Villagedemocrats.org. Retrieved November 18, 2011.
15. Queens Chronicle, May 28, 2009 http://www.workingfamiliesparty.org/2009/04/wfp-endorses-councilmember-john-liu-for-comptroller/
16. The Daily Gotham http://dailygotham.com/mole333/blog/americansfordemocraticactionendorsementsforsept15thprimary
17. April 23, 2009 http://www.workingfamiliesparty.org/2009/04/wfp-endorses-councilmember-john-liu-for-comptroller/
18. Fahim, Kareem; Bosman, Julie (August 31, 2009). "Liu and de Blasio Gain Key Endorsements". The New York Times. Retrieved May 6, 2010.
19. "Community Newspaper Group". Yournabe.com. Retrieved November 18, 2011.
20. "De Blasio, Liu Claim Victory In Primary Runoff". NY1. September 29, 2009. Retrieved September 30, 2009.
21. Bosman, Julie; Fahim, Kareem (September 29, 2009). "De Blasio and Liu Win in N.Y. Democratic Runoffs". New York Times. Retrieved September 30, 2009.
22. Sam Yoon. "About Us". Asian Political Leadership Fund. Retrieved March 20, 2009.
23. ^ Raymond Hernandez and David Chen, "Doubts Raised on Donations to Comptroller" New York Times, October 11, 2011.
24. William Rashbaum and David Chen, "More Liu Donors Said to Be Examined in Fund-Raising Inquiry" New York Times, December 15, 2011.
25. ^ "John Liu fundraiser Xing Wu Pan charged with campaign fraud | 7online.com". Abclocal.go.com. Retrieved November 18, 2011.
26. ^ William Rashbaum, "Fund-Raiser for Liu is Accused of Role in Illegal Donations", New York Times, November 16, 2011.
27. ^ Singtao November 17, 2011. 醇華劉逸裔主被捕. Section A1, B2.
28. ^ Howard, Michael. "Abrams Resigns From Liu Inquiry". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 18, 2011.
29. Jonathan Dienst, John Liu Campaign Treasurer Arrested, NBC, Feb 28, 2012. Accessed −February 28, 2012.
30. ^ Campanile, Carl (January 1, 2011). "Top fund-raiser for New York City Comptroller John Liu charged with funneling sham donations". New York Post. Retrieved November 18, 2011.
31. ^ "Quiet Aide to Liu Helped Build a Donor Base Now Under Scrutiny". The New York Times. November 30, 2011. Retrieved December 4, 2011.

v t e New York City Comptrollers since the 1898 consolidation
Coler (1898–1901) Grout (1902–1905) Metz (1906–1909) Prendergast (1910–1917) Craig (1918–1925) Berry (1926–1932) McAneny (1933) Cunningham (1934) McGoldrick (1935) Taylor (1936–1937) McGoldrick (1938–1945) Joseph (1946–1953) Gerosa (1954–1961) Beame (1962–1965) Procaccino (1966–1969) Beame (1970–1973) Goldin (1974–1989) Holtzman (1990–1993) Hevesi (1994–2001) Thompson (2002–2009) Liu (2010–2013) Stringer (2014–2022) Lander (2022–)

External links

• Oliver Pan conspiracy to commit wire fraud complaints
• Animation on Donation controversy

External links

• Official New York City Comptroller Website
• Asian Political Leadership Fund

Template:Persondata

• 1967 births
• American politicians of Chinese descent
• American politicians of Taiwanese descent
• Binghamton University alumni
• The Bronx High School of Science alumni
• Living people
• Naturalized citizens of the United States
• New York Democrats
• New York City Council members
• People from Queens
• Taiwanese emigrants to the United States
• New York City Comptrollers