By Patrick McGroarty
Special to the Reporter

Two weeks after a citywide election landed Mayor Thomas Menino a fourth term and deemed Dorchester's Sam Yoon Boston's new at-large city councillor, politicians have shifted their focus from potential voters to concerned constituents. But as the dust of the campaign trail settles, political junkies are putting campaign strategy up against precinct reports to figure out what went right.

For several candidates the road to success ran through Dorchester's Vietnamese community. Paul Ton That, executive director of Vietaid, a Fields Corner-based non-profit organization, says that Vietnamese Americans sustained the impressive voter turnout they put forward in the presidential election of 2004 and delivered large returns to at-large candidates who worked for their support.

Council president Michael Flaherty and councillor-elect Sam Yoon campaigned doggedly within the Vietnamese community, an effort noted by top officials at Fields Corner strongholds like Vietaid, VACA, and the Kit Clark Senior Center. That push is confirmed by results from the Fields Corner precincts of 15-8, 15-9, and 16-1. Yoon topped the ticket in 15-9 while Flaherty captured 15-8 and 16-1. According to political organizer Dai Nguyen, both candidates benefited from the perception that they embodied the best of freedom and democracy

"Everybody is for affordable housing. But for most [Vietnamese] people, they say, democracy is the key," said Nguyen. "They still really dislike Vietnam's communist government. They come here and they see that the government will support them, and they like that. I think that's more important to them than things like affordable housing."

After September's primary election Nguyen helped create a Vietnamese American Election Committee. Nguyen said the mission of the committee was three-fold: to encourage Vietnamese Americans to fulfill their civic duty by registering and voting, to support politicians whom the committee feels are addressing the needs of the Vietnamese community, and to raise their political profile.

"In this community, there is no leadership," Nguyen said. "We don't have a strong voice in politics, and that's what we were trying to create by establishing the group."

Nguyen enlisted the help of Hai Pham, Joe Truon, Charlie Dang, and Vy Vu to get the committee rolling, and started an aggressive campaign on the behalf of Flaherty and Menino. The five committee members scoured Boston phone books for Vietnamese surnames, generating a list of nearly 5,000 registered Vietnamese voters. Twice weekly for a month and a half prior to the election the committee met to call each of those 5,000 Vietnamese voters with a Vietnamese-language message urging them to exercise their civic duty and cast a vote for Flaherty and Menino.

"It's the first time it's happened in that concerted way, by targeting voters with personal calls in their native language," said Steve Crawford, Flahery's campaign manager. "The Vietnamese community is a constituency that Michael has always reached out to, and that has often been underrepresented."

Nguyen agreed that Flaherty has made the Vietnamese community a priority since securing an at-large seat in 1999. Flaherty supported the raising of a South Vietnamese "freedom flag" at City Hall, said Nguyen, and refused to meet with Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai this past June. The majority of Boston's Vietnamese residents are immigrants and refugees from the formerly non-Communist South Vietnam, and many remain vehemently opposed to the nation's current Communist government.

As those refugees have become citizens, started families, and made Boston their own, they have come to recognize their right to vote as one of the most important ways to express their reverence for freedom and democracy, said Lan Chi, Vietnamese Liaison at the Kit Clark Senior Center.

"We teach the seniors how to vote, and they are so proud, so proud to work for their democracy," said Chi. She added that in addition to Flaherty, the Vietnamese community saw Sam Yoon as a similar spokesman for democracy.

Yoon campaign manager Jack Kowalski suggested that Yoon's background as the son of Korean immigrants resonated with Vietnamese voters.

"What they saw in Sam was that he represented the best qualities of an Asian American immigrant," said Kowalski. "He went to school, worked hard, studied hard, chose a career to help others and earned his stripes. He proved himself and earned their trust. Their reason for gravitating towards him wasn't just his complexion. It was his personal integrity and background."

Ton That agreed that Yoon's background was helpful, but also pointed to a more practical connection with Fields Corner.

"Just looking at the numbers, I think it's clear that Sam's identity as an Asian American did resonate with Vietnamese voters," said Ton That. "But the other thing about Sam is he's also from Dorchester."

As reported last week in the Reporter, Yoon picked up strong support across Dorchester, placing second overall behind Flaherty and just ahead of Felix Arroyo in a tally of Dorchester votes. Yoon won a handful of Dorchester precincts outright, including his home precinct at the Lucy Stone School in 17-3.

Chi said that Yoon, who housed his campaign headquarters in Fields Corner, was a favorite among the center's regulars.

"I asked my seniors, 'What do you think about Sam Yoon?'" said Chi. "They say, 'He's great because he's young. He has plenty of time to do aggressive, hard work.' They see that he is Asian, and they want to give him a chance."

Yoon may have battled Flaherty for the Vietnamese vote, but he came out on top in the greater Asian community. In a poll conducted by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), 31 percent of Asian Americans cast a vote for Yoon, while Felix Arroyo received 21 percent and Flaherty came in third with 16 percent. Fewer than 11 percent of the 140 Asian Americans polled were Vietnamese.

Vietnamese turnout on November 8 and solid victories by Flaherty and Yoon have given community leaders hope that Boston's 35,000 Vietnamese citizens are gaining political clout reflective of their numbers.

"I think the results of this election will perhaps change the perception that the Vietnamese primarily look toward broader national issues only," said Ton That. "Their great participation in this local election is encouraging evidence of greater awareness."

Nguyen, who hopes to expand the election committee into a broader group called the "Vietnamese American Political Task Force," was equally optimistic.

"To have leadership in our community, that's the first step," said Nguyen. "We need to encourage people to get out and vote. Then in the future if there is potentially a Vietnamese candidate, we can vote for them."