Asian-American group hopes to rally support for GOP

Kirsten Searer

Monday, Jan. 17, 2005 | 8:20 a.m.

A new group hopes to take advantage of Nevada's growing Asian-American population to rally support for the Republican Party.

While Asians, like most minorities, tend to vote Democratic, the Asian-American Republican Coalition has about 100 people in Southern Nevada interested in joining, said Jasmine Brooks, who is running for chairmanship of the group.

"We wanted to support our president and the Republican Party," Brooks said. "That's our primary mission."

The coalition already has a club in Reno, which Republican Party Chairwoman Earlene Forsythe said has "just been rockin'. "

Nevada's Asian population has seen major gains in recent years. The state estimates that 138,139 Asian- Americans -- or about 6 percent of the population -- lived in the state in 2003.

The 2000 Census estimated that 90,266 Asians -- or about 4.5 percent of the population -- lived in Nevada in 2000.

Some Asian-Americans assume they should vote Democrat because they think Republicans are a mostly elite party, said Dolly de Leon, a spokeswoman for the coalition.

"They say 'I'm not a rich person, I'm just an ordinary person, so I'm a Democrat,' " de Leon said. "I did not know really if I was a Republican until (President) Reagan, this was in the 80s, and I read the agenda. I read what the Republicans stand for."

Many Asians agree with Republicans on social issues such as gay marriage and abortion, de Leon said. And they see Republicans as the party that brought down communism, she said.

Forsythe pointed out that many Asians are small-business owners who agree with the party's efforts to cultivate small businesses.

"As they assimilate into our culture, they understand our issues and believe in them, which is a very strong family, protection of marriage, pro-life and small business," Forsythe said. "They love small businesses, that's why many came to America -- for the opportunity for a better paycheck."

Republicans have increasingly talked of stealing away Democrats' traditional minority strongholds, especially among Hispanics. Forsythe credits President Bush's win in 2004 to the Christian and Hispanic voters who turned up to the polls.

Second generation minorities especially are open to the Republican message, Forsythe said.

But Democratic Party Chairman Jon Summers said minorities likely will continue to see they align with Democrats on issues such as education, affordable health care and protecting Social Security.

"Those are typically things the Bush administration and Republicans in general try to dismantle," Summers said.

There are several partisan minority groups in Nevada, including the Mexican American Democrats, the Democratic Caucus for Urban Development and the Stonewall Democratic Club, which advocates for the gay and lesbian community.

Last year several nonpartisan groups sprouted to support minority issues, hoping to invigorate entire communities.

"As minorities, you're facing many of the same issues, you just have different cultures," said Cordell Stokes, spokesman for the Caucus of African American Nevadans. "Being together as one is much more effective."

But some people involved in local minority political groups say it's difficult to forge minority activist groups in the state, where people tend to be pocketed in their own ethnic groups and don't reach out as much to others, said Mike Vaswani, Asian-American coordinator for the newly formed Unity Council.

"People are just using their own time, they are just themselves," he said. "They don't realize that the government is involved in so much of their lives."