Cerritos Politician May Run in Monterey Park

Daniel K. Wong, the globe-trotting Cerritos councilman who once described himself as the “Chinese Kissinger,” may be packing his bags again.

Wong, a two-term councilman who has built a power base among Cerritos’ sizable Asian population, said this week that he has bought a home in Monterey Park and is opening a part-time medical practice in that area. When asked if he plans to move there and run for the City Council, Wong, a Chinese-American, said: “Not at this time, but I can’t rule that out in the future. . . . I’m open to the idea.”

But several Monterey Park officials said that Wong is doing more than contemplating elective office in their city.

“Danny told me a couple of months ago that he was going to run for council in this town,” said G. Monty Manibog, the senior council member in Monterey Park, which has the highest concentration of Asian residents of any city in the country. “(Wong) feels he would be an asset to this community.”

Patricia Reichenberger, another Monterey Park council member, said “it is common knowledge” around town, particularly in the Asian community, that the 45-year-old Wong wants to run for the council. She said a Chinese-language newspaper first reported Wong’s interest in the office several months ago. And, she said, Wong “has been very, very visible” in the city, showing up at store grand openings and at council meetings, where he has spoken out on issues several times.

“He looks like a man trying to build some name recognition,” Reichenberger said.

Lack of notoriety has not been Wong’s problem in Cerritos. In fact, as the city’s mayor pro tem, he fully expected to run for a third council term next April. That is, until residents voted overwhelmingly to amend the City Charter last November to prohibit council members from serving more than two consecutive four-year terms. Under the new law, both Wong and Mayor Don Knabe, chief deputy for Supervisor Deane Dana, will be forced to the city’s political sidelines next spring.

After two years, the two men can again run for the council. But Wong, who said he arrived in this country in 1961 with $200 in his pocket, is apparently exploring other political options, including Monterey Park.

(Knabe, a Republican, is interested in higher office, having been an early challenger for the vacant 33rd state Senate District seat now being contested for by Assemblyman Wayne Grisham (R-Norwalk) and Norwalk Councilman Cecil Green, a Democrat. If Grisham wins, Knabe is considered the top GOP candidate for Grisham’s 63rd Assembly seat.)

While possibly positioning himself for a try at the council in Monterey Park, Wong said he might run for a state office or Congress. But friends say Wong’s next political venture outside of Cerritos probably will be Monterey Park, where 40% of the city’s 60,500 residents are Asian.

Colleague Concerned

At least one Cerritos councilman expressed concern over reports that Wong may run for the council in Monterey Park.

“I would be most disappointed to see a colleague preparing to run for office in another city,” Councilman Barry A. Rabbitt said. “If someone is on our council, that is where 100% of their energies should be.”

Rabbitt said Wong assured him several weeks ago that he was not going to seek office in Monterey Park. But the rumors have persisted. Rabbitt said Wong owes the council a public explanation, and soon, because Wong is next in line to become mayor when the five-member council holds its annual reorganization meeting April 21. “If he plans on running there, he should announce it,” Rabbitt said. “If he doesn’t, let’s get that on the record. But he does both cities a great disservice by dragging this out.”

A physician by profession, Wong in recent years has become a minor celebrity among Asians--particularly Chinese--as an entertainer. He is primarily a singer, and has appeared on Southern California cable television shows as well as in restaurants and nightclubs, including several in Monterey Park. Wong, who said he learned to sing four years ago in the shower, even performed on national television in the People’s Republic of China as part of a government-run New Year’s Eve telecast.

The performance in 1985 upset some officials on Taiwan. Through private channels, Wong said the Taiwan government tried to persuade him to cancel his China trip. But rather than back out, he believed he could improve relations between the two adversaries. At the time of that trip, he said, “I see myself as the Chinese (Henry) Kissinger.”

Spoke Out on Two Issues

Wong also has tried his hand at shaping public policy in Monterey Park.

On at least two occasions in recent months Wong has intervened in city affairs, going before the council to criticize passage of a resolution urging that English be made the official language of the country. The resolution was later rescinded. And, privately, he tried to defeat a proposed moratorium on new development in the city, a move that some in Monterey Park believe was aimed at stemming the flow of Asian developers and businesses into the city.

Councilwoman Reichenberger said Wong called and asked her not to vote for the moratorium, which she eventually did, helping the measure to narrowly pass, 3 to 2. Reichenberger said she was surprised by Wong’s call and described his role in the vote “as inappropriate.”

Because he owns property in Monterey Park and has family and friends there, Wong said, he had a right to speak out on both issues. He said support of English as an official language should be decided by the voters, not by an elected body such as the council. And he said the development moratorium simply added to the “cultural misunderstandings that are tearing that city apart.”

Election a Year Away

The next city election in Monterey Park is in April, 1988, when the current terms of council members Manibog and Cam Briglio expire. Manibog, elected in 1976 and the only current council member to have served more than one term, said he will seek reelection. Briglio could not be reached about his plans.

Wong may not have to wait a year for a chance to run for office in Monterey Park. Voters in that city will decide June 16 whether to recall two other council members, Reichenberger and Barry Hatch. Should the pair be turned out of office, voters must also decide whether the council should appoint replacements or hold a special election.

To qualify as a candidate, Wong must be a registered voter and be living in Monterey Park at the time he takes out nomination papers. Wong said he has no intention of leaving Cerritos before his current term ends next April. But if he does move to Monterey Park, former Councilwoman Lily Chen, a friend of Wong’s, said the Cerritos politician may face an uphill battle.

“I wish him luck, but there are a lot of people who may see him as carpetbagging,” Chen said. “He is known around here, and that may help.”

Wong’s ties to Monterey Park go back to the early 1960s. Shortly after arriving in this country, he lived in that city while attending East Los Angeles College and California State University, Los Angeles. Although he left the city to attend medical school in Utah, he has maintained strong ties with Monterey Park’s business community. Since the early 1980s, a large chunk of Wong’s financial support for his Cerritos campaigns and one ill-fated run for Congress has come from the Monterey Park Chinese community. As of Jan. 31, Wong had about $21,000 in unspent campaign funds, according to records on file in the Cerritos city clerk’s office.

To further cement his links with that city, Wong said he is expanding his medical practice to the Monterey Park area. Wong, who runs a family medical practice in Norwalk, where he specializes in obstetrics, gynecology and pediatrics, said he is leasing office space on Valley Boulevard in Alhambra, only a few blocks from neighboring Monterey Park.