Asians Focus on Redistricting : Politics: Community leaders set sights on reapportionment to create Assembly districts with enough ethnic similarity to elect their own candidates.

Asian politicians, community leaders and urban planners are vigorously pursuing the creation of one or more state Assembly districts in the San Gabriel Valley where Asian-American voters are numerous enough to sway an election.

One goal, they say, is the election of the first Asian to the Legislature in 10 years.

The effort is focused on the upcoming reapportionment of congressional and legislative districts, triggered by the 1990 Census. New boundaries will be drawn by the Democratic-dominated Legislature this year and submitted to Republican Gov. Pete Wilson.

Asian leaders met Monday in Monterey Park to announce the start of their political effort, emphasizing the importance of community participation in lobbying the Legislature.

“Asians have not been vocal in trying to redraw the lines,” said Monterey Park Mayor Judy Chu. “Now is our chance. Today we are starting a very, very historic effort. Asians were just simply ignored because we have never raised our voice.”

Asian leaders remain divided over the best way to achieve their goal, although Chu said most agree that it would be best to concentrate their political power in a single district. Such a district could encompass Monterey Park, Alhambra, Rosemead, San Marino, Arcadia and San Gabriel.

Another option is to divide the San Gabriel Valley’s rapidly growing communities among two or more districts. Others emphasized the importance of building support for promising Asian-American candidates in districts that are not necessarily dominated by Asian voters.

Similar efforts by Asian groups are under way in downtown Los Angeles, South Bay, San Francisco Bay Area and Orange County--communities that have seen a tremendous increase in immigration from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia and Korea.

U.S. Census figures on the ethnic breakdown of cities will not be available until April. However, researchers at UCLA believe that a district can be carved out of the west San Gabriel Valley that will be 40% to 50% Asian by 2000--the result of burgeoning Chinese and Southeast Asian immigration over the past decade.

In contrast, Asians in the 1980 census constituted 12.3% of the 59th Assembly District, which includes Monterey Park, Montebello, Pico Rivera and parts of Whittier and Santa Fe Springs.

Now, the bulk of the San Gabriel Valley’s Asian population is divided among several Assembly districts.

While blacks became involved in reapportionment in the 1960s, followed by Latinos a decade later, Asian-Americans have been virtually absent from the contentious process of redrawing district lines every 10 years.

Besides meeting over the past year to plan strategy, Asian organizations are raising money for the effort and distributing multilingual videotapes and brochures explaining voting rights, the complicated redistricting process and urging Asians to get involved.

“This would be precedent-setting,” said Stewart Kwoh, executive director of the Los Angeles-based Asian Pacific American Legal Center, an organization that has been active in supporting civil rights. “Asians have not been previously involved in redistricting. We need to be visible. We need to make sure politicians know Asians are protected by the Voting Rights Act.”

Although Asians make up about 10% of the state’s population, there is no Asian in either house of the Legislature.

Four Asian-Americans have held Assembly seats, including Secretary of State March Fong Eu, who served in the Assembly from 1967-74. Republican Paul Bannai of Gardena and Democrat Floyd Mori were the last two Asian-Americans to hold Assembly seats. They both served until 1980. Democrat Alfred Song served in the state Senate during the 1970s.

Despite its growing numbers, the Asian community is likely to face an uphill battle in winning legislative support for an Asian district. Many Asian enclaves butt up against politically powerful Latino constituencies that have been trying to expand their influence.

Also, the San Gabriel Valley’s ethnically diverse Asian communities are more scattered than Latino or black neighborhoods, making it harder, some experts say, to form a cohesive Asian constituency with common needs.