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Henry Chang Re-Elected to Oakland City Council

By Tim Haran
and Haili Cao

Photo by Soe Win Than

Incumbent Henry Chang gets another term in office.

With 90 percent of precincts reporting, Henry Chang appears to have defeated the Green Party's Rebecca Kaplan to retain the Oakland City Council's at-large seat. Results show that Chang has received 55.8 percent of the vote while Kaplan has garnered 44.1 percent.

"I'm happy because I won, but I'm sad because Al Gore lost," Chang said. "I'll continue to work hard on gun control, but because of (the Republican stance), my happiness is overshadowed."

Officials at Chang's post-election party Tuesday night seemed more interested in the presidential race than they did in the Oakland City Councilman's re-election bid. As the polls closed, a few dozen of Chang's aides and supporters-including Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown and U.S. Representative Barbara Lee-partied at the downtown Marriott Hotel, though the guest of honor arrived late.

Leading up to the election, Chang hoped that nice guys didn't always finish last. The Chinese-American politician known as the council's "quiet peacemaker," battled to keep his at-large seat in a hotly contested race against Kaplan.

More than 30 volunteers hustled in and out of Chang's Chinatown campaign office Tuesday passing out literature and encouraging voters to choose Chang.

But as voters went to the polls, Chang wasn't scurrying to sway opinions with frantic campaigning. Rather, he woke up early and cast his ballot for Vice President Al Gore before heading to City Hall to take care of some business. Later he said he might go shopping or to the park with his family.

"I just want to stay away from everything about the campaign," Chang said Tuesday morning, appearing relaxed. "The last day has a lot of tension and stress, I don't want to get caught in the hectic tension," Chang said, adding that he has done all he can and the rest is left up to voters.

In the March primary, Chang opted to let his political record speak for itself and he campaigned little and character-bashed even less. He gained almost 45 percent of the vote, but nearly 20,000 voters chose Kaplan and forced the incumbent into a run-off.

With the backing of several city districts and the Chinese community, Chang seemed confident in his re-election chances, but said he needed to secure votes in East Oakland. Last Saturday he met aides and volunteers at Plymouth Church in Piedmont to walk door to door and display campaign signs, just in case.

"Never think you're going to win or you'll lose," Chang said. "Communication is the key to successful government. Government should never say 'I know what you need.' It should go out and see what you need."

According to Chang campaign officials, there are roughly 65,000 Asian voters in Oakland and more than 60 percent of those are Chinese. However, officials said the Asian turnout is historically low, with only 3,000 voting in the last election.

Steering clear of personal attacks against his opponent, he said that his political weakness is being too nice. "I don't want to say something negative," Chang said, but his campaign emphasized Kaplan's inexperience while it focused on the incumbent's accomplishments such as community policing and the initiation of after-school homework centers.

"When his opponent attacks him, he doesn't fight back," said Barbara Huang, a Chinese-American attorney who helped Chang overcome language barriers in his 1996 campaign. "We want him stronger, but that's just his character. He's not confrontational."

Chang, 65, has lived in Montclair for 40 years and has spent the last six occupying the Council's at-large seat-a position representing the city as a whole rather than one that represents a specific district. He was appointed in 1994 and was running for his second four-year term against Kaplan, 30, a Fruitvale resident. Kaplan's been a staple at City Hall this year, criticizing Chang on everything from controversial business deals to how much time the councilman spends on city issues.

"She can say whatever she wants," Chang said. "I have to go by record only. I'm not saying she can't do it, I'm just saying there's nothing to show for it." He added Tuesday that he'd be "very surprised if voters selected someone who doesn't have any experience."

Chang said his Chinese upbringing deters him from touting his accomplishments for fear of "blowing his own horn." He avoided getting into a war of words with his opponent, saying, "I only get mad at them if they tell lots of lies." And he admitted he probably wouldn't even be a politician if it weren't for friend and longtime Oakland City Councilman Frank Ogawa.

"I was never interested in politics until he (Ogawa) nominated me for the council," Chang said. "I had a philosophy close to his, but if he didn't nominate me I don't think I would have ever been a politician."

Following Ogawa's death in 1994, Chang struggled through two rounds of balloting before eventually defeating four other candidates by a 7-1 council vote to win the vacant seat.

Registered as a Republican in 1996, Chang was elected to a full four-year term. Favoring Democratic ideals, he switched parties in 1997 and continues to use his connections with native China to facilitate trade with Oakland and-possibly for what he's most known-attempt to bring pandas to the Oakland Zoo.

Chang graduated with an architecture degree from the University of California at Berkeley and moved to Oakland in 1961. After joining a variety of organizations in the city's Chinatown, Chang gathered the support of Oakland's Chinese community when it expressed the need for an ethnically diverse government.

"The Chinese community has the same issues other communities have," Chang said, specifying topics like parking in Chinatown and helping Chinese-owned businesses. "If you are there, they will talk to you and they wanted different ethnic groups representative in government."

Jennie Ong, the chief executive director of Oakland's Chinatown Chamber of Commerce and a life-long Chinatown resident, is one who sees the benefit and political boon Chang brings to the Chinese community.

"If he loses, we would lose our connection to government," she said, adding that Chang has been a key figure in addressing the needs of the city's Chinatown.

The councilman's supporters said his presence on the council has given the Chinese community a voice in city government.

"He is a pioneer leading the way," said Ong, who sees Chang as a governmental voice for Oakland's Chinese population. "It's easy for me to pick up the phone and talk to Henry."

Chang also leads the council on gun control and he authored the measure last February that banned the sale of pocket-sized handguns in Oakland. He's decidedly pro-business and development and is the council's only business owner.

An 87-year-old Chang supporter in Piedmont appreciates the incumbent's follow-through. "Someone else will put it off two weeks," she said, "but Chang just does it."