All Asian Female Prosecutors Look Alike -- to Chuck Schumer
Here are three fun facts:
1. Until her controversial ouster, Carol Lam (far right) was the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California (San Diego).2. Until she was tempted away from government service by a $1.5 million offer from Gibson Dunn, Debra Wong Yang (near right) was the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California (Los Angeles).
3. As far as we know, Eumi Choi continues to serve as First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California (San Francisco).
Coincidence? We have to ask:
What is up with Asian-American women and leadership positions in California U.S. Attorney offices?
Their presence in these posts would seem like a great leap forward for diversity -- but it's causing problems. Just ask poor Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
Here's what Senator Schumer wrote in a recent letter to President Bush:
In an email to the White House, [former Alberto Gonzales aide Kyle] Sampson refers to a “problem” with Carol Lam.What was this “problem” and was Lam’s firing motivated by her investigation into former Congressmen Randy Cunningham and Representative Jerry Lewis?...
Mr. Sampson’s email was sent the same day [May 11, 2006] that the Los Angeles Times had broken the news that Ms. Lam’s investigation of former Congressman Randy Cunningham (R-CA) had expanded to include Representative Jerry Lewis (R-CA).
OOPS. Carol Lam wasn't investigating Jerry Lewis. If you go to the article in question, you'll see that the Lewis investigation was being conducted by the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles -- then headed by Debra Yang.
When contacted for comment, Senator Schumer stated: "The notion that I have bias against Asians is ludicrous. My favorite restaurant in D.C. is Hunan Dynasty. And I know all of the waitresses there by name!"
Update: In response to these comments, we must clarify: the Schumer quote is a joke.
Schumer's Five Questions [TPMmuckraker]
Lewis Surfaces in Probe of Cunningham [Los Angeles Times via Truthout]
Carol Lam: Not Targeted Over the Jerry Lewis Investigation [Patterico's Pontifications]
(23) Comments
Where the hell is Hunan Dynasty?
On Capitol Hill. I recommend the Szechwan shrimp (which Chuck Schumer likes too).
His defense for not mushing all Asians together is eating at some Chinese restaurant?! you've got to be kidding me...
I remember reading that NYTimes article about Schumer and his roommates, which may have mentioned the Chinese restaurant...but surely this comment isi a joke?!
everyone knows that all look same. http://www.alllooksame.com/
You can't blame Schumer for a minor mess-up in a letter drafted by his staff.
O.k., the Schumer quote is a joke. But let's assume it was real. Why wouldn't that defense be legit?
Isn't reacting against that defense a reflection of class bias? If you reject that defense, you are basically saying: "Lawyers, especially high-powered ones, are better than waitresses."
Which is not true. Even if the lawyers think it is.
I wish someone would confuse me for a top school grad.
Powerful Asian female prosecutors are HOT.
5:55 - Who cares? If it's not on Seamless, I'm not ordering from there anyway.
Hunan Peking, on the other hand...
god, Loyola 2L- you never shut the hell up.
any screening software to screen out this guy (or the other 2 that seem to post all the time)???
L2L: I could give a flying hoot that you are unhappy and are not desirable to employers. Hell, I barely know you by your incessant posts about the subject and I already can relate to them...
Oh my God. I think I've just uncovered another conspiracy.
Governor of California? White male.
Governor of Oregon? White male.
Governor of Nevada? White male.
What is up with white men and leadership positions in Western U.S. States?
Isn't the more likely explanation that Schumer, a New Yorker, confused West Coast cities? Stupid, but not racist.
If Schumer brings lots of his Democratic colleagues to Hunan Dynasty, that may be the best hope yet for the GOP regaining control of Congress:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/diet.fitness/03/21/chinese.food.ap/index.html
Great. Now they're going to create a software to screen out tier 2 students. Why not just create glasses which make us invisible? Or earplugs which drown out our voices?
Sigh
I have no bias against blacks either. My favorite restaurant is Popeye's and I know all the workers by their names.
It seems to me Schumer is guilty of little more than imprecise wording: if you look at the appended post from Josh Marshall, who is pretty much the go-to source on all things Purge-related, the Lewis investigation sprung from Lam's Cunningham investigation. So while Schumer is incorrect to say Lam was "leading" the Lewis investigation, she was responsible in large part for the fact that it was opened...
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013166.php
Lat, you are really stretching for material today.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Doesn't this sound like the "but I have lots of friends who are black" defense?
Schumer loves to hear himself talk, but often doesn't take a moment to think before he speaks. Interesting that this gaffe in his letter to Bush was something an aide did so it's ok for him not to take the blame...
all slants do look alike
Um, if this hasn't been done yet, how about a hottest prosecutors contest? Just sayin'...
11:15, go back to the kids on autoadmit