San Jose, CA: Three-term Mayor of Milpitas Henry Manayan is confident! Running for elected office for the fifth time in his young political career, he aims to be the next Assembly member from the 20th Assembly District. The assembly district covers entire cities of Milpitas, Fremont, Union City, Newark, with portions of San Jose (east), Castro Valley, Sunol, Pleasanton and parts of Hayward too. Included in the 20th District is a substantial population of Asian-American voters, including Indian-Americans.“We have never lost an election so far, and with this track record, even the past election campaign consultants of the current retiring Assembly member John Dutra, have signed on to my campaign ensure my victory,” says a smiling Manayan.
No Stranger to the ethnic community in Silicon Valley, Manayan- who has Filipino and Japanese heritage, has always been a staunch supporter of the Asian-American community. He has won key endorsements from a myriad of elected officials and community leaders ranging from chair of Afghan Coalition to the CEO of SiliconIran to several prominent Indian-Americans. “We have consolidated the ethnic vote early” said Manayan, “We just launched our official campaign, and will be hitting the streets very soon.” (www.manayanforassembly.com)
“Fremont is an important area for us, and since it is more central to our entire district, we will be establishing our campaign HQ there within an month”, said Manayan, adding “As I have been a part of this community for several years, and have been able to deliver a lot of projects, the people of the 20th AD know this. Unlike my other opponents who have limited experience or have moved into the district, just for getting elected.” referring to Ashok Bhat- who recently moved to Fremont from San Francisco.
Manayan has been on city council member of Milpitas since 1994, and during his tenure as Mayor from 1996 to 2002, has- managed to deliver the Light rail extension extension, ending at the Great Mall, Milpitas. While, the BART extension to Milpitas/San Jose stalled, he promises that project will be one of his Transportation/Mass transit priorities. His other priorities being Job creation; Retaining the Businesses and workers in the area-including issues of affordable housing and improving Education. Oxford-Educated Attorney Manayan has also worked as adjunct professor at Mission/West Valley College, and has the endorsement of several School Board officials in the area as well.
In terms of fundraising, Manayan has raised $120,000 so far and aims to raise about $420,000 -the maximum voluntary cap signed by a few of the assembly contestants. “Fundraising is always important, since even a small mailer costs $15,000 per mail-out. Apart from fundraising, the campaign can use help in registering voters; walking precincts, stuffing envelopes, signs and spreading the word.” said Campaign Manager Gina Marie Antonini. Mayor Manayan adds ” This week itself you will see our supporters, including members of the firefighters and police officers association at local grocery stores etc.”
While some in the Indian-American community believe that they should rally around Indian-Americans in the election fray- many see the candidate who has a proven record of helping Indian-American causes and also being a staunch supporter as the only pre requite. Especially after wannabe politicians like Indian-American Vik Bajwa- who raised $40,000 from the community but got only 1,093 votes for Governor of California. Hence a large number of Asian-Americans and Indian-Americans have rallied around Manayan-who they think will best represent them in the district.
Even folks like Senior Citizen Mrs. Sharma, of Milpitas said” I have seen him come to all our events. Bechara Bahut Mehanat karta hai-(Poor man works very hard). Even his name Manayan sounds like Narayan (God) to me.”
INFORMATION:
Primary Elections are on March 2nd, 2004.
Year 2004 is also the Presidential Election year. For information on Manayan- www.manayanforassembly.com
Sam Rao
