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Hevesi endorses John Liu to succeed Julia Harrison

By Chris Fuchs

Alan Hevesi, the city comptroller and mayoral candidate who has the backing of the Queens Democratic Party, endorsed 34-year-old John Liu for City Council Friday, one of five Democrats running for the seat in Flushing held by Julia Harrison since 1986.

The endorsement, on the steps of Flushing Town Hall on Northern Boulevard, came a little more than a month after Thomas Manton, a former congressman and the chairman of the Queens democratic party, threw his support behind Liu. Earlier in May, Liu was also backed by U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Bayside) and state Assemblyman Brian McLaughlin (D-Flushing).

“John is a terrific individual in his own right, but his election to the Council will symbolize something larger,” Hevesi told more than 20 of Liu’s supporters who were gathered on the steps of Flushing Town Hall. “It will symbolize the potential for the immigrant community and the first generation born here of the new immigrant community when they will be able to participate as fully in civic life and in political life as anyone else.”

This is the second time that Liu, a senior consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers, is running for the Flushing council seat. In 1997, he and another Democratic candidate, Pauline Chu, ran against Harrison, both of whom lost to her in the primary. But with Harrison unable to run again because of term limits, the possibility of an Asian American being elected to city governance has increased considerably.

In addition to Liu, there are nine other Asian-American council candidates in Queens, three of whom are running against Liu: Ethel Chen and Terence Park, both Democrats, and Evergreen Chou, who is running on the Green Party line. The non-Asian candidates include Martha Flores-Vazquez, Richard Jannaccio, Adrian Joyce, Linda Mandell — all Democrats — Paul Graziano, a Green Party candidate, and Ryan Walsh.

Hevesi focused much of his remarks Friday on how Liu, who was born in Taiwan and moved to Flushing as a child, is the best candidate to bridge the many ethnic groups that have moved to Flushing in the last 10 years.

The census figures for Queens showed that the total population of Flushing grew to more than 164,000 since 1990, an increase of nearly 13,000 people. In particular, two out of every five Flushing residents are Asian American, according to the figures.

“Alan Hevesi has never hesitated to speak out about what’s right,” Liu said. “And so when people have said that, for example, the Asian community are rude merchants, illegal aliens and criminal smugglers, Alan Hevesi came right out and said that’s just not true.”

Reach reporter Chris Fuchs by e-mail at or call 229-0300, Ext. 156.