John C. Liu (劉醇逸)
John Liu (劉醇逸 Liu Chun-i) was born in Pingtung, Taiwan in 1967. At age 5, he moved to the United States with his family. He graduated from Binghamton University in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in Mathematical Physics. He served as President of the North Flushing Civic Association and was elected to the New York City Council in 2001. He represented northeast Queens and was the first Asian American to be elected as a New York City Councilman. Serving on the Council until 2009, Liu was the Chairperson of the Transportation Committee, as well as a member of the Education, Consumer Affairs, Health, Land Use, Contracts, Oversight & Investigations, and Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Committees.
In 2009, Liu announced his run for New York City Comptroller, which ended in him winning the general election with 76% of the vote. As Comptroller, he saved taxpayers $5 billion dollars by auditing City agencies, scrutinizing contracts, and refinancing City bond debt. He increased the City’s pension asset portfolio to $150 billion. He also created “CheckbookNYC.com,” a nationally acclaimed application that makes government spending transparent. In 2013, Liu ran for New York City Mayor, coming in fourth place, and lost his bid for State Senate in 2014. He began teaching municipal finance and public policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and at Baruch College. In 2018, Liu once again ran for State Senate, gathering three times as many signatures as necessary to place him on the ballot. He won the democratic primary against the incumbent with 53% of the vote, and the general election with 54% of the vote. As a legislator, Liu has worked on issues regarding Equal Access Bill and mandated language services, school safety, racism and misogyny, and more.
Liu’s career is significant in Asian American political history; he was the first Asian American to win legislative office in New York, the first to win citywide office, and one of the first two Asian Americans in the New York Senate. In 2018, T.A. Archived selected Liu as an Outstanding Taiwanese American.
References
Biography: http://taiwaneseamericanhistory.org/blog/whoswho50/
Outstanding Taiwanese American: http://taiwaneseamericanhistory.org/blog/ota-148/
John Liu Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Liu
New York State Senator Profile: https://www.nysenate.gov/senators/john-c-liu/about
