David Wu

David Wu 吳振偉
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Oregon's 1st district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 1999
Preceded by	Elizabeth Furse
Born	April 8, 1955 (1955-04-08) (age 54) Hsinchu, Taiwan
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Michelle Wu
Residence	Portland, Oregon
Alma mater	Stanford University, Yale University
Occupation	attorney
Religion	Presbyterian

David Wu (traditional Chinese: 吳振偉; pinyin: Wú Zhènwěi; born April 8, 1955) is a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives for Oregon's First Congressional District. The first district includes part of western Multnomah County and all of Yamhill, Columbia, Clatsop, and Washington Counties. As an ethnic Han Chinese from Taiwan, Wu is the first Chinese American^[1] and the first Taiwanese American^[2] member of Congress.

Early life

Wu was born in Hsinchu, Taiwan to mainland Chinese parents who had settled in Taiwan due to the Chinese Civil War and in the United States with his family in 1961.^[3] He spent his first two years in the U.S. in Latham, New York where his family were the only Asian Americans in town.^[4]

Wu received a bachelor of science degree from Stanford University in 1977, and attended Harvard Medical School (where he shared an apartment with Bill Frist^[5]), but dropped out. Instead, Wu received a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School in 1982. He is married to Michelle Wu, and has one son, Matthew, and a daughter, Sarah.

Prior to being elected a U.S. Representative, Wu served as a clerk for a federal judge and co-founded a law firm, Cohen & Wu, which primarily served the high tech sector in Oregon's "Silicon Forest."

U.S. Congress

Wu was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1998, succeeding Democrat Elizabeth Furse, and began serving in 1999 with the 106th Congress. He won re-election in 2000, defeating state senator Charles Starr in the November election with 58% of the vote to 39% for Starr.^[6] Wu won re-election in 2004 over Republican Goli Ameri, in 2006 over Oregon state representative Derrick Kitts and two minor party candidates, and in 2008 with no Republican candidate running, he captured 71% of the vote to win a sixth term over four minor party candidates.

He is a member of the Executive Board for the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and served as Chair from January 2001 to January 2004. He is also a member of the New Democrat Coalition (NDC), a group of moderate Democrats in the House.

Committee assignments

• Committee on Education and Labor
  • Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness
  • Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions
• Committee on Science and Technology
  • Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation (Chairman)
  • Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics

Congressional campaign controversies

Wu has faced controversy in several of his Congressional campaigns.

• 2004 – During the 2004 election campaign, The Oregonian reported that in 1976, following his junior year at Stanford University, Wu had allegedly attempted to force an ex-girlfriend to have sex with him. Wu was questioned by Stanford police, who reported that Wu had scratches on his face and neck and wore a stretched T-shirt. No arrest or charges were made in the incident,^[7] but Wu himself admitted "inexcusable behavior on my part", and "I take full responsibility for my actions and I am very sorry. I was disciplined by Stanford University for my behavior, and I worked with a counselor."^[8] Wu's Republican challenger, Goli Ameri, criticized Wu about the incident during the campaign,^[9] but Wu won the election with 58% of the vote to Ameri's 38%.

• 2006 – In June 2005, Wu went to Iraq and passed out polyester tee-shirts made by an Oregon company to American soldiers, ignoring the known risk of serious burns in the event of a fire. Despite soldiers having been catastrophically injured as a direct result of wearing polyester clothing, Wu continued to place earmarks in Congressional budget bills mandating the purchase of the company's unsuitable polyester garments.^[10]

• 2008 – During the campaign, The Oregonian cited Wu's Klingon speech controversy and concluded: "the erratic, sometimes incoherent Wu has not won the respect of his House colleagues". Both The Oregonian and a leading regional weekly, Willamette Week, endorsed Wu's Democratic Party primary challenger; Wu prevailed in the primary and ran without a Republican opponent in the general election.

• 2010 – In October 2009, Republican Rob Cornilles announced an early challenge to Wu^[11], and Republican staffers recorded and released video of Wu driving his GMC Yukon,^[12] contrasting his votes for tougher fuel efficiency standards^[13] with Wu's personal use of a "gas-guzzling SUV."^[11]

"Klingons in the White House" speech

On January 10, 2007, Wu made a speech on the House floor referring to people in the White House as Klingons with regard to the war in Iraq. Wu, a fan of Star Trek, said he was making a reference to a book by James Mann.^[14] Mann wrote that the foreign policy advisory team of George W. Bush's 2000 campaign gave itself the nickname "Vulcans," originating from the large statue of the Roman god in Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's hometown of Birmingham, Alabama.

Wu said that unlike "the Vulcans of Star Trek," who "make decisions based on logic and fact," Rice and her cadre behave more like the warlike Klingons, saying, "there are Klingons in the White House." Wu continued that unlike "real Klingons," who are also known for their courage and code of honor, those in the White House "have never fought a battle of their own." He concludes, "don't let faux Klingons send real Americans to war."^[15]

On January 16, 2007, comedian Jon Stewart dedicated a short segment of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to talk about this speech. He was joined in this discussion by Star Trek actors Leonard Nimoy and George Takei (Spock and Hikaru Sulu respectively). In the discussion, Nimoy stated that the analogy was weak, citing that while Klingons are warlike, they adhere to a strict code of honor. However, this did not actually contradict what Wu said, as stated above.

References

External links

• U.S. Congressman David Wu official U.S. House site
• David Wu for Congress official campaign site

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
• Congressional profile at GovTrack.us
• Profile at SourceWatch Congresspedia
• Bush: Admit Your Mistake, End This War. David Wu, BlueOregon, January 9, 2007, commentary on Bush's Iraq policy
• David Wu's "Klingon" speech on the House floor — video on YouTube