{"id":16367,"date":"2012-01-23T19:05:48","date_gmt":"2012-01-23T23:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/?p=16367"},"modified":"2012-01-23T18:08:36","modified_gmt":"2012-01-23T22:08:36","slug":"city-councilman-peter-koo-with-the-democratic-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/?p=16367","title":{"rendered":"City Councilman Peter Koo Now With the Democratic Party"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Source from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/new-york\/queens\/city-councilman-peter-koo-officially-ties-knot-democratic-party-article-1.1010529#ixzz1kK0foZmH\">NYDailyNews<\/a><\/p>\n<p>City Councilman Peter Koo officially shed his Republican skin and joined the Democratic Party on Monday.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Koo, one of a handful of Asian-American lawmakers in New York City, said he chose Monday for symbolic reasons. Lunar New Year marks a new start, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom the beginning, I have always been a Democratic at heart,\u201d said Koo, a wealthy Flushing businessman who was elected to the City Council in 2009. \u201cThe Democratic Party has done much more than the Republican Party locally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Surrounded by a dozen elected officials and party loyalists, Koo handed in his paperwork at the Board of Elections office in Kew Gardens.<\/p>\n<p>City Controller John Liu, Koo\u2019s predecessor, welcomed him \u201cback home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Koo had been mulling the idea for months while quietly meeting with party members behind closed doors, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think Peter Koo is gentleman. I\u2019m sorry he made the choice to become a Democrat,\u201d said Phil Ragusa, chairman of the Queens GOP. \u201cHe was doing well in the Republican Party.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Republican Councilman Eric Ulrich, who leads an opposing GOP faction in the borough, said the loss of Koo was a \u201ctremendous blow to the party.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that there was a lot more we all could have done to keep him from switching parties,\u201d said Ulrich. \u201cIf he was made part of the decision-making process, he might have felt differently.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Joseph Crowley, head of the Queens Democratic Party, said he didn\u2019t \u201ccajole\u201d Koo to switch sides.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re used to electing Democrats, not converting them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Koo\u2019s move to the Democrats gives that party a popular figure, well known in the Flushing community.<\/p>\n<p>It could also help avoid another messy Democratic primary. Five Democrats competed for Liu\u2019s open seat in 2009.<\/p>\n<p>Crowley pointed out that joining the majority party in the Council also gives Koo a better shot at chairing a committee.<\/p>\n<p>Koo, who was born in China, said he was anxious to \u201chelp others fulfill the American Dream.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He was careful not to criticize the Queens Republican Party. And he said the split in their ranks was only a small factor in his decision.<\/p>\n<p>When asked about their reaction to his decision, Koo said the GOP leadership was \u201csad\u201d but admitted there was \u201cnot much they could do to help me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Koo also said he was increasingly uncomfortable with the views of the national Republican Party.<\/p>\n<p>It was unclear whether the Republicans will field a candidate for Koo\u2019s seat in 2013. Ragusa said the organization was focused on the 2012 elections.<\/p>\n<p>For details, please visit: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/new-york\/queens\/city-councilman-peter-koo-officially-ties-knot-democratic-party-article-1.1010529#ixzz1kK0foZmH\">http:\/\/www.nydailynews.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source from NYDailyNews City Councilman Peter Koo officially shed his Republican skin and joined the Democratic Party on Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-up-to-date-news-on-everything-asian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16367"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16369,"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16367\/revisions\/16369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}