The FBI Dragged Him Down

In the Chinese-American community, 65-year old Leland Yee has many glorious achievements: He is California’s first Chinese senator in 156 years, California’s food safety domain’s “Legislator of the Year,” and he is an anti-violence-and-pornography warrior in the political realm.

He was regarded as the model Chinese-American who achieved the “American dream,” just like President Obama; he once ran for mayor of San Francisco, and almost became California’s secretary of state. Nonetheless, a couple of average businessmen have recently destroyed this Chinese political celebrity’s advancing career path. Yee did not expect them to be undercover FBI agents who set up traps one after the other, waiting to uncover his secret identity. Late last month, a U.S. federal court pressed charges against Yee for eight offenses, including corruption, gun trafficking, etc. Whether he is proven guilty or not, the image of the “American dream” he has been keeping up for decades has shattered.

A Chinese-American Celebrity Who Has Made History

On March 26, the Chinese political circle, which for the most part has upheld a positive image, suddenly broke out heavy news: California’s first Chinese senator in 156 years had been arrested. Shortly afterward, a federal court pressed charges against Yee for eight offenses. Drug dealing, MANPADS, professional killers, gang politics — such “dark-toned” keywords filled the 137 page federal lawsuit. In the past, Yee’s public image had been absolutely “tall and mighty,” closely related to positive issues, such as gun control, open government and children’s health. Chinese media coverage has always portrayed him as a wanderer abroad, who left Taishan when he was three and can speak fluent Cantonese. He is a spokesperson who is devoted to education, child protection, and speaks on behalf of the Chinese community. More so, he is also an educator who has been making donations toward constructing schools and scholarship funds in his hometown since 1990.

“In America, you can achieve anything as long as you’re willing to work hard,” Yee said so to the media in December 2006, after returning to Guangdong following his election as senator in California. He also said that he hoped more Chinese would participate in American politics, for he “believed that in the future, more and more second generation Asian-Americans will be active in politics. They will serve in various public offices as elected officials, including the president of the United States.”

Yee has always been seen as a model for Chinese-Americans achieving the “American dream.” Since he entered politics in 1988, he has been elected to San Francisco’s Board of Education, City Council, and he has been a California state assemblyman and senator. The latter especially allowed him to become a milestone in terms of Chinese-Americans’ participation in politics.

Leland Yee was born in Taishan, Guangdong. He came to America with his parents when he was three years old and grew up in San Francisco — where the Chinese are most densely populated. Thereafter, Yee attended U.C. Berkeley and the University of Hawaii, eventually earning a PhD in child psychology. After receiving his PhD in 1975, Yee worked for San Francisco’s Department of Mental Health, Oakland School District, and a nonprofit organization called Asian Americans for Community Involvement.

“I had never thought about entering politics, nor did I think I would reach where I am today,”* Yee said to the media, after being elected to the Senate in 2006.

In the 1980s, Chinese-Americans launched a “political wave” after hundreds of years of keeping a low profile. Exemplary figures appeared in each state and even in Congress, such as Elaine Chao and Gary Locke. With this in the background, Yee decided to run to be a member of the San Francisco Board of Education, thus beginning his political career. “After becoming a board member, I realized that ultimately in order for the Chinese community to benefit, we may have to rely on public office. We need to have a voice in politics,”* said Yee.

After his term ended, Yee sought a broader career. In 1996, he was successfully elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and in 2002, he was elected as a California state assemblyman. During his term, his bill to regulate the sales of video games to minors became the focus of mass media; it passed under both houses, but was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger. In 2005, he reproposed the bills and finally got the governor to sign. Shortly after, the video game trade association filed a lawsuit, claiming that the bills were unconstitutional, resulting in an appeal. Although the bills did not pass, Yee was able to build an image as a “conscientious senator.”

In March that same year, because of long-term concern about the California school food supply and health of students, Yee, who was now the speaker pro tempore, was named “Legislator of the Year.” A year later, he was elected California state senator, the first Asian-American in the history of California to claim such a position. During his term, he became an active supporter of gun control and even had his gun control bill signed into law. Just recently, Yee continued to make persistent efforts in his career path and was getting ready to run for California’s secretary of state. He had a good chance of winning.

Pro Gun Control Senator Smuggling Arms?

Yee never imagined that just when his career was riding smoothly, a big web woven by undercover FBI agents was slowly creeping toward him.

In 2011, an FBI agent successfully entered California’s famous Chinese organization, Ghee Kung Tong — which has been established for over 150 years — and ambushed the organization posing as a “consultant.” The FBI’s initial target was the organization’s leader, Raymond Chow, who in 2002, had gone to jail for offenses such as murder, drug dealing and arson. After his release in 2006, Chow became the leader. FBI agents found out that he was closely associated with Chinese triad groups, and further investigation done on Chow brought out Yee.

The lawsuit against Yee declared that Yee received tens of thousands of dollars in political donations, which were used for his 2011 San Francisco mayoral campaign and this year’s California secretary of state campaign. In return, Yee awarded Chow with commendations and provided his illegal activities with loopholes. With these findings, the FBI started to set up “traps” that were aimed at Yee.

In 2013, an undercover agent posed as a businessman from a medical marijuana company and provided Yee with $21,000 worth of campaign donations, and in exchange, Yee arranged to have this undercover agent meet with two other State Assembly members. The agent also discovered that Yee, who preached gun control in public, was engaged in gun trafficking in private and was not above contacting gang members for campaign funds. One agent posed as a gang member to get in contact with Yee and proposed his desire for a shipment of arms. Yee immediately promised that he would help the agent acquire arms worth between $500,000 and $2.5 million, which included various heavy weapons. In return, however, the agent had to provide Yee with massive amounts of campaign funds. Yee also told this agent that he had known the arms dealer for quite a few years, and also said, “Do I think we can make some money? I think we can make some money.” In later meetings, this agent also told Yee that he needed missile launchers and even missiles, and was willing to pay huge prices.

The lawsuit claimed that Yee happily agreed to help and informed this agent that he could already see a mutually beneficial relationship forming between the two. Yee also promised that once he was elected secretary of state, he would be able to give the agent leeway in future business dealings. After repeated contacts, Yee even candidly opened up to the agent, saying, “There is a part of me that wants to be like you.” The FBI states that when the two talked about another state senator, who was charged with corruption, Yee even had thoughts of fleeing to the Philippines.

FBI agents secretly recorded and documented the above conversations, and before this weapons contract was “finalized,” Yee received an arrest warrant.

The U.S. media said that Yee’s lawsuit means that his political career is basically ruined and simultaneously threatens the Democratic Party’s ability to retake the majority of the State Senate. Yee was released from prison after paying $500,000 in bail but has yet to make any remarks of self-defense.

“It’s outrageous and reads like a B-movie,” said Sabrina Brennan, who supported Yee. “I voted for him. I felt like he was my representative. This is just incredibly disappointing.”

Daly City Mayor David Canepa worked many years with Yee, “I’m just confused, shellshocked, because that’s not the person that I thought I knew.”

Local media San Jose Mercury News asked the following: Who is the real Leland Yee? The public servant who appears to be very diligent, or the corrupt, immoral public enemy of justice?

*Editor’s note: These quotations, accurately translated, could not be verified.