Robert Lee Ahn Campaign Denounces 'Race-Baiting' Direct Mail Pieces Supporting Jimmy Gomez Campaign

LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwired - May 31, 2017) - Calling it a new low in deception and outright fabrications, the Robert Lee Ahn campaign denounced direct mail pieces being sent in support of Jimmy Gomez in the race for the 34^th Congressional district that use race-baiting techniques in an attempt to drive a wedge between Asian and Latino voters in a statement released today.

"It's the lowest form of political hatchet job to use deceptive, slick mail pieces preying on historical racial biases that we thought were long gone from society, but apparently they are alive and well in the Jimmy Gomez campaign," Robert Lee Ahn said. "The people of this district deserve a debate about the issues, not these gutter-low attack pieces that are not true."

Several deceptive mail pieces were sent out by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, one of several independent expenditure campaign committees pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars at the last minute to support Jimmy Gomez, and Gomez's own campaign which falsely depict Ahn's ownership of a car wash as denying Latino workers back pay.

The mailers neglect to mention the events occurred before Ahn's firm purchased the property out of foreclosure and since buying it, refurbished and reopened the business with no connection to the prior entity.

"The subtle racism of consistently attacking my business acumen as some sort of stereotypical Asian quality that translates into exploiting Latino workers is revolting and needs to be denounced by Jimmy Gomez," Ahn added. "By not denouncing it, Gomez is sending the Asian voters of this district a clear message that race baiting is a valid tool in political campaigns. As Democrats, we ought to be better than that."

The union attacks join corporate interests such as Wells Fargo, Monsanto, private prison operators, cable companies and big drug companies in supporting Gomez and making hefty campaign contributions.

The 34th District represents all of Koreatown, Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Little Bangladesh, as well as parts of Historic Filipinotown, Hollywood, Hancock Park, Downtown, Eagle Rock, Boyle Heights, City Terrace, Echo Park, El Sereno, Glassell Park, Highland Park, Lincoln Heights, Mt. Washington, Montecito Heights, and Westlake/Pico Union. For more information, go to www.AhnforCongress.com. The general election is June 6^th.