The last time Hillary Clinton specifically targeted the Asian-American community to help bankroll her presidential campaign she wound up the target of a Justice Department investigation looking into whether the contributions were coerced.
Clinton heads to California on Thursday to open Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders for Hillary to court what the New York Times characterizes as "an increasingly important, and sometimes overlooked, demographic."
It was not overlooked by Clinton’s 2007 fundraising effort. The campaign raised $380,000 at a single $1000-per-plate fundraiser in New York City’s Chinatown neighborhood—one known far better for its poverty than its political involvement. A majority of the donors were not even registered to vote and spoke little to no English, according to the Los Angeles Times.
When reporters tried to track down these big dollar donors—some with listed occupations such as cook, waiter, dishwasher, and cashier—they were able to find only one-third of the Clinton supporters. Many were not actually living at the addresses listed on campaign filings.
Of the few that were found, some admitted to being pressured by powerful neighborhood associations that had partnered with the Clinton campaign. Others denied that they even gave any money to attend the banquet.
The reporters concluded that the low-paid restaurant workers were likely "used as proxies by other big donors" that were trying to get around campaign contribution limits.
The neighborhood associations that the campaign partnered with were not so long ago considered criminal enterprises that made Chinatown notorious for illegal gambling clubs, massage parlors, and human trafficking. They still carry weight throughout the city’s Asian population.
The media scrutiny into the donations drew the ire of Asian-American advocacy groups who called it "undue scrutiny on a specific ethnic subgroup" and "negligent journalism," but the irregularities caught the eye of more than just the journalist class.
One Chinatown cook who donated $1,000 to attend the Clinton fundraiser was questioned by a criminal investigator from the Justice Department to see whether he was coerced into giving money or did it on his own volition.
The Clinton campaign would later return $7,000 that was raised that day.
The Clinton campaign’s California event on Thursday will take place in San Gabriel, a town with 60 percent of its 40,000 population composed of Asians. Rep. Judy Chu (D., Calif.) and San Gabriel Mayor Jason Pu will join Clinton at the event.
The Clinton campaign did not respond to a request for comment.