Roger Chiang

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Roger Chiang (江俊立; pinyin: Jiāng Jùnlì) was a United States Democratic Party operative, former Director of the Asian/Pacific Islander-American ("API") outreach office of the Democratic National Committee ("DNC"), and later, Director of Constituency Outreach for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee ("DSCC").

[edit] Embezzlement

In November 2004, Chiang was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C. for the suspected theft of over $360,000 in checks from the DSCC. Chiang had apparently established a separate bank account, under the name DSCAMPO, into which he deposited checks that were written to the order of the DSCC. The DSCC cooperated with the investigation, and then-DSCC spokesman Brad Woodhouse outed Chiang to the media.

On June 2, 2005, Chiang was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison after having pled guilty on February 12 in federal district court to a count of mail fraud. Punishment also called for a $5,000 fine, 240 hours of community service, complete restitution, and two years of supervised release following incarceration.

Chiang had traveled the country on behalf of the DSCC, collecting checks made out to the organization. Beginning in about August 2004, he no longer submitted those checks to the DSCC, and had also begun stealing checks from the desks of DSCC finance staffers, before the checks were processed. He then mailed the checks to an Internet-only bank at which he had established an account, and withdrew funds via automatic teller machines. Chiang was caught when a contributor who had written a check to the DSCC inquired why their contribution had not been acknowledged.

Chiang's attorney indicated that, as part of his plea, Chiang would assign partial blame for his actions to the stress arising from the death of his sister (see below), and his subsequent anti-depressant use.

[edit] Rise to prominence

Chiang had risen to some degree of public prominence in May 2001, as the brother of slain Washington, D.C. Immigration and Naturalization Service attorney Joyce Chiang, after similarities to the Chandra Levy disappearance brought television news coverage to the Chiang disappearance and homicide. Roger Chiang appeared on televised appeals for more information from the public and the DC police on the disappearance of his sister.

Before joining the DNC in June 2001, Chiang worked as a research assistant at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. In December 2000, he was appointed by President Bill Clinton as an adviser at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, where he was the highest-ranking Asian-American, serving as a key adviser to Secretary Andrew Cuomo and as the Department's representative to the White House Commission on Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders. Previously, he had worked for the Gore-Lieberman 2000 and Clinton-Gore 1996 presidential campaigns.

Among the several awards he had received are the president's citation for meritorious service, HUD's award for excellence, and a citation as the "Rising Asian American in Government" by the Asian American Government Executives Network. In 2002, Chiang was named one of the "Top 30 Under 30 Most Influential Asian Pacific Americans" by the defunct website PoliticalCircus.com.

The weakening of Democratic support in other traditionally Democratic ethnic minority groups forced the Democratic Party to reach out to the API community, including several 'house party' conference calls that included Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry. Chiang played a large role in directing this outreach, and his political stature had grown with this trend, until his activities derailed his political career.