'Indian American Leadership Initiative amazing'

Indian American Leadership Initiative President Kathy Kulkarni and IALI Vice President Anurag Varma, who had prepared for over three months to put together the organization's national convention, have reason to smile.

From former CNN Washington Bureau chief Frank Sesno — who described the conversations at the event as "amazing" — to longtime political operative Anil Mammen — who lauded the "superb caliber of panelists" — encomiums flowed freely about the convention.

"Our expectations," Kulkarni told India Abroad, "was to have engaging dialogue, an inquisitive audience, a really diverse mix of participants from across the country of all ages, of all backgrounds to support, connect and invest in our political process. We feel very happy that we were able to fulfill all three of these aspects to a great extent.

Every single one of them that spoke, we chose very carefully… table because they have an incredible amount of expertise in so many different areas. Many of our speakers worked in organizations that were where IALI is 25  years ago. And, these organizations have grown to be extremely influential and successful — such as Emily's List, the Democratic Party committees like the DCCC (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee).

"We were so fortunate to have a model to now look to and to apply to our community. We are getting there."

She added: "We were just so encouraged by the fact that there were so many young, new, fresh faces that came to the conference and took the time to come into town from all over the country. So, we walk away with a number of new leaders as our part of our participant pool that I am sure will look to public office at some point in the future."

In this regard, she said, "We definitely have to pay tribute to Ash(win) Madia for really kind of opening up a new channel in 2008 and we believe his candidacy and issues that he went through, in certain ways, unlocked a jam that has existed for congressional candidates of Indian-American Democrats."

Varma, a partner at the leading Washington, DC law firm of Patton Boggs, where he focuses on public policy and trade matters relating to clients from, or with interests in India, which is one of the firm's clients, said the convention's success "is not only a reflection of the evolution of our organization, but the evolution of the community's political engagement."

This, he said, had been underscored by "the key highlight of having four of the IALI-endorsed Congressional candidates (Raj Goyle, Ravi Sangisetty and Manan Trivedi, who participated at a panel at the convention, and Ami Bera, who attended the welcoming reception but could not stay) and having a real frank discussion about their challenges and opportunities as candidates for the US Congress.

And, that the panel was moderated by Ash Madia — who had already gone through this experience in 2008 — was really an opportunity for the community to see the high level that we've reached in our participation in the American political process."

The immediate takeaway, Varma said, "was that our participation in the next few months in support of our candidates is critical."

The priority for the convention, Varma and Kulkarni said, was to demonstrate and simplify the "multitude of layers that go into the side of American politics."

They said this was why the participation of political operatives and experts were imperative to show up some of the issues "surrounding how to become a great candidate from an investor perspective, a public opinion perspective, a candidate's perspective."

Varma said having someone like Raghu Devaguptapu, director, Adelstein Liston (a leading political media firm) and the first Asian American to serve as political director of a national party committee "was so critical, because he was able to explain the complexities of the American political process when it comes to money."

"He was able," Varma added, "to explain terms such as independent expenditures that are so central to who wins and loses an election and yet that's one of those things that the Indian-American community is just not familiar enough with."