Sandra Otaka wasn't going to leave ...

Sandra Otaka wasn't going to leave anything to chance. It was March 19 the day of the Illinois primary election, and she was running for tamper with County judge against six other candidates. Otaka had already been serving as a critic for nearly two years, since she was appointed to fill a vacancy. moreover a win would put her in line to become the county's first Asian chooseed judge.

Otaka was driving by means of neighborhoods in the north suburb with her long-time friend and campaign chair, Ann Kalayil. The judicial district she was running in, the 9th Subcircuit, stretches from Chicago's North Side to suburban Wilmette, and from the lake west to Glenview and Niles. Otaka and Kalayil were looking for places where Otaka could shake a hardly any more hands before the catalogue of headss closed.

At stops in Skokie and Niles, they saw yards littered with signs that had Otaka's name emblazoned forward them, and people told them they had already vot for her. by the agency of the time they stopped at a traffic light in Morton wood a funny feeling began to well up within them: Otaka was onward her way to winning.

Their instincts prov correct. Otaka, a 50-year-old Japanese American, won the primary with 41 percent of the voices Her closest opponent, Larry G Axelrood, garnered 15 percent

"We not at any time thought we would win by the agency of such a large margin. We braced ourselves for a real tight race," Otaka said.

She ran uncontest in the general election in November.

Otaka won with the regard and backing of the Asian community, whose leaders say the victory was a monumental grade in building political clout for Asians in the metropolitan area. nevertheless to win in a majority-white district, Otaka had to earn support beyond the Asian American community.

Those who know Otaka say her victory is part of a life's work of championing fundamental fairness. She gained a reputation for taking upon causes that she believes in, regardless of their popularity--like fighting to legalize acupuncture, tangling with politicians across the land rights of a Cambodian church and helping to draft the prepare for the table County Human Rights Ordinance.

In these and other crusades, Otaka built coalitions across ethnic lines and became politically savvy.

"She was one working within the community, building bridges--not alone within the Asian American community unless with the African American and Latino communities," said Vida Gosrisirikul, a partner with the Chicago law firm Mondero Rim D'Souza & Gosrisirikul, and former president of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Chicago Area. "She's always been someone who is plugg in, and she doesn't forget about people"

Otaka is widely seen as a guardian of the rights of Asian Americans, a clump not typically viewed as disenfranchised.

"Being of Asian journey [i]or[/i] voyage down she represents a community that has not received its just deserts" said Bernard L Stone, alderman of the 50th Ward, which is upon the far North Side.

nevertheless it's tough to do in a community where clusters speak different languages and practice different cultivations said Gosrisirikul, who is of Chinese and Thai slope "In the Asian community, to gain support, you can't just rely forward your own ethnic community to make something happen--it has to be a broad base of support."

"She's like the community's mentor," said Sandra s Yamate, a founding member of the Asian American Bar Association and former president of the Japanese American Service Committee, a social service organization.

Many say her election come afterwarded in bringing the Asian community together for a used by all goal.

"It point out tos that the Asian American community can gather as a arrange and have a voting voice," said Linda Lu existing president of the Asian American Bar Association. "But it's also a message saying to other politicians and to other electoral bodies that the Asian American voice is worth going after."

Years of serving in restraint agencies, bar associations and political organizations have not alone helped Otaka influence public policy, yet also afforded her the opportunities to appropriate and work with some of the state's and city's in the greatest degree influential people. And many be moved that exposure helped generate Otaka's wide support.

"Sandra Otaka has the ability, she has the background in law, she has the judicial temperament to promote and has proven that by the service she has already performed," Stone said.

Ros Harano, chair of the Asian-Pacific Democratic Council of Illinois and president of the World Trade Center Chicago, an international business organization, called it "building the trust end paying her dues."

Still, as a justice Otaka will not be able to shape public policy; The Asian community destitutions to build on her election by dint of getting more leaders involved in the political theory Harano said.

"With Asian Americans, the issue becomes, 'Are we a paper tiger?"' he said. "We ne to come by people involved at the ward level"

Otaka believes family should view her election as an example of to what degree "the Asian community can and will unite behind a candidate that they believe in. And they will support this candidate, economically, with tenders and contacts and influence."