‘A sense of community’: Asian Pacific American staff group celebrates 25 years - Roll Call

Bob Sakaniwa and David S. Kim bonded almost from the moment they arrived in Washington.

Both were from California and were working for freshman House California Democrats — Kim for Xavier Becerra, now secretary of Health and Human Services, and Sakaniwa for Walter R. Tucker III, the former Compton mayor. And, crucially, both were part of an exceedingly small group of Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders working in Congress in the early 1990s.

“There weren’t too many of us back in those days,” recalled Kim, who has also had a long career in public service, most recently as secretary of the California State Transportation Agency. “We got to know each other because of our common circumstances. We became fast friends and we got to know others along the way.”