DEARBORN — After a decade of fighting to amplify the voices of Arab Americans on a local and national level, the Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC) is preparing for its 10th Annual Banquet on Nov. 2 at the Bint Jebail Cultural Center on Miller Rd in Dearborn.

AAPAC has endorsed and opposed election candidates and ballot measures in big and small elections for ten years by holding regular, often heated meetings to decide on the needs of the community. Members of Congress, presidential candidates, governors and candidates for the judiciary have all sought the group’s endorsement.

The group helped to unseat Dearborn Board of Education incumbents on two occasions in favor of current board members Aimee Blackburn and Mary Lane.

The committee also fought successfully against two school bond proposals that they found to be unfair, later helped get another bond passed and worked to get a middle school named after local Arab American activist Donald Unis and a career center named after Arab American attorney Michael Berry.

Michigan State Representative Gino Polidori, from Dearborn, said he’s always been honored by the support that he’s gotten from AAPAC.

“This group does a wonderful job of reaching out to members of the community and its commitment and dedication has helped Arab Americans to gain a voice,” he said. “AAPAC has served the Arab American community well, and has helped to keep people informed about candidates and ballot issues.”

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, who keynoted AAPAC’s first annual banquet, said that the group’s impact is still growing. “They’ve done a great job. I’m proud to have their support,” he said. “I encourage all Arab Americans to be involved in it. More people have to be involved. Numbers are power.”

Ronald Stockton, a political science professor at the University of Michigan–Dearborn, said that 30 years ago, the Arab American community was not well organized, and that AAPAC is one of the organizations that has had a real impact in boosting communication within the community, bringing political candidates to the area, and in getting out the vote.

“The common pattern is that immigrants don’t vote,” Stockton said. Especially among recent immigrants, who make up a large portion of the local community, “getting them to vote is a real mark of success.”

When asked if the group has ever made any bad decisions in its endorsements, Stockton said that George W. Bush misled Arab Americans in 2000, when AAPAC endorsed him for president.

“He pulled their chains,” Stockton said, by giving Arab Americans a mention and saying he opposed profiling and secret evidence during a nationally televised debate. “That was an understandable mistake.”

He said he also felt that endorsing Dennis Kucinich in 2004 was an emotional decision, and a mistake. “When you’re representing a community, you try to maximize the influence of that community on an outcome.”

Even if it made them feel good to vote for Kucinich, Stockton said, Kucinich was a marginal candidate receiving very little support in the polls. He said that a political action group should choose from among the top two or three candidates to best impact an election. “I think in politics you get the bad and the god-awful.”

AAPAC President (and The Arab American News publisher) Osama Siblani said that the group endorsed Kucinich on principle and only in the primary. In the general election, he said, Senator John Kerry sought and won the group’s endorsement.

Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano has also received support from the group during elections.

“AAPAC is very instrumental in organizing and conveying the needs of the community,” Ficano said. “The committee works together with elected officials to better serve Arab American citizens to ensure that their concerns are recognized and addressed.”

For more information on AAPAC visit: www.aapac.org