Posted on 01/30/2003 1:16:52 AM PST by HAL9000
(CBS) (NEW YORK) A beloved Chinese-American matriarch who tapped new sources of money and votes for New York Republicans was found bound and suffocated with her husband in their Brooklyn apartment, officials said Wednesday.Josephine and Shan Lin, 65 and 70, were discovered bound with duct tape and suffocated with plastic bags in their Williamsburg apartment, city officials said. The apartment, which Josephine Lin also used as an office, did not appear to have been broken into or ransacked, police said.
From Chinatown to Albany, Josephine Lin was remembered Wednesday as a prosperous businesswoman and a driving force behind Chinese-American New Yorkers' growing support for state and local Republicans.
"She actually touched many people's lives," said journalist and family friend Justin Yu. "Many people know her good heart."
Asian-Americans have been increasingly supportive of New York Republicans over the past decade, with party candidates spending more time mining Asian communities for votes and donations in an effort to broaden their political base.
"She was the grandmother of the Asian Republican Party movement," said John Johnson, director of constituent services for state Sen. Marty Golden, a Brooklyn Republican. "She was one of the reasons why the Republican Party recognized the Asian-American community as the powerhouse they were."
Police said investigators were weighing several theories on the killings, which their son said he discovered about 10:45 p.m Tuesday after Shan Lin missed a Monday doctor's appointment and he went to check on them.
The couple, devout Christians who emigrated from Taiwan in the 1970s, had been suffocated with plastic bags and strangled, according to the medical examiner's office. Shan Lin was found with duct tape over his nose and mouth. The couple had four children and many grandchildren.
The bags may already have been in the apartment and they had been taped over the heads of the victims, who were lying on the floor in the kitchen and living room, police said.
Officials did not say whether a leading theory had emerged in the killings.
The apartment was jumbled with the Lins' possessions and it was not immediately known if anything had been taken.
Josephine Lin, a retired insurance saleswoman, held many fund-raisers and donated tens of thousands of dollars over the years to Republicans including Gov. George Pataki.
"The governor is proud of the support he's received in the Asian-American community, and certainly Josephine Lin was part of that support," Pataki spokeswoman Lisa Dewald Stoll said Wednesday.
Lin was well-known as a facilitator for Chinese immigrants and Chinese-Americans, helping them find housing and sometimes using political contacts to ease immigration problems, acquaintances said.
"I would describe her as an individual who really made a lot of contacts for people," said Jerry Kasar, who met Lin as political director for state comptroller candidate John Faso. "She was a very, very good contact person who really just wanted to help out."
Police are looking for help from the public and have asked anyone with information to call the tip line at 1-800-577-TIPS.
Oh WOW .. that is terrible .. who would do such a thing
I suspect Hillary Clinton.
R.I.P. Mr. and Mrs. Lin.
Let's hope they get the murderers.
Or that of those who do their dirty work for them, sympathetic nationals of the country in which the deaths occur, as with the assassination last week of the head of Nepal's national police, along with his wife and bodyguard by Nepalese Maoists, with support and probable direction from Peking.
The Chinese can kill covertly and quietly when they wish, making the deathjs appear random or nonpolitical, but they can also offer up the high-profile victims of their human sacrifices pour encourager les autres.
But when the master stage magician wants your attention focused other than where the real action is taking place, he misdirects you with a distraction elsewhere. That too is worth keeping in mind.
-archy-/-
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