Yoon says he is considering a run against Menino

Continues Calif. fund-raising tour

Boston Councilor Sam Yoon continued his tour of California with a fund-raiser scheduled last night in Los Angeles, a reception to boost his potential candidacy for Boston mayor that followed a similar event earlier this week in the San Francisco Bay area.

Yoon, in a telephone interview, also publicly confirmed for the first time that he was asking West Coast contributors to get behind a possible challenge to Mayor Thomas M. Menino. But he cautioned that his moves remained exploratory.

"I haven't made a decision yet," Yoon said. "This is not the right time to be doing that."

The at-large councilor, in his second term on the Boston City Council, has yet to outline his political plans in Boston and has drawn questions about his decision to get things rolling 3,000 miles away from the city.

Asked about his strategy, Yoon responded that it is natural for a Korean-American like himself to ask other Korean-Americans for financial assistance in a bid for elected office, regardless of geography. He said there are very few Korean-Americans nationwide who hold positions in politics.

"I can count them on two hands," Yoon said. He added that his supporters across the country are "very enthusiastic."

Yoon said his California journey was not the first time he has looked outside Boston for financial support. When he was first elected in 2005, Yoon filled his campaign coffers with donations from nine states and Washington, D.C.

The tactic is not unique. Many politicians raise money from their ethnic communities, regardless of locale. "It is natural for him to fund-raise in areas like San Francisco and New York that have some of the largest Asian-American populations in the country," said Paul Watanabe, a political science professor and director of the Institute for Asian American Studies at the University of Massachusetts at Boston.

Yoon's fund-raiser Monday was cosponsored by a winner of the reality television show "Survivor," Yul Kwon, who said he has made it his mission to raise the profile of Asian-Americans, especially Korean-Americans, in politics as well as increase their participation at the ballot box.

"Asian-Americans have one of the lowest rates of turnout and representation," he said.

Kwon met Yoon last year through friends and said the councilor struck him as a "really promising leader."

"I was just really impressed," Kwon said. "Whatever strengths or weaknesses he has, I think he's just a good person."

Yoon, the first Asian-American to hold citywide office in Boston, was elected on a promise to represent communities in Boston that historically have not had a strong voice in City Hall. But in the ensuing three years, Yoon has kept a relatively low profile.

He chairs the council's postaudit and oversight committee and has called public hearings on issues of note: police details, mortgage foreclosures, and crime. He joins Councilor Michael F. Flaherty in the ranks of Bostonians considering a run for mayor next year. None have publicly declared their intention to run.

Former district attorney Ralph C. Martin II, who was seen as a potential threat to Menino, said this year that he will not be seeking the job.

Menino, a four-term incumbent whose approval rating in a Globe poll conducted in early 2008 was 72 percent, has signaled that he might run for another term.

The mayor's spokeswoman, Dot Joyce, said she could not comment on the mayoral campaign. She said Menino has other things on his mind right now.

"He remains focused and committed to the residents of Boston, working hard, 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Joyce said.

Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.