Assemblyman Ted Lieu is taking an increasingly prominent role on issues affecting Asian-Americans as he prepares to assume the chairmanship of the Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus.

Lieu, D-Torrance, has taken the lead in pressuring the administration of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to appoint more Asian-American judges.

The issue has pushed Lieu, typically a moderate consensus-builder, into pointed conflict with the Republican administration. He has allied with the Legislature's Latino and black caucuses in threatening to cut off funding for judges if Schwarzenegger's appointments do not become more diverse.

"One person in California gets to shape the entire judicial branch," Lieu said in a recent interview. "He has wielded this tremendous power in a way that is insensitive to the rich diversity of California."

Lieu has given numerous interviews on the subject and authored an op-ed piece for the San Francisco Chronicle. He argues that while Asian-Americans make up 12.6 percent of the population, they represent only 4.6 percent of the governor's 260 judicial nominees.

Black and Latino judges are similarly underrepresented in comparison to the general population, though the governor's supporters say his appointments look more diverse when compared with the state bar membership, which is 85 percent white.

Nevertheless, Lieu has argued that the governor is overlooking qualified minority candidates in favor of political allies. Last week, he cited the appointment of Elia Perrozi, a Republican activist who was rated "not qualified" for the bench by the state bar.

"At least now we know what our applicants did wrong," Lieu said. "They were qualified attorneys instead of Republican insiders."

Aside from that issue, Lieu has also been prominent in pushing for more detailed ethnic data collection for Asian Pacific Islanders. Lieu authored a bill, AB 295, that would expand the number of Asian-American subgroups from 11 to 21, adding groups such as Bangladeshis, Fijians, Malaysians and Hmongs.

Lieu said better data would lead to better targeting of state services. The Hmong community, for example, tends to have a higher dropout rate than other Asian groups, while Tongans have a higher rate of cervical cancer. Under current law, those groups are classified as "other Asians."

"When you lump in the Tongans and the Hmong, it messes up the numbers," Lieu said. "This disaggregates the data, and will ultimately help save money."

The bill has the backing of Asian-American students at UCLA, who have launched a campaign called "Count Me In!" The campaign is expected to spread to other University of California campuses and rally support for Lieu's bill.

Additionally, Lieu has been involved in responding to slurs against Asian-Americans in the media. Last year, he wrote to the chairman of CBS Radio to request an apology for remarks made by comedian Adam Carolla about the Asian Excellence Awards.

"He went on the air and for almost a minute, said `ching chong, ching chong,"' Lieu said. "Can you imagine if someone made fun of the NAACP Image Awards?"

Several other groups protested as well, and Carolla was compelled to apologize.

Lieu can be expected to take on a higher profile on such issues beginning in the Legislature's next session, when he will become chairman of the Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus.

"Obviously my first priority is my district," Lieu said. "But to the extent that I can help out on issues statewide affecting Asian Pacific Americans, I'm going to try and do that."