View source for Lormong Lo

{{Short description|American politician (1959–2011)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name               = {{ubl|Lormong Lo<br>{{script|Hmng|𖬄𖬶𖬞 𖬌𖬦 𖬄𖬶𖬞}}}}
|image              = Lormong Lo.jpg
|imagesize          = 
|office             = [[Omaha City Council]]
|term_start         = 1994<ref name="obit">{{cite web |url=http://www.omaha.com/article/20110726/NEWS01/707269900 |title=Former Councilman Lo dies |author=Susan Szalewski |date=26 July 2011 |publisher=Omaha World-Herald |accessdate=23 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120911191340/http://www.omaha.com/article/20110726/NEWS01/707269900 |archivedate=11 September 2012 }}</ref>
|term_end           = 2001<ref name="obit" />
|predecessor        = 
|successor          = 
|birth_date   = 1959
|birth_place  = [[Vientiane]], Laos
|death_date   = {{Death date and age|2011|07|19|1959}}<ref name="obit" />
|death_place  = [[Lincoln, Arkansas]], U.S
|restingplace = 
|birthname    = 
|nationality  = Hmong, [[United States|American]]<ref name="obit" />
|party        = Republican<ref>{{cite news |title=29 people apply for Nebraska Secretary of State |author=George Green |url=http://www.dailynebraskan.com/news/29-people-apply-for-nebraska-secretary-of-state-1.1022747#.UA3vUWFfFNK |newspaper=Daily Nebraskan |date=17 June 2012 |accessdate=23 July 2012}}</ref>
|children     = 
|residence    = 
|alma_mater   = [[Creighton University]]<ref name="obit" /><br>[[Ralston High School]]<ref name="obit" />
|occupation   = 
}}
'''Lormong Lo''' ([[Romanized Popular Alphabet|RPA]]: ''Lauj Moob Lauj'', [[Pahawh Hmong|Pahawh]]: ''{{script|Hmng|𖬄𖬶𖬞 𖬌𖬦 𖬄𖬶𖬞}}''; 1959 – July 19, 2011) was the first [[Hmong American]] to be appointed to a [[Local government in the United States|city council]] in the U.S, in June 1994, where he  managed the largest [[Metropolis|metropolitan city]] ([[Omaha, Nebraska|Omaha]]—480,000 people) in the state of [[Nebraska]]. He replaced Joe Friend, who resigned.

in June 1997, Lo was elected to a second term of four years. That same June, Lo was the first Hmong ever to become president of a city council. He was also the first Hmong American to ever hold the title of [[Mayor of Omaha|Acting Mayor]], starting in June 1997.

His second term was marked by boldness and controversy, when in 1998 he used his authority as Acting Mayor to negotiate a settlement with the firefighters' union over their labor contract and pending lawsuit, while Mayor [[Hal Daub]] was out of town. Daub rescinded the settlement but accepted the same terms later.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Moring|first=Roseann|date=Sep 14, 2016|title=As Mayor Stothert leaves for vacation, Jerram suggests cutting restaurant tax, but council delays vote on proposal|work=Omaha World-Herald|url=https://omaha.com/news/local/as-mayor-stothert-leaves-for-vacation-jerram-suggests-cutting-restaurant-tax-but-council-delays-vote/article_147225fe-79f3-11e6-8504-f3002cd85cfa.html}}</ref> He also proposed a ban on using fetal tissue for stem cell research, speculated to be a way to appeal to conservative voters.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Yih Harvie|first=Jeanette|date=2013|title=Asian Americans: An Encyclopedia of Social, Cultural, Economic, and Political History. (ed. Park, Edward JW)|publisher=Abc-Clio |isbn=9781598842401 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3AxIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA803}}</ref> In 2001, he lost his re-election bid to Marc Kraft.

Lo was the first Hmong American to ever become elected President of the Asian Pacific American Municipal Officials (APAMO) by his APAMO colleagues, a constituency group of the [[National League of Cities]], in [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref>Miller, John "[https://web.archive.org/web/20121103004931/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-72732963.html APAMO Members Greet Transportation Secretary Mineta]." Nation's Cities Weekly, March 26, 2001. Retrieved January 29, 2010.</ref>  He was selected to be Vice-Chair of both the Economic Development Committee and the Program Committee of NLC. In these positions, he helped write municipal policies, e.g., housing and economic development policies for the 15,000 cities in the United States and was responsible for its conference planning. He often lobbied the U.S. Congress and White House officials on policies of interest to the cities, especially credit, economic, housing and immigration policies.

In 1998, he was appointed by [[Governor of Nebraska]] [[Ben Nelson]] and served as a member of the Nebraska Public Employee Retirement System, where he oversees the state's $5 billion retirement assets. He is the first Hmong American official to be welcome in [[Beijing]] by the Vice-Premier of [[China]]. In 1988-89, Councilman Lo made official visits to China, [[Korea]], [[Japan]], [[Thailand]], and [[Taiwan]]—where he met with foreign ministers, dealing with trade issues and promotions and the Prime Minister of Thailand, where thanked the [[Thai people]], Thai government and [[Thai monarchy]] for providing humanitarian support to the Hmong and [[Indochinese]] [[refugees]] in Thailand for a decade, until they are resettled into third countries, particularly the U.S., [[Canada]], [[France]] and [[Australia]].

Lo is one of the first Hmong born in [[Laos]] to go back to hold [[Real life|face to face]] meetings with the [[Cabinet (government)|cabinet ministers]] of the Lao [[communist]] government concerning the alleged communist use of [[chemical warfare]] against the Hmong people and its continuing attacks on the Hmong villages in Northern Laos, particularly at [[Muang Mok]]. Through such direct talks, Laos has gradually opened the door to visitors who were natives of Laos.

He attended gatherings at the [[White House]] during the [[Ronald Reagan]] and [[George H. W. Bush]] administrations, while he discussed municipal policies with White House officials as leader of APAMO during the [[Bill Clinton]] administration.

On July 18, 2011, Lo was feeling sick and checked into a hospital near his home in Arkansas. He later returned home and died in his sleep the following day. He was 52 years old. He is survived by his wife and five children.<ref name="obit" />

In Laos, Lormong Lo was a student of ''Sam Thong College'' (College de SamThong in French). From September 1972 to 1975, he attended [[Sam Thong]] middle High School in Xiengkhouang Province. Then, he fled Laos with his family to a refugee camp in Thailand in 1975. Thus, he immigrated to the United States thereafter.

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography}}
*[[Government of Omaha, Nebraska]]

==References==
<references/>

{{Omaha}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lo, Lormong}}
[[Category:American politicians of Hmong descent]]
[[Category:Omaha City Council members]]
[[Category:1959 births]]
[[Category:2011 deaths]]
[[Category:Nebraska Republicans]]
[[Category:American Lutherans]]
[[Category:20th-century Lutherans]]
[[Category:Asian-American people in Nebraska politics]]
[[Category:Asian conservatism in the United States]]
[[Category:21st-century Nebraska politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Nebraska politicians]]