Thao, also a Madison parks commissioner, proposed naming a park after Pao. He later backed off the idea after UW-Madison historian Alfred McCoy renewed allegations from his 1972 book that Pao engaged in drug trafficking with the CIA.
McCoy’s allegations angered the Hmong. Thao and George hit back, publicly questioning McCoy’s scholarship and asking the university for an investigation.
McCoy recalls Thao organizing busloads of Hmong protesters to picket outside his office for three weeks demanding that he be fired. He was not.