10/1/2009 11:45:00 PM Fong: Republicans
can't 'sound so angry' Ivy League-educated conservative son of Chinese immigrant says his biography key in bid for governor
DENISON - Christian Fong acknowledges he may not be the best-known road warrior carrying the name of the Cedar Rapids insurance company Aegon.
Master's champion and golf professional Zach Johnson, whose name tops the first pages of the PGA money lists these days, often sports an Aegon logo
For his part, Fong, a 32-year-old Republican candidate for Iowa governor and Aegon executive, jokes that Johnson isn't the only one getting the insurance company's name in print.
"Zach Johnson gets paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to wear the Aegon hat," Fong joked. "If every story (on me running for governor)) is going to mention Aegon, maybe I should get some sort of sponsorship."
Fong, a graduate of Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., who went on to earn his master's in business administration from Dartmouth, has charted an aggressive schedule as a political newcomer with ambitions to hold the keys to Terrace Hill after the 2010 elections.
Fong is in a field of Republican gubernatorial hopefuls that includes State Rep. Rod Roberts, R-Carroll. Former GOP Gov. Terry Branstad has said he will announce his intentions this month on an intensely speculated resurrection of his political career.
On Thursday Fong stopped at the Family Table Restaurant in Denison to meet with west-central Iowans. He also talked for about 20 minutes with the Carroll Daily Times Herald.
"I'm from western Iowa," Fong said. "I sometimes laugh. People in eastern Iowa will look at me and say, 'Boy, you're so conservative.' The eastern-Iowa business Republican. There's a certain stereotype of what that's going to look like, and I don't fit the mold. I grew up in western Iowa. I drank the water."
A son of a Chinese immigrant father and farm girl mother from Nebraska, Fong, a statistics major at Creighton who has worked intensely with flood recovery in the Cedar Rapids area, is banking that he has attributes his party desperately seeks: intellectual ballast, a record of results in business and public service and a biography that will allow the GOP to reach beyond its base.
Fong spent his teen-age years in Underwood, where his parents reside today.
He said graduating from a class with a little over three dozens students gives him an appreciation for the value of small schools. Rural residents, he said, can count him as an advocate.
"I have personal feelings about that because of the education I received," Fong said.
When asked why with his relative youth, he didn't consider running for the State Senate or in a local race before seeking the top political job in Iowa, Fong said he wants to go where he can make a difference. Now.
"When I look at the problems Iowa's facing and the issues I'm really passionate about, they're the issues that are going to have to be solved from the governor's office," Fong said. "It's not an issue of how do I put in my time to get to the place where I can solve the problems. That's never been my personality."
Floating ideas for bills as a freshman or sophomore legislator won't accomplish much as the state is facing monumental concerns, Fong said.
What's more, electing a 33-year-old governor (that's how old Fong will be next November) would be a torch-passing statement to a generation ready to serve, Fong said.
"We struggle as a state," Fong said. "We're a graying state, an aging state. That has all sorts of both cultural implications as well as economic implications. We need to keep our young people here in this state."
He added, "It (Fong's candidacy) sends a strong message not only to my generation but to the whole nation that Iowa is a place where progressive ideas and progressive people can lead."
Fong said his campaign also shows the GOP is not as insular as the characterization of it put forward by many detractors - although he acknowledged that the GOP base is not as diverse it could be.
"If you just look at voter records and who shows up at meetings, too often, it's elderly white people - and nothing against elderly white people," Fong said.
Fong said his biography will attract more Iowans to the GOP.
"I was on free-and-reduced lunch programs as a kid," Fong said. "This wasn't a silver spoon existence, growing up in a rural, poor situation and enjoying the ultimate of success as being an Ivy League-educated businessperson, community leader. It's the sort of story people want to believe Iowa can still be. We want that for our kids."
Fong said the Republican Party needs to use more inclusive language and treat people in immigration debates as humans first, not problems.
"We have to be careful to not sound so angry," Fong said.
This doesn't mean compromising on principles, he said.
The nation must crack down on flagrant violations of immigration laws, he said. But Fong said the Republican Party can do a better job of celebrating legal immigration.
"First- and second-generation Americans need look no further than my story and my face to realize that they have someone that understands what they're going through, what they're families are going through, and what their future can look like," Fong said.
He added, "We're both the party of justice as well as an inclusive party that welcomes new Americans and new Iowans to our communities. And we can do both. It doesn't have to be an either-or. And we have to do a better job of saying it's not just about someone that looks different than us."
Fong, the founder and CEO of Corridor Recovery, a non-profit relief organization, said fallout from the recent devastating floods in eastern Iowa has dominated public life in Cedar Rapids.
Fong said Democratic Gov. Chet Culver failed on early help and used events for photo opportunities.
"He deliberated and then delayed," Fong said. "We asked for a special session. Well, that inconveniently fell right into the middle of the political season, right before the 08 elections, so he didn't have the special session."
