A Closer Look at Fong Raises Questions
- Tuesday, June 30, 2009, 7:59
- Krusty Konservative
- 1,942 views
- 32 comments
The chatter surrounding Christian Fong running for governor continues. What disturbs me regarding this matter isn’t Fong as a potential candidate for some office, but the complete lack of a foundation for him to mount a gubernatorial campaign.
I know a lot of people seem impressed that Fong is the chair of the Generation Iowa Commission, a program of the Iowa Department of Economic Development that tries to keep young Iowans from leaving the state after college to look for career opportunities.
I’m glad that people like Fong and Waukee’s Isaiah McGee serve on this commission. But does service on this committee really prepare a 32 year old man to serve as this state’s governor? The 15 members of the Generation Iowa Commission were selected from a pool of 250 applicants who sent in applications. I don’t mention this to belittle Fong’s commitment to the state. I bring this up because people are now thinking that Fong is ready to be Governor of Iowa. I think a better political career track would be the one Isaiah McGee is on. McGee is running for Mayor of Waukee.
Rumor has it that Fong is being pushed by Iowans for Tax Relief’s President Ed Failor, Jr. Failor has also been telling people that he can raise Fong as much money as it will take to win the Republican primary. Having a horse in the race can create hostility, recruiting that candidate almost guarantees hard feelings at the end of the day.
I don’t know about you, but with the recent scandals of John Ensign and Mark Sanford, I’m not really keen on throwing my support, or rolling the dice on a guy I’ve never heard of until a couple months ago. I’m not implying that he’s not faithful to his wife; I’m saying we better know who the heck this guy is before we nominate him. It’s not like we have not had issues with some of our nominees in the past, remember Chuck Allison’s business issues that lead him to dropping out right after winning the Republican nomination for Secretary for State. It wasn’t the business issues that did him in, it was his Russian bride.
Since Todd “man crush” Dorman is unwilling to do any research on the guy, and fellow TIR blogger Constitution Bi-Weekly (kidding…well kinda) seem to think Fong’s musings on a blog somehow merit gubernatorial consideration, I thought I’d take the 30 seconds needed to do a little research on this guy.
Granted, since he is only 32 years-old, you can’t expect to find a whole lot out there, but I did find a couple interesting contribution Mr. Fong has made. In the fall of 2008, Fong made a $100 contribution to Democrat State Representative Tyler Olson, and a $50 contribution to Democrat State Representative Elisha Gayman. Both Olson and Gayman are pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, and vote in lock step with the labor unions.
Gayman was running against Republican challenger Ross Paustian in one of the most hotly contested house races in the state. Gayman ran a nasty campaign and accused Paustian of not paying his child support. Paustian’s ex-wife even appeared in one of his TV ad chastising Gayman’s attacks on their family. And what does Christian Fong do? He sends Gayman a campaign contribution.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t think we know enough of Mr. Fong to give him the Republican nomination for governor. Now, if Mr. Fong would like to run for the State Senate against Democrat Bob Hogg in 2010, I’ll gladly overlook his contribution to Rep. Gayman and send him a little coin myself.
I’m not saying the Fong should never run for Governor, I just don’t understand the mad rush by some to make this kid our Republican nominee.
About the Author
Krusty Konservative has written 202 stories on this site.
Herschel Krustofski is the pseudonym for the anonymous author of Krusty Konservative, a blog which focuses on Iowa Politics. Created in February of 2006, Krusty Konservative is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the Iowa blogosphere. Since its conception, Krusty Konservative has never shied from tackling controversial issues, and providing insight to the inner workings of Republican politics in Iowa.
32 Comments on “A Closer Look at Fong Raises Questions”
Write a Comment
Gravatars are small images that can show your personality. You can get your gravatar for free today!
You must be logged in to post a comment.
I can tell you if he gave money to Gayman he is definately out of bounds. She is as liberal as Eric Palmer who is in my district and had someone wanting the Republican nomination here given to him, they would be obliterated publicly. What a desperate move just to have a horse in the race.
Just a couple of points.
$150 dollars is a pretty nominal contribution, particularly for someone with Fong’s profile. Christian Fong seems to be a connected member of society. He probably has friends and contacts, personally and professionally, that cross party lines. As such, I wouldn’t read too much into any nominal contribution he made to local candidates.
“I don’t know about you, but with the recent scandals of John Ensign and Mark Sanford, I’m not really keen on throwing my support, or rolling the dice on a guy I’ve never heard of until a couple months ago.” Your examples don’t support your point, as Ensign and Sanford have both been around for years.
I read the first two parts of Fong’s blog series on the Iowa economy (I couldn’t find the other two). I’m a middle-left Democrat, but I’ve crossed party lines before (i.e., I can be a swing voter in the right circumstances). FWIW, Fong’s writings were the first thing I’ve heard from a Republican candidate/quasi-candidate that didn’t make me vomit in my mouth. In fact, I was very impressed — this dude knows what he is talking about. In all the noise within the Republican blogosphere about purity vs. compromise, one critical thing that gets lost is the realization that the Republican party suffers from a major “seriousness” gap. BVP, with his goofy executive order notion; Deace, with everything he bleats; the general tone of 90% of the bloggers on this site, etc. All of this presents a serious problem of perception for the Republican party. You used to be the “Daddy” party to the Democrats “Mommy” party — you were the serious and sober party who did what needed to be done, that could be trusted not to go into hysterics when things didn’t go your way. No one outside of the party seems to believe that anymore. In order to assure a victory over Culver, you need to present a candidate that can seem serious about fixing Iowa’s economy (this is different than simply presenting conservative talking points about the economy – no one outside of the party takes those lines at face value anymore.) Fong just might be that guy.
In order to save the economy of Iowa, we need to contract the size of government, remove regulations on business, lower taxes, stop throwing good money after bad at education and get serious about addressing the REAL problems–that is to remove the influence of the Democrat party in education.
Our kids can’t read and write but by golly they know how two homosexuals love each other and they know how to put a condom on a cucumber.
We need to protect private property rights–this is paramount to our liberty. The government has no business telling people where they can smoke except for government property.
We need a constitutional amendment stating marriage is between one man and one woman.
The problem is that churches have dropped the ball. As a matter of fact, they’re in bed with the Democrats in this country. They’re telling their parishioners that there is such a thing as “gay marriage” and murdering your unborn child is a right.
Until parishioners rebel against their churches, the rest of these battles are probably fruitless.
If you are serous about politics, you know that your donation record is public and that who you donate to will be scrutinized and viewed as a reflection of your own beliefs.
Is $150 huge? No, but it is very telling because most people don’t make any political donations at all.
Anyone who has made a contribution to a RAT had better have a darned good reason. Without it, that person’s reasoning and loyalty is to be greatly questioned.
If a person has had a conversion since, fine but if not, they’re not worthy of my support.
Democrats are destroying us.
Krusty, can you link to the site you found the $100 and $50 donation on? I don’t seen it on opensecrets.org.
What other contributions has he made?
Here are his 2008 donations:
10/17/08, Windschitl $100
10/3/2008, Tyler Olson $100
9/29/08, Schulte $100
9/26/08, Wagner $100
9/23/08, Paulsen $125
9/19/08, ActBlue Iowa $50
9/19/08, Gayman $50
By the way, ActBlue is “A PAC allowing individuals and groups to channel their progressive dollars to candidates and movements of their choosing.”
https://webapp.iecdb.iowa.gov/publicview/ContributionSearch.aspx#ctl00_cph1_gvList
Mike C, you raise some valid points here. I especially like your “Daddy” vs. “Mommy” analogy, too many have overlooked the need to keep that solid, sober, reputation the party used to have.
My main concern is that our candidates be fully vetted before we roll them out as serious contenders, some got their knickers in a knot when I suggested that in earlier articles. If you want to trot ‘em out then I want to see their credentials, not just how they are conservative on certain social issues.
he gave money to Tyler Olson ? wow ! that’s enough for me.
A so-called Republican activist to be donating to a Democrat should give all GOP activists and voters pause before jumping to support them.
Need people be reminded of what happened out in the 2nd CD last year… The name Peter Teahen ring a bell?? Guy ran around the district trying to convince people he was some big conservative that was going to fight for pro-life issues against Loebsack…
Then..whoops..people found out the guy donated money to Democrat Julie Thomas, a radical pro-choicer and to Mike Blouin who had publicly stated he wouldn’t support any effort to restrict abortion….and that Teahen hadn’t even been a registered Republican until December 2007…
If Fong wants to raise his profile… go run for State Legislature. From what I understand, Fong resides in Sen. Rob Hogg’s Senate district….and Hogg’s seat is up in 2010. What better way to make a name for yourself than to knock off an entrenched Democrat…
But trying to say as a 32 year old guy that you’re ready to become Governor, with no elective experience…is a major stretch….
Keep up this Great Purge, you guys. Throw out everyone who ever gave a dollar to a Democrat. Find out exactly how far that gets you.
The man is an Ivy League trained economist (Dartmouth) and a successful business figure. Hell, if anything he’s overqualified.
Sharp…
No one is saying throw him out..but..GOP voters have every right to take pause over someone who’s given money to far left Democrats…and then makes themselves out to be some great conservative savior.
I’m sure you Democrats would raise all sorts of hell over someone who might run as a progressive liberal Democrat..and then find out they gave money to a conservative Republican….
You can go to the best school in the world Sharp..and still not be qualified to be the Chief Executive of the state…no one except activists in Linn County knows who Fong is..and lets be honest here…a lot of voters are going to have a big problem supporting a very young 32 year old guy to be Governor.
I admit I have a closed mind. No Dartmouth educated economist that knows anything about economics would donate to a RAT–ever!!
We’re not that desperate for a candidate for governor.
Sharp: I’m saying to throw him out. Let him go to the back of the line and prove himself. He does not have the credentials to run for governor!!
Is this some kind of joke? This can’t be serious that people think this guy is a candidate for governor?
Alright then. Someone lay it out for me. What are the credentials for governor, and who has them?
And FWIW, I presume Fong gave money to Wagner, Gayman and Olson because they’re YOUNG. That’s the common connection between them.
Fong is 32 years old, so it doesn’t surprise me that he supports pro-equality and pro-choice candidates. I don’t know much about him, but from what I do know, I’d support him.
SharpHawk-guess we think alike. That’s my age group. All of my friends, dem and rep alike, support equality. We’re mothers of young children who could potentially be gay. Most of us met gay people in college (if not sooner), and guess what-they’re not scary. Also, many of us have experienced pregnancy loss, sexual assault, missed miscarriages, non-viable pregnancies, infertility, etc. You bet your butt we don’t want the government involved in our reproductive decisions, and most of us consider ourselves pro-life personally.
soup you support young people because your children might be gay? what the hell are you talking about?
I support equality… and literacy
i have never seen someone group sexual assault, infertility and homosexuality all together in one thought before soup. go see a therapist.
Did i read that correctly or are my thighs still weak from last night… Did Sharp just tell us that because this Fong character is Ivy League educated (Dartmouth), that he is over qualified for Governor? I have two words for you… Timothy Geithner. Our Treausury Secretary directing our country into an unfathomable deficit also graduated from Dartmouth. No thanks, Mr. Fong… you can take your Ivy league diploma and shove it where the sun don’t shine. If you need help, call me.
According to Tim Palmer at HawkeyeReview.com, Christian Fong has officially filed his paperwork to be a candidate for Governor ….
Someone is leading this KID…and I’m going to say it again..KID..down the primrose path….
Now is not the time to put our state in the hands of someone with virtually zero real world experience or elective experience. In fact, what track record as an activist does this guy have? He’s never been in the leadership of the Republican Party in any way shape or form..and this guy thinks he’s qualified to be Governor??
I’ve been a Republican Party activist for 15+ years…I’m only 34 years old..and there’s no way in hell I would think I’m even close to being qualified to be Governor.
I like Fong he is new, articulate, looks different, has a funny name, young, refreshing, has no real voting record, etc. Wait, sorry my mistake I thought he was running for president…my bad.
I know very little of this man, does he know anything about agriculture? What ag credentials does he bring to the table?
I am not supporting Mr. Fong or any candidate for that matter, but let’s put this into perspective. Mr. Fong is 32. That means he’s been in the workforce for about 10 years. Another candidate for the office is 45. He has been running for governor for the last 10 years. Before then he was in the regular workforce. Both of them have the approximate same length of work experience.
All you people talking about his qualifications, think really hard about our current governor’s qualifications compared to those of his opponent. Half the people who voted for him thought he was his dad. Qualifications are important to a certain extent. Getting people to vote for you is what counts. I’m not saying Fong can do it but he’s the only one I can see knocking on doors for…
PS – Don’t both Olson and Gayman serve on the commission with Fong…?
Cynic,
I’ll bet you didn’t know that Fong was one of the folks in Cedar Rapids who pushed to increase sales taxes in Linn County under the guise of “flood relief”. Instead of taking Chet to task for failing to act after the floods last year and calling for a special session to actually do something useful…Fong goes and supports increasing taxes when the economy was already in the tank..
So..if Fong feels its appropriate to raise taxes after a disaster….I wouldn’t be shocked if Fong would support raising taxes in some way, shape or form to fix Iowa’s financial situation as well….
Fully 1/4 of Cedar Rapids was underwater. Yeah, I’d be willing to pay higher taxes for a while to fix that. If that makes me not a Republican, then so be it.
Natural disasters and wars are pretty much the only acceptable reasons to pay higher taxes. Sometimes a little shared sacrifice is necessary.
Okay, justify him giving money to two of the most liberal legislators in the state, but can you justify him giving money to Act Blue???? Good night!!!!!!!
It’s too bad, but everything you hear on Deace’s show and read on this site must now be viewed through the prism of reality that until both get their wish of BVP as the nominee, no other candidate or potential candidate is safe.
Don’t kid yourself, people. They’ll go after anyone who stands between BVP and the nomination. Once you get past that, it’s easier to deal with.