All statements made on this blog are those of the authors' only. Any disputes must be addressed to the writers, who are solely responsible for their posts. We welcome comments; but reserve the right to deny or remove them. Content may not be used without permission of the authors.
Gubernatorial candidate Christian Fong suspended his campaign this morning. You can read the press release on his campaign web page here.
Fong is a highly accomplished individual. Personally, professionally and now politically. How is that you say? He just "suspended" his campaign. I think there's a strong chance that years from now, many will look back on this day and acknowledge it was the right tactical move to make.
Even those who don't currently support Christian Fong have openly admitted "Fong is the future of our party in Iowa." I heard this statement again only hours ago from a key Branstad supporter here in the state.
I've intentionally held back on posting this to observe some reaction. My phone has been ringing and I've heard nothing but complimentary feedback. Reading through some of the Iowa blogs and on-line news sources, the comment sections seem to reflect the sentiment I've posted above;
"Fong is the future of the Iowa GOP."
I know that Christian will carefully assess his next steps and he has already committed to stay active and involved in the political arena.
There's always silver linings and one of them is Christian has not retired his ideas and passion to restore the Iowa dream. Although the best ideas for Iowa just left the race today, they haven't left the political discourse. To that end, Christian will continue to build upon his name recognition and the incredible respect he has gained from those who've had the pleasure to meet him.
I went to Ringgold County to see how small-town Iowa can thrive. Iowa’s small towns are pillars in my economic development plan and my 2020 Vision plan for Iowa.
As Governor, I’d fight relentlessly for their future.
Redding, Iowa is barely four miles from Missouri, and might as well be a million miles from the power lunches and elite circles of the big city. Common sense and homegrown Iowa values are the core of people’s character. Last Wednesday, Tracee and Steve Knapp were gracious hosts for the evening house party, after being my tour guides through Mount Ayr in the afternoon.
This is first-name sort of country. So to Russ, who heads up the school district, and to Gordon, the hospital administrator, and to Larry and Todd, who are building a wind-energy business that will soon employ 100-150 people, I say thank you. Thank you for tours of facilities and for showing how small towns work best. Thank you for collaborating together to create such a dynamic town.
Mount Ayr, the county seat of Ringgold County, the second smallest population county in Iowa, will make it. If state leadership in Des Moines will stop getting in the way, that is.
In Mount Ayr, local businesspeople, having been turned down by Des Moines’ economic development bureaucrats said, "Who needs them? We’re going to build a business anyhow." Kudos to Heartland Energy, which through determination and technical innovation, refused to believe they would lose. This up-and-coming company will soon employ 100-150 people.
The schools are wireless, accommodating the "1-to-1" plan where every middle schooler gets a laptop. Superintendent Russ Reiter’s kids have closed the digital divide and are trained to win in the Internet age. The elementary school is putting the finishing touches on a dedicated science lab, which will host kids from around the region, showing how great resources can be shared, rather than duplicated. The best and brightest kids in the world are coming from Iowa due to these efforts.
The new Ringgold County Hospital will open in December as a state-of-the-art facility that will draw patients from both southern Iowa and northern Missouri. The facility is not a monument to ego or unnecessary spending. Gordon Winkler made sure every design aspect, from the rounded corners in patient rooms (easier to keep germ free) to the location of nurses stations (to be able to see down multiple hallways) are focused on community health and efficiency. Mount Ayr is ensuring great rural access to medical care, so that people don’t have to drive to Des Moines, Iowa City or Kansas City. Fortunately, it was built to easily expand to new wings. I believe that sort of optimism is self-fulfilling.
A town needs more than services and jobs. It needs a soul. Emotional hooks that keep kids from moving on. Mount Ayr has a thriving square with upbeat restaurants and stores. The Princess Theater, right on the square, is beautifully renovated and runs the newest movies. Or for $100, you can rent it for the evening and show your own home movies to 120 best friends. The new Lucky Lanes Bowling Alley with 6 lanes sits near Sweet Escapes Salon, where chairs were filled by clients and the air filled by friendly chatter about statewide events. It all left me wondering if I could bring my family to for a day.
Mount Ayr is a great town. It, and Ringgold County, are going to make it.
"Leave No County Behind."
Let me share some thoughts about Iowa’s small towns:
· Of Iowa’s 99 counties, just 14 have grown since 1980. 85 counties have been left behind by an economic development policy that rewards large cities at the expense of smaller towns. I am committed to turning that around. By the year 2020, we can see every county grow in jobs and population.
I call it my "Leave No County Behind" plan.
· ISU found that the number one predictor of small-town growth is new business creation. Let’s revamp our economic development system! Picking winners and losers from Des Moines simply does not work, and is the sort of "central planning" philosophy that failed in communist countries, and caused their economic collapse. In Mount Ayr, Heartland Energy was turned down by those central planners, but is going on to succeed! I have proposed that we replace the tax credit-driven system with a low-tax, level playing field that rewards Iowa-based companies, and especially our entrepreneurs. The centerpiece is my proposal that by 2020 we eliminate the state personal income tax.
· Schools and hospitals are being nickel and dimed to death by regulation, at Iowans’ expense. I’ve heard countless examples of rules that are not needed, often don’t work or simply are at odds with existing rules. Sure, it is only $5000 here, or $10,000 there. But in 30 seconds, a superintendent described to me a handful of unnecessary regulations that had cost him a classroom teacher. It makes no sense, and is bad for Iowa. It is why I have proposed that we conduct a full and on-going review of mandates, to simplify, streamline and "de-clutter" regulations. This will return the authority, responsibility and resources to the local level.
· We have to give our kids a reason to stay. Mount Ayr’s schools give them workplace ready skills. Businesses give them career opportunities. And the town itself gives a quality of life that allows both financial and emotional roots to grow deep. By 2020, my goal is to reverse the Brain Drain from both the state and our small towns, so that our kids can stay with us, and Iowa can be a magnet for the next generation.
Iowa needs a Governor who sees why we need strong small towns. Iowa needs a Governor who sees how to reverse the decline of our outer counties. Iowa needs a Governor who can make sure the Iowa Dream is attainable in every part of Iowa.
I believe in rural Iowa, and I want to be that Governor.
Iowa is facing serious challenges.We no longer have a government that reflects the core values that most Iowans share.We are a state where hard work and education no longer pay off the way they should.Now, the state is routinely waking up to headlines of mass layoffs in our cities and towns.
The numbers are staggering. One hundred and fourteen thousand unemployed Iowans.Poverty rates that have risen, under Democratic leadership, fourth fastest in the nation this decade.Chronic underpay, with most Iowans making 10-15% less for equivalent jobs than around the region.And the higher the education rate, the bigger the pay gap!
This impacts people’s ability to turn hard work and education into the Iowa Dream.A new HillsdaleCollege graduate, with a double major, told me at the State Fair this summer about coming home, and not being able to find a job that pays more than $10 an hour.Not enough to pay for the combination of our rising relative cost of living and her school debt.
The time for incremental change is over.We need to transform our economy.If I am elected Governor, I will transform the way we do business by beginning the process of phasing out our state income tax.
The fact is, our economic development approach not only does not add enough jobs, it actually destroys them.Iowa ranks 2nd to last in the nation in small business climate, according to US News and World Report.A business man in Northeast Iowa told me that he’d be moving his business to Texas in a few years – as soon as his Department of Economic Development tax credits expired.Infamously, Iowa lost Gateway Computers to South Dakota years ago and missed out on the great jobs here.This last Tuesday a businessperson in Onawa told me about her community losing 30 jobs to Florida – devastating to a small town.
How did this happen to us?Our economic development policy was developed in the Farm Crisis of the 1980s.We pick winners and losers among industries, often giving huge payouts to companies not even based in Iowa.Even worse, we pick winners and losers among our own communities.The fact is, only 14 of Iowa’s counties have grown since 1980.That means 85 of our 99 counties have not grown!I measure recovery as job and population growth, meaning 85 counties never recovered from the Farm Crisis.As for me, I’m committed to see Iowa become the next great economic engine of the Midwest, with broad-based growth across the state.
Iowa can compete, if we lower our tax burden and create an even playing field.As Governor, I will begin phasing out Iowa’s income tax, so that every Iowans’ paycheck will go up without harming businesses.Spending will rise, Iowa’s businesses will grow and so will our overall tax base.
I will pay for this with a combination of spending reductions, the closing of special interest tax loopholes and the growth of our economy over time.I will do it responsibly; I will cut your taxes without putting Iowa into further long-term debt and without squeezing necessary government services in an unfair way that create a sudden loss of jobs (like Gov Culver’s recent 10% “emergency” cut).
I mentioned losing businesses to Texas, South Dakota and Florida. What do these states have in common?No state income tax.Businesses are voting with their feet, and so do our youth, who leave the state in droves.I will turn this around.
Iowa gubernatorial candidate and Cedar Rapids businessman Christian Fong (R) today called for the Legislature and Governor to enact the Iowa Transparency Act in response to the Iowa Film Office tax credit fiasco.
“Obviously the Culver administration has failed at almost every level to provide an adequate level of oversight on the tax credits that were paid out under the Iowa film office, as Iowans were made aware this week. The lack of transparency and accountability in state government may have been averted if we had in place an online transparency system. With today’s news that errors in the tax credits were evident as early as July of this year, this could have been corrected months ago,” said Christian Fong.
House File 801 was introduced by Republicans in the Legislature and supported by a broad coalition including Iowans for Tax Relief during the legislative session earlier this year. The bill called for the creation of a searchable online transparency system where anyone could access state expenditures. Similar online transparency systems exist in other states, including Missouri. The bill passed the Iowa House but died in the Senate. A second attempt was also made to pass the bill as an amendment, again gaining approval in the House, but was eventually stripped out by the Democrat controlled State Senate.
Fong continued, “Governor Culver could have shown leadership on this bill during the session. He could have used his influence and bully pulpit to have put real accountability and transparency into state government, instead he sat back and taxpayers are on the hook for millions of dollars of questionable tax credits.”
Fong concluded, “The chorus of criticism of Governor Culver is loud and certainly well deserved. The Iowa Film tax credit saga is a textbook example of gross mismanagement. In the interests of offering a solution, I call on Governor Culver and legislative leaders to move swiftly to implement the Iowa Transparency bill, so we can open state government spending to millions of eyes across Iowa.”
In the past two weeks since Christian Fong Twittered his intentions to run for Governor, I've been astounded at the amount of search engine traffic to "HR." This tells me there's a strong appetite to learn more about the "wunderkind" candidate.
Here's another opportunity to "see and hear" Christian and learn more.
My most recent post, which profiled Culver's new COS John Frew, should serve as a reminder to Iowa Republicans that Team Culver expects to "win at all costs." Frew has a history of dirty campaigns to his credit. My point? The GOP hopefuls need to understand that strategies that are focused exclusively on winning the primary contest may backfire in November 2010 if we're not careful about the messaging.
If the primary becomes a "purity test" for the GOP, then we spend the next months after next June defending ourselves from the Culver attack machine. This would be a huge mistake from a tactical standpoint and we need to remember there aren't enough Republicans in Iowa to take back Terrace Hill unless we successfully target Independents and even a few disaffected Democrats. Between now and our June primary, the GOP message needs to feature broad based appeal and the benefits of our Republican core values, which strongly appeals to most Iowans, especially when contrasted with Governor Culver's track record of special interest politics and out of control spending.
Here's a prediction: Culver will start his re-election campaign early this fall and implement the Culver spin machine long before the gavel falls to begin the next legislative session in January. There's no way to hide the massive budget shortfalls and next years session promises to be contentious and controversial, especially if your name is Chet Culver.
John Frew has a long a predictable history of "attack politics" so the best way to inoculate yourself from your own vulnerabilities is to attack and be relentless in your messaging.
That means the race for 2010 begins after the Labor Day weekend and we're at risk if we don't adopt new strategies to unify the GOP message and focus on the inept governance by the Culver administration.
If Republicans lose self control and play attack politics on our own for the next 11 months, we cede our leadership and pave a four lane highway for Frew to send in a never ending convoy of negative messaging which is the only option you have when you're protecting an incumbent with so many political liabilities to his credit.
This is why I appreciate the language that Christian uses, which highlights his conservative positions yet communicates these values without the need to attack the very Iowan's whom our next Governor still serves.
I truly believe that GOP unity, message discipline and collaboration will be the keys to victory in 2010 and it's time the Iowa GOP begins to implement these tactics in our efforts to keep Chet Culver out of Terrace Hill for another term.
Quite frankly, we can't afford to lose so let's play to win!
Fifteen months ago, I was elected to represent the Second Congressional District on the State Central Committee of the Republican Party of Iowa. During my tenure, I have worked to bring openness to the process of electing a State Party Chairman and for the first time in my memory, the candidates and vote totals were published on blogs and tweeted in real time. As a member of State Organization Committee, I have helped place into motion a plan which will make national delegate selection a part of the normal district conventions and do away with the Friday night meetings before the state convention. I have served as head of the Technology Committee that is working to provide a better online presence for the party and better communicate with grassroots Republicans all across the state. Finally I have supported all of our candidates who have passed the most important litmus test of all – they won their primaries.
When I was elected, I promised that I would neither seek nor accept a paid staff or consultant position with any campaign or issue-based organization. I further promised that while serving on the State Central Committee, I would remain neutral and not make any endorsements in contested Republican primaries. I am excited that we have such an excellent field of Republican candidates for governor. It has always been my intent to remain neutral in the upcoming gubernatorial primary and give my full support to the winner.
However, last week everything changed. Last Friday my good friend and fellow Eastern Iowan, Christian Fong announced that he intended to run for governor. I ran for State Central Committee because I wanted to make a difference, I wanted not just to elect Republicans but to see those core principles defined in our platform enacted. Christian is a social conservative with excellent business and financial credentials; he is a visionary and a leader in our community; he is a husband, a father and most importantly a man of integrity. He is exactly what Iowa needs. With Christian in the race I now believe that I can make the biggest difference for our state, our district, my community and my family by working as a volunteer to help him win the GOP nomination and beat Chet Culver in 2010.
Earlier today, I sent a letter to RPI Chairman Matt Strawn resigning my position on the State Central Committee effective immediately. By resigning now, I hope that the Second District Executive Committee will be able to act quickly and elect my replacement in time for the September State Central Committee meeting.
It has been an honor to serve.
David R. Chung Former Second District Representative
What an honor it is to have my good friend and contributor Christian Fong writing regularly at Hawkeyereview.com.
Now that Christian has announced his candidacy to run for Governor of the great state of Iowa, I wanted to make all of Christian's work available for you to read. Instead of requiring you to troll through the last several months of archives, I've categorized the articles by subject and grouped them here for your review and study.
Christian Fong is a name every Iowan should become familiar with very soon. For those who might attempt to diminish him for his relatively young age (32), don't let the prognosticators divert you from the most important facts about our newest GOP candidate...whose business experience, community leadership and disaster recovery roles offer us a candidate of enormous strength and ability.
Christian Fong is a brilliant man with incredible skills, VISION and wisdom.
When you consider the attributes you wish to have in our state's highest elected official and CEO, aren't these exactly the benchmarks we seek? Christian has a VISION for our state and combined with his economic expertise and real world experience in the business community, we may just have the dynamic governor to lead us back to prosperity on many levels here in the Hawkeye State.
Can you keep a secret? Well, I can and I did...but this afternoon James Q. Lynch just broke the news on CoveringIowaPolitics.com
Christian Fong is running to become Iowa's next Governor.
I will be way up front on this one to be fair to you. I think we have a strong GOP field in the Governor's race and it just got much, much stronger. I have deep respect and admiration for Bob Vander Plaats and Christopher Rants. I mention them specifically because they've both declared their candidacies and visited Linn county to meet with supporters and raise money.
I'm proud to be a member of the same party with them. For all the other potential candidates who may enter the field, I've yet to hear a single name that I would "disqualify" from this race.
Christian Fong is not only my good friend and gifted contributor to this site, he is in my humble opinion the most qualified individual to stand up for the Governors race I've ever known. Yes, I think that highly of his abilities, wisdom and judgment.
I endorse Christian and support him 110% in his efforts to serve as our next Governor. You won't see me or any of my contributors take cheap shots at any other candidate on this site and to those whom I serve as County Chair in Linn County, any of the GOP candidates are always welcome to visit Linn County and they will receive the respect and hospitality they all deserve. My vote still counts as one and I respect those who may not agree with my opinions.
That said, I'll ask that as you view other statewide blogs, keep in mind many of them are already taking cheap shots at the GOP field and they "cloak" their loyalties under the guise of neutrality.
I won't.
Back on topic now: Christian Fong
I don't ask you to support Christian just because I do. I simply ask that you make your own informed decision and judgment after reviewing his biography, training and education and his business experience. Add to this his devoted community service and flood recovery efforts and I think you'll discover in your own way how much we probably agree about Christian's qualifications to serve as our next Governor.
Christian told James Q. Lynch this in his announcement today:
“I’ve been blessed to live the Iowa dream. Sadly today I see the dream being ripped away from future generations,” the father of three said in explaining his decision to challenge first-term Democratic Gov. Chet Culver. “The dream has to be restored. That’s why I’m running for governor.”
** Update **
I've added a new post to this site which provides you an archive of the numerous articles Christian Fong has contributed to Hawkeyereview.com. You can read them all by clicking here.
