August 18, 2014
U.S.A.
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 7
Fung highlights record, personal story in campaign
ANGER AS INSPIRATION. Cranston mayor
Allan Fung speaks in Cranston, Rhode Island, where
he announced he would run for Rhode Island governor
as a Republican in the 2014 election, in this Novem-
ber 4, 2013 file photo. Fung said he wants to simplify
the tax system, remove barriers to businesses looking
to expand, improve education, and focus on jobs.
(AP Photo/Michelle R. Smith)
By Jennifer McDermott
The Associated Press
C
RANSTON, R.I. — Allan Fung
says he is running for governor
because he is angry.
The state is stuck in the economic dol-
drums while other states are rebounding
from the recession. He is tired of the state’s
high taxes, high unemployment, and low
marks on surveys that measure “business
friendliness,” he said.
Fung, 44, first got involved in local
politics in Cranston in 2002 because he
was angry then, too, he said. Cranston had
the nation’s lowest bond rating because of
poor financial decisions. Fung, who was
elected to the City Council and is now
serving his third term as mayor of the
state’s third-largest city, said he fostered a
business friendly environment that has
helped create jobs.
“This should be happening in cities and
towns across the state,” he said. “I want
that responsibility and the challenges that
go along with changing our state’s econo-
my.”
The Republican mayor often talks on the
campaign trail about his accomplishments
in Cranston. But Fung wants voters to
know his personal story, too, since his
upbringing influences his policy decisions,
he said.
Fung’s parents immigrated to Rhode
Island from Hong Kong in 1969, and they
opened a Chinese restaurant in Cranston.
Fung bussed tables and washed dishes,
and he and his two younger sisters saw his
parents struggling to pay the restaurant’s
expenses.
“Those experiences I keep in the back of
my mind because many small-business
owners, many restaurant owners, are
going through that same thing today,” he
said.
Fung graduated from Providence’s elite
magnet school, Classical High School,
where he became close friends with fellow
gubernatorial hopeful Providence mayor
Angel Taveras.
In high school, Fung said, he fell in love
with law as a member of the mock trial
team because he saw it as a way to help
people. He went on to graduate from Rhode
Island College and later earned his law
degree from Suffolk University.
Fung was working as a lawyer at
MetLife in 2001 when he said he realized
he should take an active role in solving
Cranston’s issues instead of simply
complaining about them. He was elected to
the City Council in 2002.
Fung lost his bid for mayor in 2006, then
won in 2008.
Fung touts two shopping centers where
several new stores and restaurants have
opened as symbols of change in Cranston.
Joe Koechel, the general manager of one
center, said Fung understands how to
businessman and Moderate Party founder
Ken Block. The two will face each other in
the September 9 primary.
The party’s executive director, Robert
Paquin III, said Fung has the skills for the
job because he knows how to cut spending,
negotiate with unions, and promote
business. Having him at the helm,
showing that modern Republicans stand
for transparent governance and fiscal
conservatism, could help rebrand the
party, Paquin said.
Early in the campaign, Fung disclosed
he was responsible for a crash that killed a
man in 1989. Then an 18-year-old college
student, he said in January, he lost
consciousness behind the wheel and hit a
man changing a tire on Interstate 95. A
grand jury declined to indict him.
His opponents haven’t made it an issue.
And Fung said voters haven’t asked him
about it.
But what they do ask about, Fung said,
is his plan for turning the state around.
Fung has proposed $200 million in tax
reductions. If elected, he said, he would
give grants to startup companies, overhaul
the governance of the state’s education
system, and streamline the regulatory
process for business licenses and other
applications.
“This state offered so much for my
family, particularly my parents,” he said.
“I want to make sure the next generation
still has that opportunity to stay here or to
come here, and that Rhode Island can be
that place of opportunity.”
work with the private sector on projects
that have a long-term economic impact.
But Fung has faced criticism for how he
has handled other aspects of the job. After
police officers issued parking tickets in
several areas of Cranston, Democratic
members of the council alleged it was
payback for their votes against a proposed
police contract.
Cranston council president John E.
Lanni Jr., a Democrat, said Fung should
have reacted more quickly to the parking
ticket scandal so the problems wouldn’t
have escalated. But he did credit Fung for
freezing property taxes for three years and
saving millions by reforming public
pensions.
“He has done a good job overall,” he said.
“There are more plusses than minuses.”
Fung, the state’s first Asian-American
mayor, now hopes to become its first
Asian-American governor.
The Rhode Island Republican Party
endorsed Fung over his opponent,
The Asian Reporter is published on
the first & third Monday each month.
News page advertising deadlines
for our next issue are:
Giant panda
Xiao Liwu
celebrates
second birthday
Continued from page one
September 1 to 14 edition:
Space reservations due: Wednesday, August 27 at 1:00pm
Artwork due: Thursday, August 28 at 1:00pm
9 8 2 3
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EASY
Difficulty
level: Easy
# 3
#98238
Instructions: Fill in the grid so that the digits 1
through 9 appear one time each in every row, col-
umn, and 3x3 box.
Solution to
last week’s
puzzle
Puzzle #79291 (Hard)
All solutions available at
<www.sudoku.com>.
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different scents, especially
his favorites — ginseng
root, wintergreen, and
cinnamon. He is very laid
back, relaxed, and loves to
eat bamboo, consuming 15
to 20 pounds of it a day.
Mr. Wu weighed about
88 pounds by his birthday.
When he’s fully grown, he
could weigh as much as 250
pounds.
The San Diego Zoo is
home to three giant
pandas: Xiao Liwu, his
mother Bai Yun, and his
father Gao Gao. The giant
pandas are on loan to the
San Diego Zoo from the
People’s Republic of China
for conservation studies of
the endangered species.
To learn more about Mr.
Wu or to watch the panda
cam,
visit
<http://
zoo.sandiegozoo.org/cams/
panda-cam>.
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