For the Kuomintang politician, see John Chiang (Taiwan).
This is a Chinese name; the family name is Chiang (江).
John Chiang 江俊輝 |
|
31st State Controller of California | |
Incumbent | |
Assumed office January 8, 2007 |
|
Governor |
Arnold Schwarzenegger Jerry Brown |
Preceded by | Steve Westly |
Personal details | |
Born |
July 31, 1962 (age 50) New York City, New York,U.S. |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | Terry Chi |
Religion | Roman Catholicism |
John Chiang (Chinese: 江俊輝; pinyin: Jiāng Jùnhuī; born July 31, 1962 in New York City) is aDemocratic politician and has been California State Controller since January 8, 2007. He previously served as Chair of the California Board of Equalization and represented the Fourth District, primarily serving southern Los Angeles County. Chiang is unable to run for a third term in 2014 due to term limits.
Background and early career
Chiang is the son of immigrants from Taiwan. He was born in New York City and grew up in Chicago. Chiang attended Carl Sandburg High School where he served as student body vice-president alongside student body president Dave Jones. Lifelong friends, Chiang and Jones would run again together in 2010 on the California Democratic slate, with Chiang winning reelection as state controller and Jones being elected California Insurance Commissioner. He graduated with honors with a degree in Finance from theUniversity of South Florida and has a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center. He came to Los Angeles in 1987 where he got involved with the Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley and the West LA Democratic Club.
Chiang began his career as a tax law specialist for the IRS. He worked as an attorney for thenCalifornia State Controller Gray Davis, and also worked on the staff of California Senator Barbara Boxer. He was first elected to office as Member of the Board of Equalization in 1998 and elected to a second four-year term in 2002.
California State Controller, 2007
After winning the California State Controller election, 2006, Chiang was inaugurated on January 8, 2007.
In May 2007, Chiang released a report that found that the state of California "would have to pay an additional $2.2 billion annually" over 30 years in order to pay for health benefits for all currently retired state employees and current state employees who will be retiring.Chiang's actions were praised as having "gotten a needed discussion reignited".
In June 2007, a U.S. District Judge banned the State Controller's office from seizing unclaimed property because the State was not giving "fair notice to the owner and public".Because a ban could cause the State to lose $300 million per year in revenue, Chiang took steps to improve the notification of people whose assets were about to be seized, including sending them notices, and to improve the ability of people to recover their assets once seized. By October 2007, the U.S. District Judge found that Chiang's measures "satisfie constitutional due process" and lifted his ban.
In July 2008, former Governor of California Schwarzenegger was reported to be planning to "slash the pay of more than 200,000 state workers to the federal minimum of $6.55 per hour," among other measures, due to a lack of an approved state budget.In response, Chiang characterized Schwarzenegger's idea as "a poorly devised strategy to put pressure on the Legislature to enact a budget" and stated that he would continue to pay state workers their full salaries.Chiang claimed that he had "both constitutional and statutory authority" to continue payments and that Schwarzenegger was trying to make Chiang "do something that's improper and illegal". He received support from the Democratic leadership in the state Senate and Assembly.When Schwarzenegger issued a formal executive order, Chiang sent a formal letter to Schwarzenegger "reiterating his position".At a rally of state workers in Los Angeles, Chiang called them "innocent victims of a political struggle".