CA: Lawyer, insider vie for controller (Chiang v. Strickland)

AP - Monterey County Herald ^ | Sep. 22, 2006 | Allison Hoffman

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SAN DIEGO - Californians electing a new controller in November will choose between an unknown technocrat and an ambitious political insider to be responsible for monitoring the state's finances.

Democrat John Chiang, who is hoping to succeed failed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Steve Westly as controller, is a tax lawyer campaigning to be ''hired'' as the state's chief financial officer.

By contrast, Tony Strickland, a Republican former state assemblyman with close ties to conservative hero Tom McClintock -- a candidate for lieutenant governor -- is running as a fiscal watchdog committed to rooting out wasteful government spending.

''Basically, Chiang sees this as a very large job interview, and Strickland is running on issue positions,'' said Jack Pitney, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College.

The winner will oversee a state general fund budget of more than $100 billion and help administer $300 billion in state pension funds through the California Public Employees Retirement System, the nation's largest public pension fund. The controller also serves on more than 60 policy-making state boards and commissions and provides fiscal guidance to local governments.

Chiang said his top priority would be expanding tax education programs for small businesses to help alleviate the administrative burden of complying with state tax codes and establishing financial literacy programs for individuals.

Strickland said his first move as controller would be to audit the Los Angeles Unified School District to ensure tax dollars are going into classroom spending rather than toward administrative costs.

''That's not a legislative fix,'' he said. ''It's something that depends on having a controller who's willing to audit.''

With the ongoing pension fund scandal in San Diego, along with the string of corporate accounting meltdowns in recent years, voters are perhaps more aware this year than in previous election seasons of the importance of clean financial accounting.

As in past years, however, the controller's contest has failed to generate much buzz. That's especially noticeable this year with most of the state's political focus on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's re-election bid.

''It's very hard to get people to pay any attention this year to the down-ballot races because of the governor's race and the ballot propositions taking up the airwaves,'' said Mark Baldassare, director of research at the Public Policy Institute of California.

Chiang has spent $1.3 million trying to get his name out to voters. Strickland -- whose name resonates with voters from his three terms in the Legislature representing a Thousand Oaks seat now occupied by his wife, Audra -- has spent only about $750,000 in the race.

The most recent Field Poll, in August, showed that more than 80 percent of voters had no opinion of either of the two candidates. The poll put Chiang ahead with 38 percent support among likely voters over 27 percent for Strickland. More than a third said they remained undecided.

But in Democratic-leaning California, the conventional wisdom is that an unfamiliar Democrat will beat an unfamiliar Republican. That could upended if moderate Democrats and independent voters backing Schwarzenegger decide to vote for other Republicans.

''What Tony has to hope for is that everyone who votes for Arnold votes for him,'' said Allan Hoffenblum, a Republican strategist and publisher of the California Target Book, which handicaps legislative and congressional races. ''It all depends on the coattails here.''

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