In the 2022 elections, most voters will be looking at who is running for the big and most notable positions: Governor, Congress, Mayor. But one race that is up is State Controller and candidate Lanhee Chen is making his case for 2022.
The state controller is essentially the Chief Financial Officer of the state according to Chen. The controller is supposed to hold the state accountable to what is spent. Chen said in an interview with KUSI that there has been a lack of accountability at the State Controller’s Office for far too long and pointed to examples, “We spent $300 billion dollars as a state in 2018, and the state can not tell us line item by line item where that money went”. Chen said that the lack of accountability leads to government mismanagement and fraud. Chen pointed out the EDD fraud that caused the state to lose $20 billion. Money that was intended for people who were negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, ending up going to prisoners and fraudsters, “This is the kind of stuff that happens when we don’t have accountability for how our state spends money” says Chen.
Chen has never held public office and this is the first time he is running for office. Chen was born to immigrants from Taiwan and moved to California at a young age from North Carolina. Chen has business and policy experience which he says is exactly what Sacramento needs. Chen has degrees from Harvard University including a J.D and Ph.D. Chen has also been a lecturer at Stanford University. Chen also says that too many in Sacramento are looking out for each other’s political aspirations rather than the taxpayer, “There is no one looking out for the taxpayer. You got a lot of people looking out for each other and their own political interests”.
Chen says he can win because voters are frustrated by what is going on in Sacramento. He says he is fully committed to winning and making a real difference, “I am confident that we’re going to have a campaign that is not only poised to win, but will actually get it across the finish line in November”. Chen hopes that California can become great and be the state that people flocked to for opportunities.
Photo Cred: William B. Plowman/NBC NewsWire via Getty Images
