Who is John Chiang, the state controller who defied Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's order to slash the pay of 200,000 state employees?
One minute Chiang – pronounced CHUNG – was managing California's economic portfolio. The next he was staring down the Terminator on the front page of every California newspaper.
Chiang said "no" when the celebrity governor sought to pay state employees the minimum wage until California's budget crisis is solved. And yet Chiang's life has been about saying yes to optimism in the face of evil.
Behind the gold-rimmed glasses – and a very sensible haircut – is a 46-year-old elected official who is much more than he seems. Imagine that?
Like the governor, Chiang is from immigrant stock. His parents came from Taiwan. He was born in New York, raised in the Midwest.
"They came looking for opportunities and settled in an almost exclusively white, working-class suburb of Chicago," said Sacramento Assemblyman Dave Jones, who went to high school with Chiang in Palos Heights, Ill. "They suffered all sorts of indignities."
There were the racial epithets spray-painted on their house, rocks hurled through windows and the numerous times Chiang had to defend himself and younger siblings.
"It made you ashamed of your parents, but now they are my heroes," Chiang said.
The Chiangs kept their kids optimistic about America and rooted in the Catholic faith. Chiang was elected vice president of his high school class. Jones was president. "We ran on an anti-disco platform," said Jones, the former Sacramento city councilman.
The family especially doted on Chiang's sister Joyce, who became a top federal immigration lawyer.
Then in January 1999, the luminous 28-year-old disappeared off the streets of Washington, D.C. Her decomposed body was found three months later. Her murder remains unsolved.
John Chiang moved his life to California, worked in banking, gave his spare time to providing free lessons on money management for poor people. He wanted to find meaning to counteract the inhumanity he had experienced.
He went into politics, won the seat of controller, kept the memory of his sister in his heart. He tells her story to college students to help them appreciate life.
"No matter what happens, you have this incredible power to impact change," he said. So when Schwarzenegger faced off with Chiang, he found a guy who was not easily shaken from his beliefs. "The governor defines this issue as a cash crisis, but it's not," Chiang said.
That's a political dispute, though Chiang had personal reasons as well. He's worried about the financial consequences for state employees.
"We're a diverse state, and you never know which child will come out of the ashes and make a powerful contribution to society. … I'm a guy who supports the underdog."
Call The Bee's Marcos Bretón, (916) 321-1096.
