Radio Free Fong

Republican candidate for governor Christian Fong, a  Cedar Rapids business executive, has launched his first statewide radio ad, seeking to introduce himself to Iowa voters.

Here's a transcript:

Christian Fong: It was 1944, as communism was ascending, Nelson Fong's family escaped China.

Meanwhile, the United States was a beacon of freedom. After tax cuts in '61, the U.S. was booming. Nelson Fong, a Christian in Hong Kong was drawn by the promise of freedom to the United States in ‘63. He met a farm girl, worked many jobs and eventually settled in a small western Iowa town. Today, Nelson Fong lives that American dream...I know because he's my father.

I'm Christian Fong. Today, I see that dream slipping away. We have a state government that borrowed almost a billion dollars to pay its bills. As Governor I would end the use of taxpayer money to fund lobbyists and veto any budget that is not balanced.

Like many of you, we live the Iowa Dream and we should never let that slip away. I'm Christian Fong.

Anncr: Paid for by Iowans for Christian Fong. Conservative Republican for Governor.

Democrats are howling about the truth-challenged budget charge. But  Fong's vow to "end the use of taxpayer money to fund lobbyists" also caught my eye.

The Register reported a while back that the state departments state and local governments, including agencies, groups and associations, spent $1.8 million on lobbying state lawmakers during the last fiscal year. Outrage followed, especially on the part of Republicans who see this as another soft target for Culver bashing.

The spending is clearly excessive. And I'm certainly not going to defend everything state lobbyists do. But after hanging around the Legislature for a while, I don't think barring state agencies from lobbying is a good idea.

Fong says he's a new kind oo politician, but this seems sort of tired.

For starters, I don't think leaving the lobbying playing field to non-government interests only is smart. I'm not sure how the public interest is advanced by allowing, for example, a corporation to lobby for loosened pollution rules while barring state regulators from pushing the other way.

Second, lawmakers would lose a pretty important resource. I can't tell you how many times I saw members of a  legislative committee get stuck in the complex details  of a piece of legislation before turning to the audience and finding a department lobbyist who  swiftly cleared up the confusion. Walling off one branch of government from another is going to slow down a process that's already painfully slow.

Third, it really doesn't bother me that state departments pursue legislative agendas. It's not OK for the attorney general to lobby for tougher criminal penalties? The Department of Public Health should be barred from advocating for pandemic preparedness funding?

So lawmakers may not always like what they hear. So what?

And as far as wasted dollars are concerned, if we started tracking the value of all the hours wasted by lawmakers at the Statehouse, I guarantee the total would top $1.8 million.

There are probably ways to rein in lobbying costs and perhaps change the ways state agencies lobby. I mean, how many lobbyists does a single agency really need? But a flat "end" to agency lobbying is an overreaction. Unfortunately, Fong will not be the only one who proposes it.

It's campaign season, what would you expect?