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I am hosting a fundraiser for John Chiang who, as a member of the State Board of Equalization, is currently the highest-ranking Asian American elected state official. John is running for Treasurer, and has had great success with his early fundraising. I believe he is one of the Democratic Party's brightest, rising stars in California, and this is an opportunity to truly get involved at the "ground level" with him.
Based on my own personal experience, elected officials always remember and appreciate their early supporters who've been with them from the start. This is a chance to make yourself known, get involved, and meet an intelligent, funny, down-to-earth candidate in an informal and intimate setting. The donation levels are $50 and up, or $250 if you’d like to be added to the invitation as a co-host.
The fundraiser is Monday, September 27, from 7-9 PM in the Westwood/Beverly Hills area. A copy of John's biography is included below. Please contact me if you're interested in attending, or if you'd like more information. Thanks!
DTH
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John Chiang has devoted his professional life to making elected leaders and government accessible to all Californians and personalizing government services to touch the lives of the citizens they serve. Born in New York City during the 1960s, John’s heroes inspired his journey to public service. The oldest of four children, and son of immigrants from Taiwan, John faced a world in which racism and community divisiveness were at their peak in America and being challenged by some of our nation’s finest leaders and John’s heroes -- Dr. Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, the first Asian Pacific American family in their neighborhood, an adolescent John and his family faced the very challenges the rest of America was witnessing across the nation. Despite these difficulties, John learned the importance of determination, commitment, consensus building and above all, community service - lessons he learned by following in the footsteps of his mentors, teachers and especially his mother, by her enthusiasm as an active volunteer in their community.
An honors graduate with a degree in Finance from the University of South Florida and a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, John arrived in Los Angeles in 1987 and began work as a tax law specialist for the IRS. For more than a decade, John acquired a breadth of experience working as an attorney for then State Controller, Gray Davis, and as staff member to Senator Barbara Boxer, Congressman Mel Levine, State Controller Candidate, Don Perata, and Kathleen Brown during her race for Governor.
In the late ’90s, fate brought John his first opportunity to serve in elected office. While Chief of Staff for California State Board of Equalization* Member Brad Sherman, John assumed the role of acting Board Member when Sherman was elected to Congress in 1997. John succeeded in his own campaign in 1998 against several well-known political competitors and was recently re-elected to represent the 4th Equalization District, which is comprised of 8.5 million residents in Los Angeles County. John is the highest-ranking Asian Pacific American elected state official in California.
While in office, he has successfully sponsored more legislative proposals signed into law than any other Board Member and has incorporated his firm belief that every elected office must be accessible to its constituents. John has personalized the BOE office by spearheading free tax and finance seminars to Californians, along with providing personal and free income tax assistance to California citizens in need of support and has consistently supported property tax reassessment for Domestic Partners. John Chiang-sponsored legislative proposals signed into law include: filing deadline extensions for financially challenged taxpayers due to mental and physical incapacity; enhancing innocent spouse protection. Additional common-sense proposals were passed that streamlined the administrative process, ie: altering the property tax appeal process by shifting the appeal filing date to occur after the final property tax amount has been determined.
In keeping with John’s strong ideals and commitment to community service, he currently serves on the Board of The Children’s Law Center; The Ethnic Coalition (an organization dedicated to building harmonious race relations); Board Member to Planned Parenthood Los Angeles. John previously served as a Board Member of: Council of Regents of the American Lung Association of Los Angeles County; Children Affected by AIDS Foundation; Los Angeles Hospice AIDS Association; Big Sisters of Los Angeles; Organization of Chinese Americans; and the Regional Interview Panel for the White House Fellowship Program.
John is a long-time resident of Chatsworth, and is engaged to Terry Chi.
*The California State Board of Equalization yields tremendous power administering and overseeing state sales and use taxes, property taxes, special taxes and the tax appellate program. As one of the twelve constitutionally elected offices of California, the board, the nation’s only elected tax authority, is comprised of only four members elected by district and the fifth member, the State Controller. Board administered programs provide more than 33% of the state’s tax revenue and support hundreds of state and local government programs and services, including schools and colleges, hospitals and health care services, criminal justice, correctional and social welfare programs, law enforcement, consumer services, natural resource management, and transportation and housing programs.
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