Lanhee Chen
- Office: Controller
- Election Date: June 7, 2022
- Candidate: Lanhee Chen
- Due Date: Monday, April 25
- Printable Version
Thank you for seeking GrowSF's endorsement for the June 7, 2022 primary election! GrowSF believes in a growing, vibrant, healthy, safe, and prosperous San Francisco via common sense solutions and effective government.
The GrowSF endorsement committee will review all completed questionnaires and seek consensus on which candidates best align with our vision for San Francisco and have the expertise to enact meaningful policy changes.
We ask that you please complete this questionnaire by Monday, April 25 so we have enough time to adequately review and discuss your answers.
Table of Contents
Vision
GrowSF believes in a growing, beautiful, vibrant, healthy, safe, and prosperous San Francisco. We work to propose and pass laws that align incentives of private businesses and individuals to promote shared prosperity for every San Franciscan.
As a candidate for federal office, your day-to-day responsibilities in office will affect not just San Francisco, but California and the United States as a whole. As a representative of the people of California and of San Francisco, the policies you bring to Washington should reflect the best of what we have to offer.
This section of our questionnaire seeks to help us gain an understanding of your alignment with our vision for San Francisco. Note that some of the questions may be outside the scope of the office you're running for.
Short-form questions
Please mark the box that best aligns with your position. You may explain any position if you so desire, but this section is designed to be a quick overview of your governing philosophy and view of the problems of the city, state, and/or country.
If you are not familiar with San Francisco in particular, feel free to skip the questions about it. But please do answer the questions about state and federal policy.
Small Business
| In San Francisco, in general, is it too hard, just right, or too easy to… | Too hard | Just right | Too easy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open a new businesses | x | ||
| Run a business | x | ||
| Hire staff at a living wage | x | ||
| Obtain various licenses (liquor, entertainment, etc) | x |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
| Should the state or federal government have more say, the same say, less say, or the same amount but of a different variety on… | More say | Same amount | Less say | Same, but different |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small business creation | x | |||
| Rules & permitting fees enacted by cities and states | x | |||
| Corporate tax policy | x | |||
| Tax incentives for high tech, green tech, or other desirable industries | x |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
Housing
| In San Francisco, in general, is it too hard, just right, or too easy to… | Too hard | Just right | Too easy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Expand your home (adding new stories, rooms, decks, etc) | x | ||
| Demolish your home and redevelop it into multifamily housing | x | ||
| Redevelop things like parking lots and single-story commercial into multifamily housing | x | ||
| Build subsidized Affordable housing | x | ||
| Build market-rate housing | x | ||
| Build homeless shelters (including navigation centers and "tiny homes") | x |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
| Should the state or federal government have more say, the same say, less say, or the same amount but of a different variety on… | More say | Same amount | Less say | Same, but different |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zoning | x | |||
| Taxes and fees on homebuilders | x | |||
| Oversight of cities' housing policies | x | |||
| Building subsidized Affordable housing | x | |||
| Building market-rate housing | x | |||
| Building homeless shelters | x |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
On net, does building new market rate housing help alleviate our housing crisis?
Yes.
Are funds for affordable housing and homelessness services spent well?
No.
San Francisco is in the midst of a record-breaking housing shortage, high homelessness rate, and is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to seemingly make no progress on solving these issues. Would you support a full audit of San Francisco's government to determine how funds are spent?
Yes. In fact, we need a full audit not just of municipal government in SF, but also the Board of Education as well.
Budget
| Do you think San Francisco spends too little, too much, or just enough on… | Too little | Just enough | Enough, but badly | Too much |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Police and public safety | x | |||
| Street cleanliness | x | |||
| Homeless services | x | |||
| Affordable housing | x | |||
| Parks | x | |||
| Roads | x | |||
| Bus, bike, train, and other public transit infrastructure | x | |||
| Schools | x | |||
| Medical facilities | x | |||
| Drug prevention and treatment | x | |||
| Arts | x |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
| Do you think the state or federal governments spend too little, too much, or just enough on… | Too little | Just enough | Enough, but badly | Too much |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Police and public safety | x | |||
| Street cleanliness | x | |||
| Homeless services | x | |||
| Affordable housing | x | |||
| Parks | x | |||
| Roads | x | |||
| Bus, bike, train, and other public transit infrastructure | x | |||
| Schools | x | |||
| Medical facilities | x | |||
| Drug prevention and treatment | x | |||
| Arts | x |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
What are the top three issues facing San Francisco, California, or the Nation and what would you like to see change?
While the California Controller is not a policy-making position, I think that I bring a perspective to the role that is unique among the candidates for this office. I'm also the only candidate in this race who has proposed specific policies to address some of the issues we face. I believe that to bring order to California's fiscal house, the Controller must be devoted to radical transparency. It is not enough to simply rubber stamp government spending and get the money out the door. The controller should be using the office to aggressively audit programs to make sure that taxpayers are getting value for their money, not just throwing good money after bad.
As Controller, I will make available in machine-readable format a line-by-line disclosure of all state spending. This is something that nearly every other state currently does and that we expect publicly-traded companies across the country to do as well. I also intend to institute a grading system for programs that are receiving state government funds, to let Californians know whether their tax dollars are being spent wisely and to allow them to hold politicians accountable for funding inefficient or ineffective programs.
Tell us one thing you think needs to change in San Francisco, California, or the Nation that the average voter wouldn't know about.
During the pandemic, California's Employment Development Department sent over $20 billion in fraudulent payment to criminal enterprises around the world, including over $800 million to prison inmates. State Auditor Elaine Howle had previously recommended systems improvements that would have drastically cut down on the potential for EDD fraud, but they were not enacted.
Policy
Now that we know where you align and differ from our vision for San Francisco, we'd like to get some details about how you intend to use your elected office to achieve your goals.
Why are you running for Controller?
The Controller is California's independent fiscal watchdog. The person who makes sure that taxpayer money is spent as we're told it will be. But that's not happening now. In fact, the Controller can't even tell us where she sent over $300 billion in payments in 2018 alone.
With my experience in policymaking, and a strong belief in the values of fiscal responsibility, transparency, and independence, it's a job I know I can do well.
For too long, the Controller has been a Sacramento insider, valuing partisanship over competence. The Controller has been beholden to other politicians, defending them instead of fighting for taxpayers.
That won't be me. I'm not part of the one-party monopoly that has controlled Sacramento for too long. We aren't going to change California by recycling the same old tired politicians from one job to another.
We need new leadership that isn't afraid to take on as much as $30 billion of fraud in our state unemployment insurance system. Russian mobsters and convicted murderers like Scott Peterson shouldn't be getting government payments, while single moms in need go without.
We need a check on the Sacramento politicians who spend first and ask questions later. And as taxpayers, we deserve to know exactly how our money is being spent.
The promise of California is still out there. But we're going to have to start fixing our problems soon for us to make sure that the California my kids see is as bright and promising as the one that brought my parents here decades ago.
What is your #1 goal?
Protecting taxpayers from waste and fraud.
How will you build the coalition and political capital to enact your #1 goal?
The Controller is California's independent fiscal watchdog. That means that I won't need the legislature or governor's permission to audit state and local agencies and programs. I was recently endorsed by the Los Angeles Times because they acknowledged that I have the background and experience to be an independent-minded problem-solver and a true defender of taxpayers.
As Controller, I will use my audit authority aggressively and frequently, particularly in examining state programs that may be ripe for fraud and abuse. Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program, is just one example. The number of Californians enrolled in the program has increased by about 50 percent since 2014, but the Controller's Office has only periodically reviewed its operations. In fact, the last report that the Controller issued on how California's Department of Health Care Services administers the program was in January 2018, and even that audit didn't even uncover the $4 billion in improper spending that a separate report—written by State Auditor Elaine Howle—disclosed later that year. And that's just one example. There are many others, from high-speed rail to California's fraud-ridden unemployment insurance program, that taxpayers deserve to know more about.
Will the power of the office of Controller be enough to achieve this goal?
Yes.
What are your #2 and #3 goals?
Holding Sacramento politicians and bureaucrats accountable- As Controller, I will hold policy makers accountable for keeping the promises they make. For too long, the one-party monopoly in Sacramento has resulted in politicians protecting one another rather than being accountable to taxpayers. This is particularly important as we consider the challenges that we faced during the recent pandemic. California taxpayers deserve answers to questions like how tens of billions of dollars in federal assistance during the pandemic were spent. And whether school districts are actually using the funding they've received to help get our kids back into the classroom safely. Or why major political donors received no-bid contracts or plum appointments as part of the state's pandemic response? These are the sorts of questions that, as Controller, I will answer on behalf of taxpayers.
Providing true fiscal transparency-The Controller's Office was unable to disclose to the public where each one of the roughly 50 million payments it made—totaling over $300 billion in 2018 alone—went. The state's comprehensive financial reporting system, FI$Cal, was supposed to be finished already, but is over-budget, late, and expected to lack some of the functions that were originally promised. As Controller, I will put an end to the Sacramento excuses and produce results. I will leverage the innovation and technology we have in our state to ensure that taxpayers have access to a best-in-class system to see these payments and understand exactly how their money is being spent.
Will the power of the office of Controller be enough to achieve these goals?
Yes.
What is an existing policy you would like to reform?
One of the most important roles our Controller can play is in shaping tax policy in California, both through advocacy for specific reforms but also through the Controller's role as a member of the Franchise Tax Board. Unfortunately, the current tax system is marked by tremendous volatility and disincentivizes business growth, investment, and job creation. Furthermore, the shift to a service economy has created challenges for California's tax system. We are no longer as reliant on revenues from sales taxes and are increasingly dependent on personal income tax revenues.
As Controller, I would fight for tax policies that make it easier for businesses to form, grow, and create jobs in California. A pro-growth tax reform is long overdue, and I believe the Controller's office is an ideal platform from which to advocate for these changes.
In 2015, Controller Betty Yee convened a Council of Economic Advisers on Tax Reform to propose dramatic changes to California's tax system. Similarly, Governor Schwarzenegger convened the Commission for the 21st Century Economy, which made findings and recommendations to modernize our tax code.
Unfortunately, despite these efforts, California's tax system remains broken. Businesses would rather leave our state than come here. And too many businesses never get their start in California because of our uncompetitive tax code. This isn't right and has the potential to leave a whole generation of Californians economically worse off than the generation before them.
I have specific proposals to address these challenges. First, I plan to convene a Council of Economic Advisers, which will provide me and state policymakers with macroeconomic forecasting and detailed analyses of state revenues and spending. This CEA will form the basis of a new Commission I plan to empanel to study and make recommendations to improve our state's tax code, with an eye toward fundamental reforms that will produce a simpler, more pro-growth system. I will then work with legislators in both parties who share these goals to introduce and pass legislation to reform California's tax system, once and for all.
What is an "out there" change that you would make to state/local government policy, if you could? (For example: changing how elections work, creating a Bay Area regional government, etc.)
If elected, I would advocate for the Controller to become a nonpartisan position. If the Controller is truly to be an independent fiscal watchdog, I believe that it is important to make sure that we structure the role to discourage it from having the same political interests as the politicians in Sacramento it is meant to serve as a check on.
Personal
Tell us a bit about yourself!
How long have you lived in California? What brought you here and what keeps you here?
I am the son of Taiwanese immigrants, and grew up in Rowland Heights, California from a young age. I left the state to go to Harvard, where I went on to earn four degrees, including a law degree and a PhD. When my wife and I returned to California in 2013, we found that the state we returned to was in many ways not the same state that we left. California has some of the best resources in the world, both natural and human. But we have allowed one-party rule to strangle the innovation that was so key to the development of the California dream. I am running for Controller because California is my home, and I believe that in this position I would have the ability to make sure that our state receives the appropriate level of service that we ought to given the amount that we pay in state taxes.
What do you love most about California and/or your hometown?
Nowhere else in the world can you start your day skiing in the mountains near Lake Tahoe, have lunch in Los Angeles, one of the world's biggest and most diverse cities, and end your day with a bonfire on the beach in Orange County or San Diego. The sheer mix of different natural landscapes, people, foods, and things to do makes our state the most remarkable place in the world.
What do you dislike the most about California and/or your hometown?
I dislike how poor public policy decisions and a failure of political leadership have turned our state into a place where people would rather leave than stay. We've managed to squander our natural advantages. Instead of being the best place in the country to raise a family and build a business, we seem to be one of the last places where people would choose to do either.
Tell us about your current involvement in the community (e.g., volunteer groups, neighborhood associations, civic and professional organizations, etc.)
El Camino Health (nonprofit healthcare system in the Bay Area), Chair of the Board and Member of the Compliance and Audit Committee
The Asian American Foundation (Advisory Committee Member)
Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity (Board Member)
The Winston Health Policy Fellowship (Board Member)
Committee of 100 (Member)
David and Diane Steffy Fellow in American Public Policy Studies, Hoover Institution, Stanford University (on leave)
Director of Domestic Policy Studies and Lecturer in Public Policy, Stanford University (on leave)
Thank you
Thank you for giving us your time and answering our questionnaire. We look forward to reading your answers and considering your candidacy!
If you see any errors on this page, please let us know at contact@growsf.org.