A strong voice in Sacramento
ridgecrestca.com | March 11, 2016 –
Assembly candidate and Bakersfield native Vince Fong has more than a decade of experience helping represent Kern County and the Indian Wells Valley in Washington D.C as district director for Congressman Kevin McCarthy. He is now hoping to parlay that experience into a job representing the area, this time in Sacramento.
Assembly candidate and Bakersfield native Vince Fong has more than a decade of experience helping represent Kern County and the Indian Wells Valley in Washington D.C as district director for Congressman Kevin McCarthy. He is now hoping to parlay that experience into a job representing the area, this time in Sacramento.
“I think I can go up there and speak to issues and solutions that will help our area,” he said via telephone Wednesday.
Fong is seeking to fill the seat of 34th Assembly District Assemblywoman Shannon Grove, who is being termed out of office. He said he was motivated to enter the race after seeing how policies in Sacramento were affecting Kern County.
“I’ve never seen a time where one area of the state – the Central Valley and Indian Wells Valley – is being so negatively impacted by the policies from Sacramento,” he said. “I believe with decade of work experience I’ve had fighting for our community I can help correct that.”
He said he is aware some of those same policies are negatively impacting the state as well.
“We are all tired as Californian’s of paying more and getting less,” said Fong. “You’ve got a lot of families that are paying more in gas prices, paying more in food. Those things are all driven by more regulations that come from Sacramento and we need to get rid of those as much as possible.”
Born in Bakersfield and raised in Kern County, Fong says community is a big part of his success.
“My dad was a pharmacist and my mom was a stay at home mom,” he said. “My grandfather came over here from a foreign country to make a better life for his family. I wouldn’t have had the opportunities I’ve had if it were not for the support of the community.”
Those opportunities included earning a bachelor’s degree in political science from UCLA and a master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton. Working for McCarthy brought him into frequent contact with the Indian Wells Valley, including China Lake.
“I am intimately aware of the challenges that face Ridgecrest and I think we’ve be successful in achieving a number of things that benefitted Ridgecrest,” he said.
Part of his job in the nation’s capital was managing the policy agenda for McCarthy.
“I’m very cognizant of challenges military communities have, so I obviously want to make sure that our military community – especially Ridgecrest and China Lake – has a strong voice in Sacramento,” said Fong. “Kevin is very influential in Washington D.C and I think I can be an influential voice in Sacramento. There’s a lot of synergy that exists working with Kevin, we can work together for the best interests of Ridgecrest.”