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Judicial Watch Questions Matt Fong

Matt Fong

By Ji Hyun Lim

Larry Klayman says, “Judicial Watch is a friend of Asian Americans.” Yet, this public law firm that investigates and prosecutes government corruption alleges that Matt Fong — President Bush’s nominee for undersecretary of the Army — may be a security risk to the United States.

Fong accepted a $100,000 donation from Ted Sioeng, an Indonesian businessman, to pay off debt from his 1994 campaign for California Treasurer. Fong later discovered that $50,000 came from Sioeng’s personal account and returned the money immediately.

This incident sparked suspicion. Since the 1990s, Asian Americans have been charged with making illegal campaign donations. API leaders, however, have pointed out that in many cases the accusations have been unfounded.

Fong, a graduate of the Airforce Academy and former California State Treasurer, does not understand why Klayman would continue to explore what Fong calls “a dead campaign finance issue.”

“It’s incumbent upon our community to support those of us who take positions of public service — the elected side like the governor or the cabinet side [such as] Elaine Chao, Norm Mineta or myself,” Fong said. “We need to demonstrate to mainstream America that Americans of Asian ancestry are capable, qualified, and loyal.”

He added: “I’m a Lieutenant Colonel in the Airforce Reserve. I’ve been working in the Pentagon. For him to suggest I’m [a security risk], with the only basis of having had this experience on this campaign contribution issue, really stretches the credibility of his statement [that it is a non-race issue].”

Vincent Eng, Legal Director of the Asian Pacific Legal Consortium, said it is easy to point fingers at Asian groups in light of tense relations with China and rampant xenophobia against Chinese.

“It’s wrong to think anyone who is Asian who gives money is connected to China,” Eng said. “A lot of this goes to paranoia that money is going back to China. Fong has always been a patriot. His record alone will demonstrate that Klayman’s accusations are unfounded.”

Laws prohibit contributions of more than $1,000 from individuals, while Political Action Committees (PACS) can donate $5,000 to each candidate. “Soft money,” contributions of unlimited size to political parties, are under scrutiny by Congress. The proposed McCain-Feingold bill would ban “soft money,” allowing only “hard money” donations limited by campaign laws. Foreign national donations to American elections are already banned altogether.

In 1996, Maria Hsia was charged with making false statements and soliciting money. Prosecutors alleged that Hsia tapped funds from a Buddhist temple near Los Angeles to reimburse $109,000 to donors of the Clinton-Gore campaign. Hsia was convicted of campaign finance violations in March of 2000.

Larry Klayman, president of Judicial Watch, warned that the Sioeng’s donation was illegal and that Fong is a security risk.

“It needs to be thoroughly investigated before he is made Secretary of the Army,” Klayman said.

Klayman said that Fong’s qualifications are not the issue. Because Fong accepted money from someone who is an “agent of Communist China,” the importance of his potential position to national security should require Congress to further investigate Fong.

But Asian Pacific American civil rights organizations such as the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NFFAA), and the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA) defend Fong.

“It’s a level of racial profiling,” Eng said. “[Klayman is] targeting his distrust for Asians in general. He is making wild accusations. There was never any issue that questions his loyalty. If he was any other type of background, I don’t think it would ever be an issue.”

The Democratic National Committee was also accused of accepting illegal campaign money, Eng pointed out. However, they never returned the money and did not receive the same criticism as Fong.

Klayman suggested that most of API communities want to get to the truth. However, “Some people in the API community are very quick to play the race card. They are doing a disservice to this country,” he said.