In this competitive race for a California office, the Republican is the better choice

The controller is among the most potentially productive of California’s largely obscure statewide elective offices, providing at least the promise of needed independent oversight of government spending. The trouble is that the state’s virtually unchallenged one-party rule helps ensure that most viable candidates for the position are members in good standing of the very Democratic establishment the controller is supposed to check.

Electing a Republican is an increasingly theoretical alternative thanks to the party’s irrational, authoritarian turn, which leaves the state with diminishing will and opportunities to elect competent GOP candidates. But Californians have cause to reconsider a lengthening record of Republican rejection this fall thanks to Lanhee Chen, who could make the controller a meaningful bulwark against misuse of public money.

A fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution and onetime policy adviser to the presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney and George W. Bush, Chen has the knowledge to be an effective controller and a plan to put it to use. He says he would analyze state and local budgets systematically to find the areas most in need of oversight based on risk and spending, identifying public education and health care spending as likely focuses. And he means to increase the use of audits that examine not just finances but also performance, evaluating governments’ broader efficacy.

Chen makes a compelling case that the office needs a departure from the usual ranks of the Democratic establishment. So does current Controller Betty Yee’s reported role in facilitating a deal with a dubious mask contractor as the government rushed to secure pandemic supplies.

“I would be very different in that I would not be part of that political system,” Chen said. “That would be helpful and useful for the taxpayers.”

While the “R” next to Chen’s name will put him at a significant disadvantage in a statewide vote for some good reasons, he appears to be the sort of Republican we could use more of. Chen served on the Social Security Advisory Board under Barack Obama, rejects the mass delusion that Donald Trump won the 2020 election, says he never voted for the former president and has expressed qualified support for abortion rights. Granted, he waited until he was safely out of the primary to make the last two points clear, making him something less than a profile in courage. But at least he landed in the right place, which is more than can be said for much of his party.

Chen’s Democratic opponent, Malia Cohen, has the advantage of elected experience, being a former San Francisco supervisor and the current chair of the Board of Equalization, an elected statewide tax board of which the controller is an ex officio member. Cohen championed a soda tax, a ban on flavored tobacco and police oversight in San Francisco, and she pledges to focus on gender and racial equity, affordable housing and climate change if elected controller.

Those are all important issues, but none of them is central to the responsibilities of the state’s chief fiscal watchdog. Moreover, while it’s not impossible for a Democrat to hold her fellow partisans accountable, Cohen isn’t just a Democrat; she’s the one chosen by the party establishment, which helped her finish ahead of state Sen. Steve Glazer and other fellow Democrats in the spring’s top-two primary. And unlike Glazer, Cohen doesn’t have an extensive record or platform suggesting independence from the party.

That said, her backing also gives her a significant edge in this race. If Cohen is elected, as seems more likely than not, she could unexpectedly become the sort of unflinching watchdog California needs. The state’s taxpayers should certainly hope she does.

But there’s no need to hope in Chen’s case. His capacity to challenge those in charge is clear, and that makes him the better candidate for controller.

This story was originally published September 28, 2022 at 5:00 AM with the headline "In this competitive race for a California office, the Republican is the better choice."