Cory Fong
Encyclopedia
Cory Fong is a North Dakota
North Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....

 public servant. He is a Republican
North Dakota Republican Party
The North Dakota Republican Party is the North Dakota affiliate of the United States Republican Party. The party platform is generally conservative.The North Dakota Republican Party is strongly in control of the state's politics...

, and the current state State Tax Commissioner
North Dakota State Tax Commissioner
The North Dakota State Tax Commissioner is a political office in North Dakota. The commissioner's duty is to exercise general supervision over all state-levied taxes, as well as related oversight, including over property assessors...

.

Fong was appointed Tax Commissioner in 2005 by Governor John Hoeven
John Hoeven
John Henry Hoeven III is the junior United States Senator from North Dakota. He is a member of the North Dakota Republican Party. He is expected to become the state's senior senator when Kent Conrad retires from the Senate in January 2013.Hoeven served as the 31st Governor of North Dakota,...

 following the resignation of Rick Clayburgh
Rick Clayburgh
Richard S. "Rick" Clayburgh is a North Dakota Republican politician and current director of the North Dakota Bankers Association. Clayburgh was elected as the state's Tax Commissioner in 1996, and re-elected in 2000 and 2004. He resigned effective from May 2005 and Cory Fong was appointed to serve...

 (who left the job to become executive director of the North Dakota Bankers Association.) He was elected to the position in 2006 when he faced Brent Edison
Brent Edison
Brent Edison is an attorney and Democratic-NPL politician from North Dakota. He has unsuccessfully ran for both State Auditor in 2004 and for State Tax Commissioner in 2006...

, 53% to 47%, after a heated campaign
Political campaign
A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making process within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, wherein representatives are chosen or referendums are decided...

.

Biography

He was born in Great Falls to Donna Lee and Terry Fong and was raised in Helena, Montana
Helena, Montana
Helena is the capital city of the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Lewis and Clark County. The 2010 census put the population at 28,180. The local daily newspaper is the Independent Record. The Helena Brewers minor league baseball and Helena Bighorns minor league hockey team call the...

. He moved to Bismarck, North Dakota
Bismarck, North Dakota
Bismarck is the capital of the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Burleigh County. It is the second most populous city in North Dakota after Fargo. The city's population was 61,272 at the 2010 census, while its metropolitan population was 108,779...

 in 1994 to fill the post of Deputy Secretary of State
Secretary of State
Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....

. He is a graduate of Gonzaga University
Gonzaga University
Gonzaga University is a private Roman Catholic university located in Spokane, Washington, United States. Founded in 1887 by the Society of Jesus, it is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities and is named after the young Jesuit saint, Aloysius Gonzaga...

 in Spokane
Spokane, Washington
Spokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...

.

Fong began his career in public service
Civil service
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....

 at the North Dakota Secretary of State
North Dakota Secretary of State
The North Dakota Secretary of State is an elected office in the U.S. state of North Dakota. The current Secretary of State is Alvin Jaeger. The general duties of the Secretary of State include being the custodian of the state's Great Seal and other official state documents, recording the official...

's office, first as a staffer, then as state elections director, and finally, Deputy Secretary of State. Fong's responsibilities included addressing the Help America Vote Act
Help America Vote Act
The Help America Vote Act , or HAVA, is a United States federal law which passed in the House 357-48 and 92-2 in the Senate and was signed into law by President Bush on October 29, 2002. Drafted in reaction to the controversy surrounding the 2000 U.S...

 (HAVA). In 2004, Fong was a leader of the John Hoeven
John Hoeven
John Henry Hoeven III is the junior United States Senator from North Dakota. He is a member of the North Dakota Republican Party. He is expected to become the state's senior senator when Kent Conrad retires from the Senate in January 2013.Hoeven served as the 31st Governor of North Dakota,...

 re-election campaign. He is married to Cecily Fong, and has one stepson, Jordan Biegler Eggers.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK