Evolving answers on major issues a hallmark of Fung’s campaign for governor

Sept. 04--CRANSTON, R.I. -- Picture this: Allan Fung, the four-term Republican mayor of Cranston, going table-to-table, delivering platters of chicken cutlets slathered with barbecue sauce at an annual seniors-day picnic at his city's Brayton Park.

As Fung darted back and forth with trays, as he first did as a 10-year-old at his parents' Chinese restaurant on Cranston Street, people cheered him on. Carole Cowell talked to him about the kind of tree she hopes the city will plant in place of the damaged "Christmas tree" outside Talbot Manor. Another woman -- a retired social worker for the state -- made him promise he wouldn't reduce her retirement benefits.

"We live in fear a politician will reduce our pensions," the retiree (who asked to remain anonymous) told the 48-year-old Fung, who is seeking the GOP nomination to run for governor, a second time.

No worry, said Fung, each time he happened upon a retired public employee. His promise: a more "sympathetic" ear than he said the current governor, Gina Raimondo, gave retired state workers and teachers in 2011 when she championed a swath of pension cuts -- including the suspension of guaranteed annual cost-of-living adjustments -- in her previous role as state treasurer.

"I am certainly not in the camp of Matt Brown, undoing all those reforms, because I think that is reckless," Fung later said of the former Rhode Island secretary of state who is challenging Raimondo in the Democratic primary. "But I am very, very sympathetic," said Fung, promising to look, at the very least, at providing more frequent pension increases.

Now picture this: Cranston City Hall asthe scene, days later, of an angry protest by a citizens' advocacy group, against what it called Fung's "anti-immigrant fear-mongering."

The protesters' target:Fung's signing of an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department agreeing to contact immigration enforcement "when a criminal in custody is in this country illegally." The move put him at odds with Raimondo and the Democratic mayors of Providence and Central Falls.

"We, at Cranston Action Network (CAN), strongly condemn the actions of Mayor Allan Fung in aligning with the Trump administration, which has cruelly separated families, placed children in cages, and unnecessarily traumatized immigrants, even those seeking asylum from violence in their home countries."

Asked last week why his own parents came to this country from Hong Kong in 1969, when his mother was pregnant with him, Fung said: "The American Dream. Opportunity."

The difference? "They came here legally."

"Those that are committing crimes, you talk to anyone: those guys should go."

Such stands -- in the Trump era, in a state where Democrats currently hold every major state and federal office -- mark a clear distinction between Fung and Raimondo, who has been airing a TV ad in which -- without mentioning Fung or her primary challengers -- she lists her disagreements with Trump, including on health care, immigration and abortion rights.

"She's doing that to run from her record of incompetent leadership ... The prime example is UHIP," said Fung, of the Raimondo administration's trouble-plagued $647.7-million public-assistance benefits computer system.

"Do I look like mini-Trump?" laughs the 5-foot, 6-inch, 170-pound Fung.

In actuality, Fung has made it difficult for voters to pinpoint where he stands. He declined for months to answer media questions on some front-burner issues, and agreed to only one pre-primary debate, on a Woonsocket-based radio station with limited reach.

Until just recently, his campaign website reflected only one big campaign initiative: an economic plan centered on cutting the state's 7-percent sales tax to 5 percent, over four years, at a projected first-year cost of $80.2 million in lost revenue and eventually, $347.2 million a year.

Fung is confident the rate cut will generate more sales and by extension, more taxes. Beyond that, he believes, the state can afford a tax cut of this magnitude by cutting Raimondo-created state jobs, including public-relations staffers, and redirecting the millions of dollars that go into Raimondo's ReBuildRI tax credits, which he says create "just a few construction jobs on a temporary basis" for hand-picked corporate winners.

In a recent interview with The Journal, Fung spelled out his evolving positions on a number of issues. At times, his wife, Barbara Ann Fenton, a longtime GOP and right-to-life activist -- jumped in.

Abortion: Having previously called himself pro-choice, Fung -- who converted to Catholicism before marrying Fenton in June 2016 -- no longer describes himself that way.

He said he supports "certain common-sense restrictions ... while still respecting a woman's right to make a medical decision." For example: "I don't subscribe to late-term abortions," do support "making sure we have parental notifications for minors, making sure there is a abortion-free option on the [state's health-insurance] exchange."

Asked if he, as governor, would sign legislation enshrining abortion rights in state law, Fenton said: "You have to be careful. Which bill are you talking about?" Echoed Fung: "It really has to depend on the legislation."

Guns: Fung says he had never used a gun and was "unfamiliar" with the differences between firearms when, in 2004, he voted as a then-member of the Cranston City Council for a nonbinding resolution calling on Congress to renew a national ban on assault weapons.

"No, I don't support a complete ban," he says now. "I shoot recreationally. I shoot skeet, trap. I respect the rights of law-abiding citizens to own a firearm." The problem, he said, is criminals. "You already have a lot of laws on the books in Rhode Island that really need to be enforced ... I'd like to see heavier sentencing."

Of the push by some legislators to ban the concealed carrying of guns in schools, he said: "I am not sure I would go there because you have law-abiding citizens that honestly ... with response times, could be a first line of defense" against a shooter.

Allan Fung

Residence: Cranston

Age: 48

Occupation: Cranston mayor

Party: Republican

Previous political office: Cranston City Council member; mayor

Education: Rhode Island College, bachelor's degree; Suffolk University Law School, law degree

Family: Married

This is the second in a series of profiles of the six candidates for governor who will compete in the Democratic and Republican primaries on Sept. 12. Here is the publication schedule of the other profiles:

Saturday, Sept. 1: Giovanni Feroce

Wednesday: Patricia Morgan

Thursday: Matt Brown

Friday: Spencer Dickinson

Saturday: Gina Raimondo

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