Matt Fong to Run for State Treasurer in ’94 : Politics: Republican, who lost a bid for controller in 1990, says he will seek the post now held by Kathleen Brown. She is expected to try to unseat Gov. Pete Wilson.

Matt Fong, an appointed member of the State Board of Equalization, announced Tuesday his candidacy to succeed Democrat Kathleen Brown as state treasurer in 1994 and to join his mother in one of the eight statewide constitutional offices.

Fong, 39, a Republican, is the son of Democrat March Fong Eu, who has been California’s secretary of state since 1975 and is expected to seek a fifth term next year. There has been speculation that Fong might try to succeed his mother if she decided not to run again.

After one term as treasurer, Brown is expected to pursue the Democratic nomination for governor in the June, 1994, primary.

This will be Fong’s second try for statewide office. Fong was unopposed in the 1990 GOP primary for state controller but lost to incumbent Democrat Gray Davis in the November general election.

Shortly after the election, Fong was appointed by Republican Gov. Pete Wilson to a vacancy on the five-member Board of Equalization, which administers the state sales tax and oversees California’s property tax system.

The other elected members of the board are Republican Ernest J. Dronenburg Jr. of San Diego and Democrat Brad Sherman of Santa Monica. The seat of resigned Democrat William Bennett of Marin County remains open.

The fifth, ex-officio, member of the board is Davis, who has indicated he plans to run for lieutenant governor in 1994 after two terms as controller.

So far, Fong is the only declared candidate of either party for treasurer. Democrats speculated as potential candidates include state Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti of Van Nuys and Assemblyman Rusty Areias of San Jose.

Fong, a native of Oakland, is a graduate of the Air Force Academy, Pepperdine University and Southwestern University School of Law.

He has worked as an international business consultant and lawyer. He lives in Hacienda Heights and his Board of Equalization district covers most of the southern and central portions of Los Angeles County.

Fong said that if he is elected treasurer he will be a leader for fiscal reform: “I’ll use the power of the treasurer’s office to help identify and eliminate wasteful government spending, push for tax policies that nurture economic growth, encourage new investment in California’s economy and work to keep the state’s long-term debt financing under control.”