Monday, August 23, 2010
Page 3
Attorney James Fang Nominated to Board of Education
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday nominated San Francisco attorney James Fang, 48, to be a public member of the State Board of Education.
The position requires Senate confirmation. Schwarzenegger previously named Jeannie Oropeza, the program budget manager for education for the Department of Finance, to the position, but the Senate rejected the nomination in April on a party-line vote of 17-11.
Democrats opposed Oropeza’s nomination, saying her current job made for an “irreconcilable” conflict of interest because she would be in a position to make Board of Education appointment recommendations to the governor while simultaneously serving on the board. They also pointed to her frequent appearances before the Legislature to testify on matters related to the state education budget.
Fang has served as the president of Asian Week Newspaper since 1995. He is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit Board of Directors and the AsianWeek Foundation, and chairman of the San Francisco-Shanghai Sister City Committee.
A Republican, he was president of the San Francisco Examiner from 2000 to 2004 and director of commerce and trade for the City and County of San Francisco from 1992 to 1995. Fang also worked as the director and founder of the Asian American Voter Project from 1990 to 1992 and as assistant manager for Asian Week and Grant Printing House from 1988 to 1990.
A graduate of UC Berkeley and UC Hastings College of the Law, Fang joined the State Bar in 1992. He served as a law clerk in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California in 1988.
Compensation for the position is $100 per diem.
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