The flower shop belongs to Paul Fong, an Evergreen Valley College political science professor. "Teacher" is only one of his many titles. People who are familiar with local politics call Fong "the Asian Godfather" or "the man behind the scene."

From the back office of the flower shop, Fong has helped manage more than 600 campaigns, pushing such people as Mike Honda, Joe Simitian and Kris Wang into national, state and local offices.

In Cupertino alone, he was the unofficial campaign manager for 16 people, including former Mayor Michael Chang, City Councilwoman Dolly Sandoval and Cupertino Union School District board member Ben Liao. In Sunnyvale, he offered campaign strategies for both Otto Lee and Dean Chu that got them elected to the city council.

"I am good at picking winning horses," Fong, 51, says. "The only candidate who has used this office for campaigning and wasn't elected was Lynn Briody. She pulled out of the Sunnyvale City Council race because Desert Storm was going on."

Fong isn't exaggerating. The dimly lit office at the back of the flower shop is decorated with appreciation proclamations from people he helped elect. There are so many proclamations that some stand on the floor.

"My specialty is helping people of color and the underdogs," Fong says.

Fong himself ran for public office for the first time in 1974 when he was a student at San José State University. He ran for Sunnyvale City Council for a political science class. In the end, he dropped out of the race against Larry Stone and worked for Stone's campaign.

"Although I didn't win the election, I got an A from that class. My teacher is still very proud of me," Fong says.

In 1993, Fong ran for the board of trustees in the Foothill­De Anza Community College District and won. And in 1997, he ran for reelection and won that race with the highest number of votes. In 2001 when Fong ran again, no one challenged him. He won effortlessly.

Fong was also elected as an advocate for 500 California community college trustees in Sacramento and 5,000 Association of Community College trustees in Washington, D.C.

"I rarely lose," he says.

Successful as he is, Fong doesn't fit the model minority type.

His body reveals who he is. He has the build of a former football player, with a broad chest and strong shoulders. He was the quarterback and defense captain of the football team at Sunnyvale High School and later was an all-conference running back at De Anza College. Fong has farmer's hands—big, chapped and callused from all the years he helped his father in his family flower fields.

Fong grew up poor and rough in Sunnyvale. The second child of his family, Fong was born in Macau. Fearing the Communists would take over Macau, Fong's father, Y.K. Fong, took his wife, Mai, and three children and immigrated to California on July 4, 1956. Fong was only 3 years old.

Mai's parents, who came earlier, already owned a 15-acre flower field in San Mateo. They were among the first Chinese-Americans to join the Japanese, Italians and Portuguese in the flower-growing business.

In 1960, Y.K. Fong moved the family to Sunnyvale and rented four acres on Pajaro Avenue. He later purchased five acres of an apricot orchard, cut down the trees and planted chrysanthemums.

Fong started picking weeds when he was 4. When he was 8, he performed adult chores. "I was an irrigation specialist or a water boy," he said.

Fong didn't excel academically. He worked hard enough just to pass. To get his high school diploma, he took a physical education class to raise his 1.9 grade point average to 2.0.

Although Fong's parents have always considered him an obedient child, he was obedient only at home. A football star, he was popular among friends and girls. His friends, mostly Latino and African American, called him Vato Loco, Spanish slang for "a crazy guy." He held beer-drinking competitions, exchanged blood in friendship oaths and hung out with lowriders.

"I was so bad to the bone that I was good," Fong says. "I developed my leadership skills on the street. I was a street boy."

A knee injury ended his football career when he was at San José State University. He quit school and volunteered in the community. He started the Asian American section of the bilingual center at De Anza College, recruiting people to teach the first English as a second language classes in Cantonese and Chinese. In 1975, he served on the board of directors of Sunnyvale Community Services.

Fong eventually returned to school, received a bachelor's degree in sociology and Asian American studies and earned two master's degrees—one in public administration and the other in education.

While he was at graduate school, he obtained a real estate license in 1978 and was involved in property management, development and leasing. At the same time, he built and opened the Flower Cottage in 1982. He was also teaching an Asian American studies course at night at De Anza College in the summer.

To run for the Foothill­De Anza College District board, he quit his teaching position at De Anza in 1993 and started teaching at Evergreen Valley College in 1994.

"When I was in graduate school, my dream was to be a teacher and a football coach," Fong says. "But I got distracted. It took me 20 years to fulfill that dream."

Fong is restless. During the past 30 years, he has served or founded many nonprofit organizations. He is a board member for the Asian Americans for Community Involvement, a member of California Colleges Latino Trustees Association and founder of the Silicon Valley Asian Pacific Democrats. His community-service affiliations are so many that the list doesn't fit on one letter-size page.

"Everywhere I walk, I change things for the better," Fong says.

As a political science professor, Fong doesn't leave his political theories in the classroom. He puts them into action. Candidates, no matter what they are—Asian Americans, Latino or Caucasians—knock on his door for guidance.

Although he is the man behind the scene, he does not shy away from the limelight. His face is seen everywhere in the Chinese-language newspapers and his name is on many endorsement lists. Fong has been interviewed about everything, from political candidates to football.

"The Chinese media has created a myth about me. Sometimes I don't know who Fong Men-jong [Fong's Chinese name] is," Fong says. "The media often call me an Asian American leader. They are wrong. I am not just an Asian American leader. I am a hell of a leader for everyone."

Fong says he is crazy about elections and his deep knowledge about Cupertino and Sunnyvale makes him a good campaign strategist.

"Social integration should be local, local, local. That's where the changes happen," he says. "To eliminate institutional racism, you have to work within the institutions. My job is matchmaking—putting people together to make things work."

Fong's theories work. Former Cupertino Mayor Michael Chang passed two diversity policies before he left office in 2003 to ensure that city staff and community boards have a fair representation of the city's different ethnic groups and are able to serve their different needs.

Chang, who has known Fong for 10 years, sought Fong for advice.

"When I had an idea and wanted to know how people might react to it, I talked to Paul," Chang says. "He always gives me a very candid assessment. He is particularly good at predicting what kinds of ideas are feasible."

Direct, outspoken and even crude sometimes, Fong says he has as many enemies inside his group as outside. But Fong doesn't seem to care. "When I do things, I go all the way," he says. "I don't take crap from anybody."

Fong admits his community and political involvement has affected his family life. He has a small apartment he calls a "doghouse." When his wife, Grace, is mad at him, he stays there.

Grace, who married Fong in 1989, says she is used to Fong's absence. "It was really hard when the children were small. But he wasn't happy if he had to stay at home, so I let him do whatever he wants to do now," Grace, 43, says.

Grace's background is similar to Fong's. Her family was also in the first wave of Asian American flower growers in the Santa Clara Valley. She now runs the Flower Cottage.

"Paul likes legacy," Grace says. "He thinks it's important for the children to connect to our past through the flower shop."

Fong is very proud that Grace graduated from UC-Berkeley and hopes their children—Sean, 18, Nicole, 14, and Sidney, 12—are as studious as Grace was. But to his secret delight and Grace's agony, Grace says the children take after Fong's energetic, rebellious and stubborn nature.

"Paul didn't grow up a traditional Chinese child, so everything I think is serious is nothing in Paul's eyes," Grace says.

Although Grace cannot help but complain about Fong's absence and the large number of campaign signs in front of the flower shop during elections (she once had 25 signs), she supports her husband.

"Community is his passion," Grace says. "People need to do what they feel their path is. I don't want to put too many roadblocks in his way."