An Acknowledgement

The day started out with the Little Saigon community gathered in City Hall to ensure that the council hear their argument for having one single election for both recall and replacement ballots. Under the guidance of the city attorney, all councilmembers voted to set March 3 as a recall election date and if Nguyen is recalled, the council will reserve the option of appointing or calling for a general election.

The crowd filed out disappointed and totally missed the political acknowledgement to the community by Reed as well as councilmembers who have supported Nguyen. It was one of the hardest votes for him as his senior staff would later shared.

Later in the evening, the community gathered to celebrate Dave Cortese's victory. Over at Pete Mchugh's victory party, it was a sweet confirmation that unqualified Vietnamese-American candidates would never get the votes of the community.

The community is burned badly over Madison Nguyen and they have vowed to only support qualified and proven candidates. Losing candidates like Heidi Pham, Khoa Nguyen, Vance Vuong and Kathy Tran either are unknown in the community or have not been a part of the community period. These candidates were also unprepared and naively thought that by having a Vietnamese last name, they would automatically have the support of the community

It would have been a much better day for the community if Pat Waite would have won but the race is too close to call and will take at least two more days to determine. There is a good chance that there will be a recount. However, at the end of the day, whether it is Rose or Pat, they have gained two very good friends.

The real winner of course is a well known lawyer and developer in the community. His even handed approach and fair play show that he is a voice of reason that the political mainstream can rely on. Well, his money and ability to raise a lot of cash may have a lot to do with it too.