Richard Nguyen Edged Out Incumbent Al Hoang for Houston City Council Seat

In a battle of mostly for Vietnamese-Amerian votes,  political novice Richard Nguyen beat out the incumbent Al Hoang for Houston City Council District F.  

Nguyen received 3,160 votes while Hoang garnered 2,964 votes.   Less than 12% of the registered voters went to the poll.   In District F has about 67,000 registered voters and Vietnamese-American voters is 15% of the total.

Al Hoang served for 2 terms since 2009.  He lost partly because of his controversial dialogues with the Vietnamese government and his heavy handed tactics in dealing with the Vietnamese-Americans whom voted him in the office in 2009.   His defeat was a referendum of the Vietnamese-American community that does not want to be jerk around.  

Hung Nguyen Lost Virginia House of Delegates Race

With 90% of the precincts reported, it seems that Hung Nguyen (D) has lost his bid to become the first Vietnamese-American elected to the Virginia House of Delegates.  It was an opportunistic campaign with lack of funding and little support from his own Vietnamese community.   Thus the result was encouraging and it is up to him to learn from this experience in order to mount a challenge two years from now.  Candidate Votes Percent Recount Votes Recount % Column13 Column14 Column15 REP James M. "Jim" LeMunyon 9,516 54.37% 0 220 0.543709290366815 595 N 067 DEM Hung Q. Nguyen 7,949 45.42% 0 220 0.45417666552394 531 N 067 Write-in 37 0.21% 99 220 0.00211404410924466 1265 N 067 Total Votes 17,502

Hung Nguyen and His Chances

Hung Nguyen (D) is falling behind his opponent in fund raising effort.   Currently, he has raised about $53K (1/3 of the money came from California where he originally resided).  Meanwhile, his opponent, the Republican incumbent James LeMunyon, is flushed with cash at $280K (10% came from out-of-state).

So what are his chances?  The Democratic Party is fully behind him.  The Asian-Americans are lukewarm right now.  Whether the government shut dow will entice them to go to vote en-mass is too early to tell.   With not a lot of money, he has been relying on other Democratic candidates to co-promoting his name.   His co-campaigning with other better funded Democratic candidates is a practical strategy to get his name out there for free.

LSI thinks the race is actually closer than the conventional wisdom predicted.   LeMunyon is sitting on $84K of cash unspent.  He should be worry and use the money wisely for he might be in for a suprise in November.   As mentioned before, if Nguyen loses, he will be better ready next time.   LSI can see the ambition in his eyes.  He is a good guy and could make a difference in office.



 

Janet Nguyen and San Francisco Chronicle

It is quite rare to have SF Chronicle to interview a political candidate in Orange County.   So LSI was surprised to see the article about OC Supervisor Janet Nguyen (R) along with the video -

http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2013/10/06/meet-the-female-gop-candidate-who-grew-up-on-welfare-video/

 So what is going with the OC state senate race between Janet Nguyen (R) and Jose Solorio.   See below for a nice breakdown by an article in the OC Register.    By all indication thus far, it will be a close race but if Nguyen can rally her base, she might be ahead by more than 7 votes on election night (which is still a year from now).

Vietnamese Americans more engaged politically
There are far more Mexican-born residents of Orange County than Vietnamese-born, but those from Vietnam are more likely to register to vote.
By MARTIN WISCKOL / ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Vietnamese Americans repeatedly prove themselves more engaged with Orange County elections than their Latino counterparts, and Register stats wiz Ronald Campbell has turned up a new indicator of that.

County residents are more than three times as likely to be Mexican-born (12 percent of the population) as Vietnamese born (4 percent), according to census data. But the Vietnamese-born are more likely to be registered to vote than the Mexican-born (4.8 percent to 4.2 percent), according to Campbell’s rundown.

There are far more Mexican-born residents of Orange County than Vietnamese-born, but those from Vietnam are more likely to register to vote.
But even among registered voters, Vietnamese Americans are more likely to vote than Mexican Americans or Latinos in general.

Perhaps the most dramatic display of county Vietnamese Americans’ electoral muscle came in the 2007 special election for county supervisor, which was won by Janet Nguyen. The district had 20 percent more Latino voters than Vietnamese American voters. But Vietnamese Americans’ ballots outnumbered those from Latinos by more than 2-1. Although there were three Latinos on the ballot, the top two finishers were Vietnamese Americans.That’s worth keeping in mind in the 2014 race for state Senate District 34, which is being vacated by termed-out Sen. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana. Nguyen, a Republican, is running against Democratic former Assemblyman Jose Solorio.

Democrats have a narrow 3-percentage point advantage in the district’s voter registration. Latinos are 47 percent of the district’s population but just 27 percent of the district’s citizens of voting age, according to Paul Mitchell at Political Data Inc. Asians – predominantly of Vietnamese descent – are 21 percent of the population and 23 percent of the district’s citizens of voting age.
Vietnamese Americans (and Asians overall) are traditionally more likely to register to vote than Latinos, and once registered are more likely to cast ballots. That likely tips the scale of ethnic votes in favor of Nguyen.
A similar dynamic could come into play in Assembly District 65 if Vietnamese Americans join Korean Americans in identifying with Korean American candidate Young Kim, a Republican. The GOP hopes she can beat incumbent Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva, D-Fullerton. Democrats have an insignificant half-percentage point advantage in voter registration. Latinos and Asians each have about a 24-percent share of the district’s citizens of voting age.

By most assessments, the Mexican American population is younger than its Vietnamese American counterpart (ditto for the broader Latino vs. Asian numbers), so voter registration numbers are apt to improve for Latinos as more reach voting age.But even once they reach voting age, Latino citizens are less likely to register than others. About 25 percent of the state’s voting-age citizens are not registered, while that shoots up to 37 percent among Latino citizens of voting age, according to Mitchell.

 

Van Tran for Board of Equalization

The ex-assemblyman Van Tran is curiously announced his run for the Board of Equalization to replace his long time mentor Michelle Steel who is termed out and will be running for Orange County supervisor.

Why such a puzzling move to set up another political defeat for a position that has little political influence?

The 4th BOE Seat encompasses all of Orange County, along with San Diego, Imperial, Riverside and portions of San Bernardino Counties.   There are about 9 million people residing in the area.   Less than 3% are Vietnamese-Americans.   The overwhelmingly favorite candidate is the Diane Harkey (R).  She has the support of all the major politicians in the area, including local assemblymembers, state senators and all  five OC county supervisors.  And of course, she has no problem raising a boat load of money.

Not suprisingly,  his mentor Michelle Steel decided to also support Diane Harkey.    Michelle Steel and  her husband (a powerful Republican Party leader) gave Van Tran and his underlings the stepping stones into American politics.

In race with such large area to cover and without having the support of the Republican Party,  Van Tran would have little chance of raising enough money.  And his lack of visibility outside of Little Saigon conclave will also limited his ability to  run a meaningful campaign.  

So what is his game?   The conventional wisdom is that he is just making his name relevant again and try to raise as much money as he can so that he can  use the fund to run for Janet Nguyen's seat in 2015, just in case she wins the state senate race.

One Vietnam Network Presents STREET EATS GALA

This is the second annual event put together by One Vietnam Network to raise money for their organization.  The group was formed with the idea of provide social network for Vietnamese people all over the world.  Last year, there were about 500 people attending the gala paying $125 a piece or more. 

http://streeteats.in/?utm_source=OneVietnam%27s+Weekly+Digest&utm_campaign=2a8b8a4dc7-Street_Eats_Flash_Sale_Day_110_1_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b045e3fc4f-2a8b8a4dc7-56980241

Richard Nguyen vs. Al Hoang for Houston City Council

An upcoming election this November that are being watched closely by the Vietnamese-American communities is the Houston city council race in District F.   The district is currently represented by Councilmember Hung Hoang or Al Hoang (English).   

Just as a background about  Houston.  It is the largest city in Texas with  2.2 million people and is divided into 11 districts.  Each district is represented by a city council.   The city also has 5 at-large council members and a mayor.    District F includes the Alief community where a large population of Vietnamese-Americans resides. 

Al Hoang was elected in 2009 and has a three-term limit of 2 years each.  The Vietnamese-American voters voted for him based on his strong anti-communist rhetoric.  

After taking office, he immediately wrapped himself in controversy with his open overture to the communist government in Vietnam.  He went to Vietnam on "special economic development visits" and met with high officials including the president of Vietnam.    His close relationship with various officials at the Vietnam Consulate in Houston is viewed with disdain by the anti-communist groups in Houston.    He is also in a legal fight with various factions of the community about his handling of the community's fund designated for Vietnamese-American community center.

To his supporters,  Al Hoang visiting Vietnam or dealing with Vietnamese officials are part of his duty on a special economic development committee for Houston.  These activies have nothing to do with his view against the communist government in Vietnam. 

Nevertheless, the extreme anti-communist folks in Houston decided that they have enough of Al Hoang and recruited a political novice, Richard Nguyen, to run against Hoang.   Al Hoang was running unopposed until a couple month ago.

District F has a population of 185,000 people composed of 42% Hispanic, 23% Black, 15% White and 16% Asian.    Vietnamese-American population in Houston is about 38,000 people and roughly half live in District F.

Historically, in the last two elections (2009 and 2011), there were less than 5,000 people voted.

So what are Richard Nguyen chances?  The Viet voters high turn out alone would be closed to 5,000 people. 

Richard Nguyen is a controversial person himself and the people supporting him are not well like by the community.   He once campaigned for another city council candidate, Nguyen thai Hoc, who actually lost the race to Al Hoang in 2009.

Whether they will vote for Richard Nguyen as a protest vote against Al Hoang, we will have to wait and see. 


 

San Jose Mid-Autum Festival 2013 - A Celebration for Kids of All Ages

The celebrated festival put together by Viet Voters, Vietnamese-American Round Table, VACCNORCAL and Santa Clara County Supervisor Office was quite a show with over 2,000 people attending.

Of course, politicians like Congressman Mike Honda, Supervisor Dave Cortese and Cindy Chavez showed up to get maximum exposure.   San Jose City council candidate Tam Nguyen also sponsored the event.

 

 

 

The festive gathering that is often known as the Children's New Year brought smile and happiness to everybody from young to old with traditional games, music and shows.

Cannot wait until next year!

Hung Nguyen's Campaign for Virginia House of Delegates

 

So far, this is how much each candidate has been able to raise. In the past two elections, Jim Le Munyon had raised on the average of about $450K while his opponents on the average of about $350K. 

Hung Nguyen is behind in his effort despiste being supported by the Democratic Party and Labor Unions. But he has a chance if he could get his Asian-American base to vote for him. So far, they have been reluctant to give him money. Vietnamese-Americans in his district are well to do professionals so he will need to get them more interested in his candidacy. 

The mainstream Vietnamese-Americans are neutral about him at the moment.  He is mainly being supported by a quasi-political group called Viet Tan.  This is a controversial anti-communist group in California that is known for their militant efforts to overthrow the Vietnamese government.  

House of Delegates District 67

Election: All Elections2013 General Election (11/05/2013)2011 General Election (11/08/2011)2009 General Election (11/03/2009)2007 General Election (11/06/2007)2005 General Election (11/08/2005)2005 Republican State-Run Primary (06/14/2005)2003 General Election (11/04/2003)2001 General Election (11/06/2001)2001 Republican State-Run Primary (08/21/2001)1999 General Election (11/02/1999)1997 General Election (11/04/1997)

LeMunyon *
Republican

Nguyen
Democrat

Campaign Finance

Candidate	Raised
Jim LeMunyon* (Republican)	$262,923
Hung Nguyen (Democrat)	$39,776

* Incumbent          

Current through 08/31/2013

Voice of OC and Jose Solorio vs. Janet Nguyen

The Labor Unions and Democratic Party funded blog called Voice of OC and of course Jose Solorio (Democratic candidate for D34 State Senate race) are really going after County Supervisor Janet Nguyen (R) and her campaign.   And the state senate race is still more than a year away.

There are now numerous complaints from Vietnamese-Americans in Little Saigon about basically thugs claiming to be "Investigative Detectives" from Voice of OC knocking on their houses and businesses.  These agents (or thugs as Vietnamese-Americans are calling them) then arrogantly demand the people to answer  questions such as -

- "Are you a supporter of  Janet Nguyen?  If you are, do you vote for her and do you give her money?"

-  "If you are giving her money, why you are giver her money and how much?"


Last time LSI check, this is still a country where people have the rights to support and give money to their candidates without being questioned and harassed by "Investigative Detectives" trying to intimidate them

If peole give money to their candidates, that is their business.  Who they vote for, that is their business.  It is none of Voice of OC's business.  Voice of OC has no rights to knock on people's houses to ask such questions trying to scare people into what?  Not voting and supporting Janet Nguyen.

This is a desperate and dirty attempt by Jose Solorio and Labor Unions to intimidate Vietnamese-American voters. 

But Jose Solorio is wrong on this  tactic for it will unify the Vietnamese-American community further.  Further, it will provide Janet Nguyen with more ammunitions to excite her base.

 

Voice of OC - The Blog of Labor Unions & Democratic Party in Southern Cal

Charles Moran posted on Flash Report about the Voice of OC attacking a gay Republican running for office in Southern Cal.

http://www.flashreport.org/blog/2013/09/10/local-pbs-affiliate-is-linked-to-smear-campaign-of-gay-republican/

Here are some of the excerpts:

"........Thanks to the San Diego Union Tribune, the entire San Diego community got to see just how far Democrats will go to smear a gay Republican. According to the Union Tribune, the attacks on Carl DeMaio weren’t even launched in San Diego, but by the “Voice of OC, a website founded with labor money in Orange County.”

While I refuse to re-state the hateful and personal attacks launched at Carl, I do believe it’s important to mention that the attacks were meant to inflict pain on Carl and his family, and just as important, I believe the attacks were also intended to send a message to gay Republicans running for office – that we could be next.

To those of us active in Republican politics, we have seen many attacks, some even as hateful as these. But what was really surprising about this smear campaign was the fact that is was strangely connected to PBS. Yes, you read correctly – the same folks that bring us Sesame Street. According to a PBS affiliate’s website in Orange County (PBS SoCal), PBS entered into a “partnership” with the Voice of OC whereby PBS would receive its “investigative news” from the Voice of OC.

At this point, it is important to note that the Voice of OC is not a newspaper nor is it a magazine. The fact is that that the Voice of OC is merely website whereby they describe themselves as a “Non-Profit Investigative News Agency.”

So just who is this so-called investigative news agency that was PBS partners with for their news coverage, and more importantly who funds them? Well to find the answer, one only needs to review their federal tax returns – and so I did.

According to IRS documents filed just last year, the Voice of OC is a non-profit organization that is supported by five donors. And low and behold, their major donor is the Orange County Employee Association, a public employee union based in Santa Ana. They donated $230,000 to the PBS news partner. The second largest donation, in the amount of $60,000, was made by a law firm founded by the former Chairman of the Democrat Foundation of Orange County, trail attorney Wylie Aitken. Three other smaller contributions were noted....."

 

Van Le Announced Her Candidacy

First, the lawyer Tam Nguyen, now the community activist Van Le has put her hat in the ring for the 2014 San Jose city council race to replace the term-out Madison Nguyen.   Van Le is currently a school board member of East Side Union School District.   This would be an interesting race since both Tam Nguyen and Van Le will likely split the Vietnamese-American votes in District 7.  The Viet-Americans make up about 28% of the total registered voters. 

Thus begs the question - Will Maya Esparza run?  She is currently the trustee of Franklin-Mckinley School District.   

 

Janet Nguyen Fights Back Against Labor Unions

There is blog called Voice of OC in Orange County that has been touting themselve as a "non-profit investigative news agency".  It turns out that they are nothing more than a mouth piece for Labor Unions and the Democratic Party.  

The Blog received almost $800,000 from Unions and Democratic Party movers and shakers in the last 2 years alone. 

It is a pretty low tactic to claim to be neutral and unbias news  when matter of facts, everything is reported with a political agenda of helping Unions and Democratic Party and smearing whoever opposing the Unions and the Democratic Party.

WARNING – Voice of OC(EA) SMEAR Campaign against Senate Republican Candidate Janet Nguyen FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 5, 2013 Contact: Dave Gilliard (916) 626-6804 The self-described “non-profit investigative news agency” blog called Voice of OC has been conducting a relentless smear campaign geared towards keeping Republican candidate Janet Nguyen out of the California State Senate. Recently they have focused on Janet's involvement in making the County Organized Health System (CalOptima) operations more accountable and transparent. One out of every 4 residents of Janet’s district utilize CalOptima. She is proud of her advocacy efforts on their behalf as a member of the CalOptima Board of Directors. Janet has also co-hosted annual Central County Health and Senior Expos with numerous public agencies, non-profits, community organizations and local businesses since 2010 – this was recently chronicled by the OC Register. The Expos, through the generosity of thousands of volunteers, have served over 10,000 children, adults and seniors who do not have access to preventative health care, generating substantial savings for the taxpayers as preventive health care needs are addressed before these residents resort to costly emergency room services. Unfortunately, Janet’s efforts to reform CalOptima and outreach to the community have been mischaracterized by the Voice of OC blog whose only interest is to further their own political agenda through an organized smear campaign. Some have asked why this Blog has taken such an interest in a smear campaign against Janet Nguyen? The answer should be obvious. Just follow the money. A check of the Voice of OC’s most recent IRS filings shows that nearly all of their funds come from labor unions and Democrat donors. A full 63% comes from a single public employee union – OCEA. The remainder from Democrat/liberal donors or groups. These entities all have a huge stake in making sure State Senate Dems keep their 2/3rds super majority. Here’s the rundown according to the Voice of OC’s own tax returns: TOTAL FUNDS RECEIVED (report from latest 2 year period) : $797,040 Orange County Employees Association - $499,500 63% California Endowment - $121,012 15% Wylie Aitken (Former Chair Democratic Foundation of OC) - $85,000 10% United Food & Commercial Workers - $25,000 3% Former Democratic Senator Joe Dunn - $14,635 2% *Major Democrat Donors: – $30,000 4% Unnamed small donors – $21,956 3% *(donors to: Act Blue, DCCC, Barbara Boxer, Beth Krom for Congress, Alan Lowenthal for Congress, Loretta Sanchez for Congress)

forward to a friend Paid for by Janet Nguyen for Senate 2014 ID#1355589 Our mailing address is: Janet Nguyen for State Senate 12866 Main Street, Suite 202 Garden Grove, CA92840

 

Hung Nguyen For Virginia Delegate

Democrat Hung Nguyen, a Fairfax (VA) resident who owns a small IT consulting business, is challenging the incumbent LeMunyon (R), who was elected in 2009, for state representative seat in House of Delegates District 67th.  Hung Nguyen, who grew up in San Jose,  is a seasoned community activist for Vietnamese causes but a novice politician. 

He is married to a Korean-American and is hoping that a big turn out of Asian and Hispanic voters to win in a  moderate district.  The district is about 21% Asian and 11% Hispanic.  However, the Hispanic turn-out has been relatively low during off year election.

He is a good speaker and a quick learner.  He was the president of National Congress of Vietnamese-Americans, a nonprofit foundation established by an anti- communist activist and author Nguyen Ngoc Bich and his friends in Virginia. 

His opportunistic decision 3 months ago to run (since the incumbent was running unopposed) and his inexperience in running a campaign are giving him a slow start.  Whether he could raise enough money and quickly build a staff to have a chance against an incumbent is remained to be seen.    Hung Nguyen is clearly an underdog but politically, it is a win-win campaign for him even if he loses. 

Below is a video of his candidacy announcement:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxtijMzmKZM&feature=player_embedded








 

Miss Vietnam of Northern Cal Organizing Mid-Autumn Festival

What: 2013 Mid-Autumn Festival- Tet Trung Thu
Where: History Park at Kelley Park
Date: September 14, 2013
Time: 4:00pm - 8:00pm


Festival Activities include:
Free Lanterns
Live Entertainment
Children Vietnamese traditional dress contest
Drawing & coloring contests
Free face painting
Games
Resource Fair
Lantern Parade

Most importantly, admissions will be free!!!

Sincerely,
Hoa Hau Ao Dai Bac Cali - Miss Vietnam of Northern California

For more information, please contact:
Hoa Hau Ao Dai - MVNC: (408) 613-7285

Mid-Autumn Festival by Viet Voters & Coalitions

Like last year, The Viet Voters, Vietnamese American Community Coalitions and their affiliations along with the Santa Clara County together are putting together a festive mid-Autumn event for kids of all ages in San Jose.   This year, it will be on Sept 21 from 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM at Yerba Buena High School. 

Happy Tet Trung Thu!

Janet Nguyen and Her State Senate Run

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With a newly redrawn district where Democrats and Republicans are split evenly and with 20% Independents,  OC County Supervisor Janet Nguyen has a favorable demographics to win the seat from the term-out Lou Correa (D).   

 

The California Republican Party is pulling out all the supports for her.   She is leading her opponents in money raised so far.    Also, the district is heavily populated by Vietnamese-Americans.   Thus, their expected high turn-out will give her a strong voting base.  Of course,  it is only 2013 but the conventional wisdom is that she will be formidable as she continues to rally the party base and reach out to indepedend voters.

Visa Bribery Scam by Hong Vo and Company

News reported by USA Today and local Denver TV station sent shocked wave to the Vietnamese-American community in Denver:

http://www.wgrz.com/news/article/223785/1/Multi-Million-Dollar-Vietnam-Visa-Scam

Hong Vo, a 27 years old  Denver resident, is among three people arrested for allegedly helping hundreds of Vietnamese citizens enter the United States illegally in a multimillion-dollar scheme.

The U.S. Attorney's Office announces that  more than 500 people paid thousands of dollars to sneak into the U.S. using fraudulent visas.

Hong Vo,  Tran Huynh, and Michael Sestak, a visa chief at the U.S. Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City in March 2012, allegedly started approving visas for a bribe between $20,000 to $70,000, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Michael Sestak was the best man and Hong Vo's wedding.  It was an elaborate wedding with hundreds of guests that costed well over $300,000.   At the time of her arrest, she was living in a wealthy neighborhood with her husband and her parents.

Vietnamese-American Coalitions in San Jose Celebrated

Couple weeks ago, the Vietnamese American Communities and Coalitions of Northern California had their gala to celebrate their newly elected members and also mark their victorious support for Cindy Chavez in the recent supervisorial election.

This is the same coalitions that were formed to recall Madison Nguyen  4 years.  Even though their effort failed but they have become a powerful voice in the community and their influence is undeniable.   Cindy Chavez, under Dave Cortese's advise, reached out to them early in her election while Teresa Alvarado decided to stick with Madison Nguyen for her support.

There were about 500 people showed up for a 3-hour long party.  City councilmembers Sam Liccardo, Kansen Chu, Ash Kalra as well as supervisors Dave Cortese and Cindy Chavez were there for the celebration.  The Mayor of Milpitas was also present to help cheer the crowd.   

The 2014 city council candidate Tam Nguyen was on hand to work the crowd.  Noticeably absence was his opponent Cam Van Nguyen. 

It is a given within Little Saigon that Dave Cortese has the heart of the majority of the Vietnamese-Americans with his tremendous effort courting them in the last  4 years.  

Can he now finally win his mayoral race with his rainbow coalitions of Vietnamese-Americans, Chinese-Americans, Indo-Americans, Hispanic and White-Americans?  It is too early to tell but clearly he is the front runner for now.   LSI will be conducting a series of polls within the Vietnamese-American community to gauge the political climate starting next year.

Viet Voters and Cindy Chavez

The aftermath of the special election for county supervisor in District 2 was somewhat anti-climatic to some of the Vietnamese-American voters.   With poll indicating the majority of the Vietnamese-Americans voting for Cindy Chavez, the winning result did not come as a surprise.  Nevertheless, it was a joyous mood for the many Vietnamese-Americans who were at the party on election night. 

Many members of the Vietnamese-American Voters Federation (Viet Voters for short)  headed by Dr. Ho Vu and Phuong Le, Ph.D. (a Stanford graduate) were there to celebrate.  Ben Field, the ED for South Bay Labor Council, in his speech addressing the crowd, publicly thanked Viet Voters for their support and efforts.   Both Chavez and Field actively reached out and worked with Viet Voters to ensure that they received the important Vietnamese-American swing votes (which made up about 20% of the total votes)

Viet Voters is the same group that tried to recall Madison Nguyen in 2009.   They were actively involved in the re-election of Kansen Chu in 2012 but did not support neither Jimmy Nguyen nor Scott Pham during their respective races.    They are currently supporting Kansen Chu for his assembly race and the San Jose lawyer Tam Nguyen for his city council bid in 2014.

Bachelor's Degree for Vietnamese Language and Culture

With more than 500,000 Vietnamese-Americans living in California (About 2/3 living in either San Jose or Garden Grove/Wesminster), there is a growing interest in the Vietnamese-American communities in California of perserving the Vietnamese culture and tradition for the next generation of Vietnamese-Americans born in the US.

In a recent story NPR in southern Cal, CSU in Fullerton will launch a BA degree for Vietnamese language and culture, as well as teaching Vietnamese to teachers as foreign language. 

http://www.scpr.org/blogs/education/2013/07/19/14303/university-to-offer-vietnamese-language-ba-and-tea/

As the 10th most speaking language in the world, Vietnamese is being used widely outside of Vietnam in Viet diasporic communities throughout the world.  Besides the Western nations,  travelers could hear Vietnamese language in far away countries like Somalia, Bangeldesh, and Egypt. 

How Vietnamese-American Voters Voting

LSI conducted a scientific polling on the Vietnamese-Americans in District 1 for the July 30 special election for county supervisor between Cindy Chavez and Teresa Alvarado.  

From a representative sample of 145 registered voters who mostly likely to go to the poll, the following questions were asked:

1.  Who  do you think you know better -  CC,  TA or Don't Know?
2   Who do you view more favorable ?
3.  Who do you most likely to vote for ?

The poll was conducted from July 19 - July 22 and within a margin of +/- 3%.  Here are the results:

Question 1:   40% CC, 28% TA, 32% Don't know

Question 2:  47% CC, 36% TA, 17% Don' Know

Question 3:  54% CC, 41% TA, 5% Undecided

Alvarado Campaign Recruiting Vietnamese-Speaking Staff to Help with Precinct Walking

 

 

In a last ditch effort to help secure the Vietnamese-American votes,  Alvarado campaign is looking for more Vietnamese-speaking staff to knock on doors and get out the votes.    The campaign is paying $10/ hr.  Those who are interested can call Christine at 408-234-5404.   The posting can be viewed on Vietnamese Student Associations via Facebook.

Meanwhile, Cindy Chavez  is wrapping up her campaign in the Vietnamese-American community with the confidence that the Viet supporters of County Supervisor Dave Cortese will deliver to her the Vietnamese-American votes  needed to win the election.

Teresa Alvarado knows that her effort to secure the Vietnamese-American votes are getting tougher.  Her venerable mom also tried to reach out to some members of the Vietnamese-American Voters Foundation and their PAC. 

The election is July 30th and Labor Unions are pre-celebrating their stronger grip on the county government.


 

 

Teresa Alvarado vs. Cindy Chavez

With less than a month left for the special supervisorial election in Santa Clara County to replace the disgraced Shirakawa,  both Alvarado and Chavez are working hard to win the Vietnamese American votes.

 Last week, at the Viet Voters' headquarters, there was a debate arranged by the Viet Voters for both candidates.   Most people attending the event agreed that Alvarado came out as a more trustworthy and likable candidate.    Of course, Cindy Chavez and Labor Unions were campaigning against Viet Voters in their support of Madison Nguyen in the 2008 and 2010 elections.   Viet Voters was the group that organized the recall and rallied the community support for Minh Duong's candidacy.

But in politics, there are no enemies, just convenient friends.   Cindy Chavez now claimed to be duped by Madison Nguyen and completely disassociated herself from Nguyen.   She is relying on SC Supervisor Dave Cortese to get herself a foothold with Viet Voters.   

She is also quite supportive of San Jose attorney Tam Nguyen and vice versa.  Tam Nguyen is a long time community activist and earlier this year, he delcared his candidacy for city council to replace Madison Nguyen in 2014.   Tam Nguyen right now mainly receives his support from Viet Voters.

Meanwhile, Alvarado with her new cadre of consultants, also keeps her distant from Madison Nguyen.  In the primary, she wrongly thought it would be to her advantage in receiving Nguyen's endorsement.  Now she finally understood that the Vietnamese-American voters are staying away from her because of  Madison Nguyen.  Unfortunately, they will be the swing votes that will determine this race and she is clueless on how to approach them. 

LSI is predicting that Chavez will win this election decisively.

  

           

           

  

           

 

 

 

    

  

Scott Hung Pham Lost An Easy Chance to Be in the Run-Off

With all of  the precincts counted, here is the result of last night special supervisorial race for District 2 to replace the convicted Shirakawa.   About 18% of the registered voters went to the poll.

PATRICIA MARTINEZ-ROACH		1,362	7.05%
CINDY CHAVEZ		7,927	41.04%
TERESA ALVARADO		6,036	31.25%
SCOTT HUNG PHAM		2,747	14.22%
JOSEPH LA JEUNESSE		636	3.29%
DAVID S. WALL		608	3.15%
Total		19,316

In a district where Scott Pham calculated that there are about 20,000 Vietnamese-American registered voters, if he could get 35% of them to go to the poll and vote for him,  he could have been in the runoff due to the low overall turnout. 

But unfortunately,  he simply did not know how to run for office.  LSI could not even find his campaign website.  With his incapability to raise any money, he was doomed from the start. 

Cindy Chavez and Teresa Alvarado will now face each other.   With the overwhelming Vietnamese-American voters don't really care for Madison Nguyen,  her support of Alvarado will cause this crucial ethnic voting bloc to be of Cindy Chavez by default. 

Even though Chavez is not taking things for granted, she is reaching out to the Vietnamese-American community leaders by promising of hiring more Vietnamese-Amerians to opening positions in the county. 

LSI did an unofficial exist poll of Viet-American voters  last evening and 87% of them voted for Scott Hung Pham.   When asked the choice between Chavez and Alvarado,  49% said that they would vote for Chavez because Madison Nguyen supported Alvarado.   While 40% said they would not vote for either one of them since they have not done anything for the community.


We will wait and see what will happen in the runoff but it seems that the Nguyen's popularity or lack-off in her own district will doom Alvardo.  

Footnote:  Mercury News reported that  Chavez received 40% of the votes vs. 28% for Alvarado in Nguyen's District 7.  

Town Hall with US Ambassador to Vietnam David Shear in San Jose

You are invited to the following event: Townhall with Rep. Zoe Lofgren and U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam David Shear Event to be held at the following time, date, and location: Friday, June 7, 2013 from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM (PDT) Board of Supervisors Chamber, Santa Clara County Government Center East Wing, 1st Floor 70 W. Hedding Street San Jose, CA 95110 View Map Yes No Maybe Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (CA-19) is proud to host a town hall featuring special guest: U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam David B. Shear. Following remarks by Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese, Congresswoman Lofgren, and Ambassador Shear, audience members will be invited to ask questions during a question and answer session. Guests are asked to email questions in advance to: Minh-Chau.Nguyen@mail.house.gov. David B. Shear was sworn in as Ambassador to Vietnam on August 4, 2011. He joined the Foreign Service in 1982. He has served in Sapporo, Beijing, Tokyo, and Kuala Lumpur. In Washington, he has served in the Offices of Japanese, Chinese, and Korean Affairs and as the Special Assistant to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs. He was Director of the Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs in 2008-2009 and served as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs in 2009-2011. I hope you can make it! - Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren This mailing was prepared, published, and mailed at taxpayer expense.

US Ambassardor to Vietnam David Shear Visiting Little Saigon, Orange County

Attorney Tam Nguyen Announcing his 2014 City Council Campaign

 

 

Last month, the San Jose attorney Tam Nguyen publicly declared his candidacy for District 7 city council seat in 2014.  This is the seat that will be vacated by the controversial Madison Nguyen. 

It is quite an early announcement by any standard but Tam Nguyen was just trying to measure who are the other candidates.   Right now,  Cam Van Le is the only other person who is hungry for the seat.   Earlier in the year, she moved to District 7 from District 8.    However, she was surprised by Tam Nguyen announcement but she is determined to win the race anyway.

It will be an interesting race with 1/3 of the electorates in the district are Vietnamese-Americans.   Many believes that this a district where a Vietnamese-American candidate would be a favorite to win.   Neverthless, there are strong speculations that Maya Esparza is harboring interest in running for the seat, especially with Labor behind her.   

 

Our Lady of La Vang Cathedral in San Jose

 

After 25 years of persistent petitioning and sometimes with strong-arm tactics,  the Vietnamese-American Catholics in San Jose got part of their wish to have a parish that they can officially call their own.   On April 28, 2013,  Bishop Patrick McGrath announced the renaming of St. Patrick Proto-Cathedral Parish to be Our Lady of La Vang Parish.  

The St. Patrick Parish has served the Vietnamese-American community for the past 37 years and the parishioners are now predominately Vietnamese-Americans.    However, the San Jose Diocese had been reluctant to designated it as a Vietnamese-American parish.   It is not uncommon to have such designation in southern California, Texas, Virginia, Oregon, Washington, Maryland, Kansas, Oaklahoma, Florida and Louisiana.  There  are about 3 dozen Vietnamese-American parishes in the US that specifically serve the Vietnamese-American Catholic communities. 

So what prompted the change of heart by Bishop Patrick McGrath and his predecessor, Bishop Emeritus Pierre Dumaine.

Earlier this year, there was a major fire at the church and the insurance paid about $3 million for coverage.  However, the church is old and needs alot of repair to meet current building codes.  The cost for renovation and fixing would be in tens of millions.   Fr. Dinh Hao, Fr. Huynh Loi and other Vietnamese-American priests in the parish agreed with the Bishop that a new church is needed to meet the growing of a large parish. 

The Diocese suggested raising $30 million as a down payment to build a new church that eventually will cost well above $100 million.   However, the parishioners balked at such a steep fund rasing effort.  To appeal to the parishioners who is mostly Vietnamese-Americans, the Vietnamese-American priests made a deal with the Bishop - Give us the parish that we have wanted for so long and we will try to raise the money.

Understanding the economic situation of the parish, a compromise was finally reached.

The Bishop said, "As Saint Patrick Proto-Cathedral Parish becomes Our Lady of La Vang Parish, we will not diminish our historic commitment to full ministry to all of the people of the parish, and that ministry will be in Vietnamese, in Spanish and in English."

He also emphasized, "Within the new church will be a large chapel that will be named in honor of Saint Patrick, as a perpetual reminder of the parish’s past and the parish school will continue to bear the name of Saint Patrick.”

Our Lady of La Vang refers to  site in central Viet Nam where the Virgin Mary sightings were reported by a number of people in 1798. 

US Consulate in Vietnam Caught Taking Bribery For Visa Scheme

According to a McClatchy report, a consular officer allegedly sold visas for millions of dollars at the US Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City, and laundered millions in profits by buying real estate in Phuket and Bangkok.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/05/23/192116/foreign-service-officer-made-millions.html

The state department has been covering up the story for weeks but it was recently exposed by McClatchy. 

Foreign Service officer Michael T. Sestak was charged on conspiracy to commit visa fraud and bribery in an alleged scheme that investigators say spanned several countries. He and his cohorts charged Vietnamese  up to $70,000 each for visas granting legal entry to the United States.
          
The state deparment investigators say the alleged conspiracy occurred while Sestak was handling non-immigrant visas in the U.S. consulate in Ho Chi Minh City. Sestak served in the consulate until last September.  Sestak then moved the money out of Vietnam by using money launderers through offshore banks, primarily based in China, to a bank account in Thailand that he opened in May 2012.  He then used the million of dollars gained from the bribery scheme to purchase high-end  real estate in Phuket and Bangkok, Thailand.

For Vietnamese-Americans who are interested to know more about the details of the corruption at the US Consulate in Vietnam,  US Ambassor to Vietnam, David Shear, will be at the Board Chamber, Santa Clara County, on June 7 at 4:00 PM.