Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Phat Bui Runs for OC Supervisor District 1


As the incumbent Supervisor Andrew Do seeking his re-election in June, the Vietnamese-American community in OC is quite curious why Garden Grove Councilmember Phat Bui decided to run, at the last minute, against a popular public servant.

Supervisor Andrew Do has the endorsement of the Orange County Republican Party and its leadership.  He also has all the supports of the 4 OC supervisors.   He is appreciated  and well liked in the Vietnamese-American community with his many concrete programs for the community since he was elected a year ago.

So far, Bui has declined to comment on why he is running against Andrew Do.  Bui is a registered Republican but tends to support Democratic candidates with big donations.  He gave  Jose Solorio $2,000 for his state assembly race as well as Tom Daly, $2,100 for his.   The community is speculating whether this is a ploy by the OC Democratic Party to split the Vietnamese-American vote in order for their candidate, Santa Ana Councilmember Michele Martinez, to at least get in to the run off in November instead of losing outright in June 7 primary.


Bui was elected to Garden Grove City Council in 2014.  Immediately, he  embroiled in the controversy of rallying the  Little Saigon community to force the city of Riverside to cease its sister-city relationship with Can Tho, Vietnam.  He sent out email encouraged the anti-communist protesters to identity businesses that are doing trades with companies in Vietnam and disrupt their offices with loud demonstration in order to shame them.  After this political shenanigan, he and Garden Grove Mayor Bao Nguyen often clash openly and this has led to his ineffectiveness as a councilmember on Garden Grove's issues.



In the Vietnamese-American community, Bui builds his image as an educator who was a "triple major in Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineer", an engineer (as stated in his political donation statement), CEO of a software consultant firm, and a leader of the Boy Scout's El Capitan District.

Bui mentioned in his biography in Vietnamese that he attended University of Minnesota - Twin Cities and was a "triple major in Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineer".   A quick fact check shows that Bui was at the University of Minnesota from 1976 to 1982, majoring in Physics.   However,  he never graduated from the school.  He left without receiving a degree.   Now, whether Bui received his college degree from another school after he left University of Minnesota, LSI could not confirm so far but will post further detail when receive concrete information.

With 4 candidates vying for the D1 supervisor's seat, the incumbent Andrew Do has a good chance to receive more than 50 percent of the vote  in the June primary if he can rally the Vietnamese-American voters and his Republican base.



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Mr. Phat Bui is a disgrace to misrepresent his credential.All of the community should be ashamed for his deceitful actions.

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