Five Candidates Vying for District 7 City Council Seat

Bryan Do, after months of indecisiveness, has now told people  that he is throwing his hat in the ring for the city council race to replace the incumbent Madison Nguyen.    There are now at least 4 challengers against Nguyen.  They  have either declared their intention or already filed their statement of intention with the city clerk. 

Michael Tran, a real estate investor from southern California, who is currently residing in the Evergreen area, publicly declared his intention since October of last year.  He is backed by Vietnamese American Community of Northern California.  VACNORCAL is the same group that is suing Madison Nguyen and the city for Brown Act violation.    A summary judgement is expected in February.  James Chadwick, one of the best lawyers in the Bay Area,  is the lead lawyer for VACNORCAL.

Phu Le, a long time community activist, a close friend and advisor of Councilman Kansen Chu, had filed his statement last week.  A resident of Milpitas and a county health commissioner, he is well known for  his supports of many politicians.  He is a serious challenger to Madison Nguyen according to a recent article by the Mercury News - http://www.mercurynews.com/internal-affairs/ci_14296808

Bryan Do, another community activist and one time a city council candidate for District 4, has many political ambitions.  According to Bryan, he is the chief strategist and unofficial advisor for Vietnamese-American Voters of Northern California Foundation.  This organization is formed by the Recall Team after their defeat by Madison Nguyen.  

The fourth candidate is Minh Duong, another well known community activist, a small business development commissioner and a one time District 8 city council candidate.   He is well liked in the community and is considered by the community to be less controversial than the other four candidates. 

The convention wisdom is that not all four of the challengers will actually be running.  The two challengers who are likely to drop out are Bryan Do and Michael Tran because they both know that they have no chance of winning.   On the other hand, they all could stay in and may the best man wins.   Bryan Do can play a spoiler for he has nothing to lose. 

No matter who is running, the real favorite in the election of course is Madison Nguyen.  It is almost impossible to defeat a Teflon incumbent.

Captain Phan Ngo Becomes Deputy Chief of SJPD

Captain Phan Ngo, a commander in the San Jose Police Department, has been promoted to deputy chief.  San Jose is a city where only 1/3 of the population is white, Captain Ngo is the only ethnic deputy chief.  The other three deputy chiefs are white.  The police chief and assistant police chief are also white.

The Mercury News noted that:

"And with the promotion, San Jose Police Department ceased to be a major police department with an all-white, all-male command staff. The San Francisco Police Chief George Gascon is a Cuban-American and his Deputy Chief David Shinn is Chinese-American. Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts is African-American, as is his assistant chief. One of Sacramento's deputy chief is a Chinese-American. The Santa Clara County Sheriff is a woman, Laurie Smith; her undersheriff is John Hirokawa, a Japanese-American."

In a period of incredible tension between the Latino and Asian communities (particulary the Vietnamese-American community) for a number of alleged police brutality cases, this is considered to be a positive sign by many community activists.

The Mercury News commented:

"His selection also comes at a time when some in San Jose's sizable Vietnamese population distrust the police because of two controversial cases — the police shooting of a mentally ill Daniel Pham in the backyard of his home, and the violent and videotaped arrest of San Jose State University student Phuong Ho. Ngo also becomes the only non-white in Davis' top command staff, filling a job that has been open for months"

http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_14297961

Phan Ngo joined the SJPD since 1989 and became a captain in 2008 and had served as  a commander since.  He came to the US in 1975 when he was 8 years old.  His father, as soldier, died during the Vietnam War.


In related news, Assemblymen Joe Coto (D) and Paul Fong (D)  have asked the State Auditor Elaine Howe to investigate the SJPD.  The ground for investigation is their concerns on whether the police force is properly train and procedure for handling police abuse is adequate

Madison Nguyen vs ? in 2010

The primary election is fast approaching for the District 7 city council seat currently held by Madison Nguyen.  She is of course the overwhelming favorite to win the election as an incumbent.  Currently there are no Hispanic candidates to challenge her.   Meanwhile, the Vietnamese-American community has three candidates who are seriously looking to challenge her. 

Michael Tran, a real estate investor, has declared publicly in the Vietnamese-American community that he is a candidate for the seat.

Dr. Phu Le, a long time community activist, a Santa Clara County health commissioner and a very close friend and long time supporter of Councilmember Kansen Chu and his wife,  has decided to put his name in the ring for now.

Minh Duong, another community activist, member of the Small Business Development Commission for San Jose City and a one time candidate for District 8,  is also considering running for the seat. 

Of the three potential candidates,  Michael Tran is relatively unknown and is the weakest candidate.  Both Minh Duong and Phu Le have the name recognition within the Vietnamese-American community.  

At the end of the day, the Vietnamese-American votes (which showed from the last election to be about 45% of the total vote)  will be split 4 ways and Madison Nguyen will ride the Hispanic and White voting blocs to an easy victory.

Vietnamese American Bar Association Demands for Equal Representation

PRESS RELEASE BY: La Raza Lawyers Association, Vietnamese American Bar Association of Northern California and Black Lawyers Association

Rain or shine, Come and Join your Community to Demonstrate for EQUALITY and REPRESENTATION!

When: Wednesday, January 20, 2010. At 4:30 – 6:30 pm

Where: Santa Clara County Bar Association Office
31 North 2nd Street, (at Santa Clara Street), Downtown San Jose



Last month, the Minority Bar Coalition learned that the Santa Clara County Bar Association has eliminated the Vietnamese American community and significantly reduced the Latino community participation in the process of selecting judges. The County Bar Association took an unprecedented step in increasing its Judiciary Committee to 30 members. Yet there is no Vietnamese American attorney, and only 1 Latino and 1 African American attorney on this committee. This is the lowest representation of Vietnamese, Latino, and African American attorneys in decades. The County Bar Association has other Asian American members on the Judiciary Committee, but failed to meet basic standards of representation for these important underrepresented groups.

The County Bar Association established a Blue Ribbon Commission on Diversity and asked over 20 large firms and corporations in the Silicon Valley to extend their diversity efforts and to do more than they had been doing to ensure social equality in the profession, not less. Companies such as Intel, Sun and Google participated in the Commission and have led the way in showing that they care about diversity.

We urge the County Bar Association to follow suit.

Asian Americans, Latinos and African Americans make up nearly 60% of the population in the Santa Clara County, yet only about 18% of judges in the County. If we are to have an inclusive and representative judiciary, we must start with the premise that the gatekeeper committee for judicial appointments must also be representative.

The Minority Bar Coalition met and conferred with the County Bar Association and provided them numerous, extremely well-qualified candidates to appoint. Unfortunately, the County Bar Association insists that its Judiciary Committee need not be representative of the county or community at large. The appointments process is completely within the discretion of the President of the County Bar Association, Mark Shem. We urge him to act swiftly to remedy this disparity.

*Minority Bar Coalition condemns the lack of diversity on the Judiciary Committee of the Santa Clara County Bar Association and urges President Mark Shem to appoint a representative body that properly reflects the community in Santa Clara County in this important screening committee for local Judges.

* Minority Bar Coalition of Santa Clara County:

La Raza Lawyers Association; Vietnamese American Bar Association of Northern California; Black Lawyers Association; and Asian Pacific Bar Association of Silicon Valley.



Others groups in support:

ACLU of Northern California, San Jose Office; La Raza Roundtable of San Jose; National Latino Peace Officers Association, Santa Clara Chapter; Asian Law Alliance; Organization of Chinese Americans; Silicon Valley Chapter; and BAYMEC.

Quang Pham and Vietnam War Museum in OC

There is a nice article in the OC Register recently about the building of a Vietnam War Museum

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/war-229450-vietnam-museum.html

Here are some of the excerpts:

"..........Quang Pham, who is running for Congress in the 47th District that includes Garden Grove, also wants to get the museum process underway. He has nabbed a web domain for the museum and plans to incorporate for non-profit status.

Pham wants a museum that will provide a complete picture of the war on behalf of all veterans and their families.

"In war," he says, "there is a tremendous fallout on human souls."

..................................For Pham, it was the war in which his father fought for South Vietnam as an Air Force lieutenant colonel. Pham's father remained in Vietnam when his family was airlifted out in 1975, and he was not able to see them again for 17 years.

"A museum would include not just the U.S. perspective," Pham explains. "The other parts were the allies and the South Vietnamese. It must include the aftermath and the reasons why the Vietnamese are in the U.S. The younger generations don't really understand about the killing fields or the re-education camps."

There is some urgency.

April 30 will mark the 35th anniversary of the fall of South Vietnam to the Communists. Passing years make it harder to document history first-hand from the veterans who fought the war, the families who lived through it, and the lives that were up-ended because of it.

U.S. military involvement, which lasted more than 14 years, claimed more than 58,000 American lives and over three million Vietnamese. Vietnam meant America was never the same.

Pham forwards the December obituary for former Marine Pilot Col. John Braddon, 80, who rescued a Vietnamese pilot who crashed while supporting U.S. Marines during the war. That pilot was Pham's father....."

Another Lawsuit Against Madison Nguyen and the City of San Jose

So just as the city and Madison Nguyen awaiting the trial of the Brown Act violation (which by the way is rumored to be settled out of court before the trial date in Feb. 2010), there is another lawsuit in the filing.  This is a posting on the Internet:



On December 10, 2009, the City of San Jose brought a lawsuit against me and my family alleging that my building on South 10th St has some building and zoning code violation and seek to shut down my family business as well as condemn (take away) my building.


I firmly believe that, after speaking with City of San Jose officials and retracing the steps of all the Code Enforcement actions, this is a conspiracy by council member Madison Nguyen, her supporters and others to violate my constitutionally protected rights to free speech and right to petition my government for redress. The excessive and selective enforcement by the City is politically motivated and serve no Public Interest of job growth or economic revitalization for the City of San Jose and District 7 other than retaliation against me and the Vietnamese American community in San Jose as vocal critics of her style of governance.

 Ever since in office, Madison Nguyen has showed a pattern of utilizing her power as a councilmember against those whose opposed her political views and the Vietnamese American community like myself and others that seek to advance the important issues that are paramount to the economic and political progress of our proud Vietnamese American community.


Therefore, I have decided to file a Cross Complaint lawsuit against Madison Nguyen and the City of San Jose to vindicate my constitutionally protected rights. I have prepared and will pursue legal actions against other defendants that have continued to trample on my rights as a citizen of San Jose. I am looking forward to my days in court where the all the truths will ultimately be “sunshine” for everyone to determine.

It is my humble opinion that I will be judged at the end of the day by my actions of what I have done and will continue to do to improve the quality of life for our Vietnamese American community and the City of San Jose versus Madison Nguyen’s divisiveness and abusiveness that have continued to place the Vietnamese American community and the City of San Jose in harm’s way and controversy.

Thank you for your understanding and support.

Michael Luu and Family.

Lan Nguyen Violates Brown Act?

In order to clear the controversy on whether Lan Nguyen, a Garden Grove Unified School Board Trustee and the right hand man of State Assemblyman Van Tran,  a letter asking for clarification was submitted by TheLiberalOC publisher Chris Prevatt.  The letter is as follows:


Dr. Nguyen-Lam disclosed that she had witnessed conversations between three other Trustees, Lan Quoc Nguyen, Bob Harden and George West in which, prompted by Trustee Lan Quoc Nguyen, they discussed and decided their planned actions including their individual votes on matters of the nominations and election of Board officers scheduled for decision at that meeting.

Such discussions when a quorum of Trustees are present are specifically prohibited under GC § 54953. In this case, in addition to the three Trustees involved in the conversation, because the discussions were witnessed by Trustee Nguyen-Lam a total of four out of five Trustees were present when a matter was discussed and decided out of public view. Trustees Nguyen, West and Harden acknowledge at the January 5th meeting that conversations regarding the agenda item did occur, yet some stated that they did not recall the details of those discussions.

In light of these facts and under the provisions of GC § 54960.1, I request on behalf of the internet publication TheLiberalOC.com that the Board of Trustees take action to remedy this apparent violation of the Brown Act. I request that in the interest of public disclosure of prior Board actions that:

1. Trustees Lan Quoc Nguyen, Bob Harden and George West disclose publicly that they were all present for, and did indeed have, conversations just prior to the December 15th Board meeting in the Board Hearing Room at which time they did discuss the nominations for and election of Board officers.

2. The Board of Trustees acknowledges publicly that such conversations appear to be potential violations of the spirit, if not the letter of, the Brown Act California’s open meetings statutes.

3. The Board of Trustees affirm their commitment individually and publicly to refrain from such discussions in the future.

Please be aware that the Brown Act authorizes a court to enter a declaratory judgment against a legislative body for violating the Brown Act in the past where “there is a controversy over whether a past violation of law has occurred.” California Alliance for Utility Etc. Education v. City of San Diego, 56 Cal. App. 4th 1024, 1025, 1030, 65 Cal. Rptr. 2d 833 (1997). “[T]he ripeness doctrine does not require that to obtain declaratory relief [plaintiffs must] allege and prove a pattern or practice of past violations.” Id. at 1029 (emphasis added). Rather, a declaratory relief action is proper if plaintiffs allege that a government body has violated the law, and the body or its counsel refuse to acknowledge a violation. Common Cause v. Stirling, 147 Cal. App. 3d 518, 524, 195 Cal. Rptr. 163 (1983). The legislative body’s refusal to acknowledge a past violation is generally sufficient evidence that future violations are likely to occur. Id.


The Garden Grove Unified School District Board of Trustees has 30 days to cure or correct the alleged violations of the Brown Act before court action can be sought.