Ly Tong and His Trial

Ly Tong and his infamous attack on a popular Vietnamese singer Dam Vinh Hung with pepper spray is  but all forgotten in the community for now.  The only thing in the news are from Ly Tong and his constant email to various Web forums boasting about his action to attack the singer as a just cause to defeat the communist propaganda against the overseas Vietnamese community.   He currently is being shunned from the community for his outrageous and over-the-top claims for many things.

This is a quite a turn about for just 2-3 months ago, he was being embraced by every Vietnamese-American politician running for office, including State Assemblyman Van Tran and Wesminster councilmember Ta Tri Duc.

He is on trial for 2 felony charges and the court date is set for 2/28/2011.  His team of  lawyers has resigned since they could not stand his self-delusion and blatant purpose of  making a mockery out of the justice system by planning to turn the trial into his own personal political forum as a one man anti-communist superhero.  

Ly Tong is seeing himself as an anti-communist martyr.  He has publicly said many times that he rather serves time in jail to make a point.  LSI is not a legal expert but the conventional wisdom is that for such an unstable defendant, the court might want to consider him as an insane person.

Open Letter to Governor Schwarzenegger from Dina Nguyen

Re: Opposition to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Greetings” Letter
Sent to Consulate General of Vietnam in San Francisco, Dated September 2, 2009

Dear Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger:

We are writing this petition letter in opposition to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Greetings” to the celebrants of Vietnamese Independence Day in which he states “Today we celebrate our Vietnamese American residents for their contributions to our Golden State. You enrich our communities and enhance California’s blossoming diversity. It is an honor to join you in commemorating this special occasion”. This “Greetings” letter was addressed to the Vietnam Consulate in San Francisco and is posted on its website: www.vietnamconsulate-sf.org. It is highly inappropriate for the Governor of the State of California to “commemorate” or “celebrate” September 2 as “Vietnamese Independence Day” because Vietnamese Americans as refugees from Communist Vietnam have never and will never “commemorate” or “celebrate” this day since we do not recognize the government or leadership of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, an illegitimate government which through force of arms overran the Republic of Vietnam, an independent democracy, of which most all Vietnamese Americans were former citizens.

We particularly condemn this action on the part of Governor Schwarzenegger since it was the Governor that recognized the Vietnamese Freedom and Heritage Flag (the yellow with three stripes flag, representing the government and people of the Republic of Vietnam) and thus the Governor most certainly cannot be ignorant of the history and culture of Vietnamese Americans in the State of California.

Your “Greetings” letter addressed to the Consulate General of Vietnam in San Francisco on September 2, 2009 is highly offensive and does not reflect the aspirations of the Vietnamese Americans or the spirit of democracy in the State of California, of which you represent as Governor. Although your term in office as Governor of the State of California is about to end, your understanding and position on Vietnamese Americans’ fight for freedom and democracy will remain historic. Therefore, the importance of these issues requires that we demand a full explanation and immediate public retraction of your “Greetings” letter to the Consulate General of Vietnam. We will continue to rally our Vietnamese American community to educate our elected public officials as to these matters.

Sincerely,


Dina Nguyen, Esq.,
Councilwoman of Garden Grove, CA



Sidenote from LSI:   What is interesting about this letter is that neither Van Tran nor his usually anti-communist troops (Andy Quach, Tri Ta,  Diep Truong, Lan Nguyen, Trung Nguyen) have signed on.  They also have not publicly denounced the governor as the anti-communist community in Little Saigon urges them to do so. 

Loretta Sanchez Still Angry At Van Tran

http://www.nguoi-viet.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=123434


In a post-election press conference for the Vietnamese-American voters as reported by Nguoi Viet Newspaper,  the victorious Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez did not mince word and blasted Van Tran for his dirty campaign tactics.  She personally thanked Mr. Ho Dac Cam for risking his life to support her campaign.  Apparently he received threats from Van Tran's supporters for publicly speaking out to support Sanchez on Vietnamese radio shows. 

Her parting word to Van Tran: " The voters wanted to vote for an elected official who can do the job.  They wanted to vote for somebody who has a record of representing the community.  Nobody knows what he has been doing in Sacramento.  This was a very dirty campaign despite the fact that my people refused to play such game."

Musical Performance - "Breath of Asia"

Breath of Asia, “Music of Vietnam” is the first ensemble of it’s kind from Vietnam. It’s combined use of traditional music composed with a modern twist, theatrical presentation and solid musicianship brings Vietnam’s finest cultural traditions to an International audience.



Tearful eloquence, meditative spells, enlightened earth spirituals and technical flurries all contribute to an endless musical journey. A journey so transparent and clever the show never opens or closes it’s curtains... seemlessly beautiful, emotionally angry and monk meditative … join the wild ride of Vietnam.



•Saturday, November 13, 2010 at 8:00pm

•Jackson Theatre, Smith Center at Ohlone College

•Tickets:

◦General Admission $20

◦Students & Seniors $18

◦Youth Under 12 $15

•Box Office / Ticket Information

The ensemble features national champion and gold medal winner Van-Anh Vo on dan Tranh (zither), Khac Quan-violin, Ai Van-vocals, Huy Phan-bass and Song My on dan bau and violin. Rounding out the ensemble are Kumi Uyeda-piano and Jason Jong on percussion. Compositions range from century old traditionals to Do Bao (Vietnam’s #1 composer) modern originals.

Show conceived, arranged and produced by Kallan Nishimoto, Flytrap Studio.

Can Loretta Sanchez Ever Be Defeated?

After her impressive win in a congressional race against Van Tran (R) in a year where most Democrat incumbents got shellacked,  it begs the question can Sanchez ever be defeated?

The fact that Sanchez did not even bother to spend the majority of her money is even more amazing.  With two weeks left in the race, she only spent only about $500K total while Van paid out about $700K to cover his expenses.  She won the election with more than half of her war chest unspent.

And according to the only available poll publicly done  (Commissioned by Van Tran), Tran was tied with Sanchez going into the final weeks but with a higher support level among White, Independent and Asian voters.  According to his poll as summarized on Red County Internet Blog :

"........Tran enjoys a commanding 34-point lead with White voters in the district (60% Tran – 26% Sanchez).

"........Tran also polls strongly with Independent voters (42% Tran – 28% Sanchez) and older voters (50% Tran – 30% Sanchez) – two groups that are likely going to determine the victor here.


"........Tran has a commanding 22-point lead over Sanchez (52% - 30%) among voters who say they are “extremely interested” in the upcoming elections (rate their interest a “10”on a one-to-ten scale). Among a broader high interest segment of the electorate – the “8-10s” – Tran is up eight points (44% - 38%).

"........Sanchez has twice the unfavorables as Tran (with about the same favorables) explains why voters who have an opinion of both candidates are voting for Van Tran by an 18-point margin (54% Tran – 36% Sanchez)....."


So she must have known something that most OC political observers did not realize.   There were about 39,800 absentee ballots received by Monday, Nov.1.   The breakdown according to the OC Registrar office was:   ~ 17,000 Democrat; ~ 15,000 Republican and ~7,000 DTS voters.  So there were more Republican,  DTS voters combined than Democrat voters.
 
The first ballot result posted on Tuesday showed the first 32,400 absentee ballots counted and Van was about 320 votes behind Sanchez (0.8% behind) while Ceci Iglesias received 3.4%.   Van knew then he was in for a long night since the first batch of absentee ballots should favor him because his assumption was that Republican and DTS votes would be for him.
 
By the time time the second set of results was posted (44,000 ballots total), Van was about 1,000 votes behind.  At the end of the night when all the precincts were counted, he was 8% behind and needed 5,500 votes to catch up.   When the rest of the absentee ballots finally got counted 5 days later,  Tran actually lost more ground and he is now about 9,800 votes behind (The final number has not been posted yet).
 
After looking at the voting trend, a number of OC pundits analyzed as follows:
 
1.  Despite the poll numbers,  Van did not get the majority support from neither the DTS nor the Asian voters.  If he had, he would have been ahead of the Sanchez when the first set of result posted.   Vietnamese-Americans are mostly absentee voters and Republican.  Historically up to 80% or more preferred absentee ballots.  There were about 12,000 to 14,000 Vietnamese voters who actually voted in previous elections.
 
2.  The ploy to have a second Latino candidate to dilute the Latino votes is a strategy that usually does not work and sometime could backfire.   Most Latino would prefer to vote for a candidate that has a chance of winning and somebody who is proven to bring home the bacon to their community.   Some pundits commented that Iglesias probably ended up taking more DTS votes from Van than Latino votes from Sanchez.
 
Van Tran spent a lot of money to win votes in Little Saigon, he funded a newspaper and published newsletters, bought a radio show and had his own people attacking Sanchez 4 hours a day. Van was hoping the Vietnamese Catholics would turn out to vote against Sanchez as his campaign hit her on abortion issue and her "loose-woman" image.  Vietnamese Catholics is about 35% of Little Saigon population.   Meanwhile, Sanchez spent little money with the media in Little Saigon and mostly to defend herself sporadically against Van Tran's attack.  
 
So the question here can a Republican  candidate defeat Sanchez?   From the election result, it shows that this is a district where the Asian and DTS voters are moderate in their view and if a candidate can get the support of these two voting blocs,  the race can be competitive against a liberal Sanchez.

Loretta Sanchez and 2012 ??

According to a recent article on Orange Juice Blog about Loretta Sanchez and her prospect in  2012...


http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2010/11/will-loretta-sanchez-become-more-liberal-with-half-the-blue-dogs-gone/


"........In two years she will be in a tough electoral battle again. Termed out Assemblyman Van Tran is likely to run again in 2012, for her seat. And today, moderate Republican Quang Pham announced in an email that he is “officially running.” Pham ran this year, but he pulled out before the Primary, allowing Tran to win...."

Everybody knows Quang Pham was running yesterday and will be running in 2012, it is his in blood.  He cannot help it.

The Lan and Mark Beyster Public Interest Fellowship

The Lan and Mark Beyster Public Interest Fellowship will provide $25,000 to one law graduate who will work for one year to provide legal services to and advocacy for the Vietnamese American community and/or other underserved, underresourced communities. The Vietnamese American Bar Association of Northern California (VABANC) will administer the Fellowship Program.

Mark Beyster is the son of Robert Beyster, the legendary founder of SAIC, the largest employee-owned research and engineering company in the United States.  Mark and Lan Ly were married earlier this year in San Diego.


Fellowship Requirements


1. J.D. in hand at the beginning of the grant period or awaiting bar results.

2. Strong demonstrated interest and commitment in working with the Vietnamese American community and/or social justice work with underserved communities.

3. Unique life experience or other experiences in overcoming personal adversity/challenges.

4. Overall academic excellence.



Application:

1. Official Law School Transcript

2. Two letters of recommendation

3. Resume

4. A proposal no more than 3 pages (12 point, Times New Roman, 1 inch margins) detailing the proposed public interest project, and describing which legal rights the applicant will be enforcing and the project’s relevancy in advancing the legal and civil rights of the Vietnamese American community and/or other underserved communities. (Please note that the applicant should have secured a host non-profit legal organization who will support his or her work and he or she should describe the legal organization’s role in the project.)

Please send completed applications by December 1, 2010, with a cover letter indicating interest, to VABANC at vabancinfo@gmail.com. For questions, please contact Quyen Ta at qta@kvn.com.