Qui Nguyen Wins Word Series of Poker

According to ESPN News -

"Qui Nguyen won the 2016 World Series of Poker main event late Tuesday night, earning $8 million and the diamond-encrusted gold bracelet.

He defeated Gordon Vayo in a heads-up battle that lasted 182 hands and well over seven hours to win the WSOP bracelet in his first time playing the WSOP main event.

Qui Nguyen is the 47th WSOP main event champion and just the second Vietnamese-born winner; the first was Scotty Nguyen, who won the 1998 WSOP main event for $1 million."

Qui Nguyen is a nail technician / owner of nail salon in Orange County, California.  He started playing professionally in 2003 and his career earnings up till now was around $52,400.  Scotty Nguyen is also from California.

Andrew Do and Orange County Register

The  OC Register Editorial Board recently gave a resounding endorsement to Andrew Do for Orange County Supervisor, First District.   See excerpt below:

" The race for First District Orange County Supervisor has narrowed down to two, with incumbent Andrew Do facing off against Santa Ana Councilwoman Michele Martinez.

We endorsed Do in the June primary because in the nearly 17 months since winning a special election for the seat, he had taken a role of leadership, helping to craft county policies that prioritize public safety, creating a more open and transparent county government and tackling our region’s homelessness crisis.

A few months later, we have grown to admire Do even more. His commitment to the residents of his district and the county are clear. That is why Andrew Do again has our endorsement for another term as First District supervisor.

During his tenure, Do has advocated for residents on the most important issues. He has pushed the conversation forward on the county’s homelessness crisis, which, according to a report by KPPC, has grown “about 5 percent in the last two years.” Most recently, Do put forward a motion to open the old Santa Ana Transit Terminal as a temporary homeless shelter.

As a former prosecutor, Do knows the important role that law enforcement plays in our community. His championing of public safety issues is likely why he earned the endorsement of Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens.

“I trust Supervisor Andrew Do on public safety,” Sheriff Hutchens said in a statement. “Over the past year, Supervisor Andrew Do has led the effort to provide the Orange County Sheriff’s Department with more resources to respond to the state’s early release of convicted criminals.”

Do’s upbringing has also taught him the importance of keeping government small and unobtrusive in people’s lives. His family fled communism in Vietnam “with just the clothes on their back and a suitcase full of dictionaries.” As such, Do has held the line on spending and has been a stalwart defender of small businesses and property rights."

The Editorial Board recommends Andrew Do on Nov. 8.

Ash Kalra and Janet Nguyen

A few days ago, I was honored to be at the Grand Opening of the Vietnamese-American Community Center in San Jose. For over a year, I have given my full support as a Council Member as my colleagues, Tam Nguyen and Manh Nguyen, have worked diligently to open the community center in order to better serve our Vietnamese-American residents. It was a joyous occasion to see hundreds of community members come out on a rainy day to celebrate an historic event that should have been achieved many years prior. 

Before the Grand Opening event, I had the great privilege of meeting with Senator Janet Nguyen, who flew up for Orange County the same morning. She took the time to fly up for three hours in order to join the celebration and recognize the tremendous work of the community of making the community center a reality. Our conversation was very instructive and helped me to understand why Senator Nguyen is so beloved by the Vietnamese-American community. I left the meeting with more clarity than ever as to why electing my opponent will be a big step backward for the Vietnamese-American community.

First, think about how important it is for elected leaders to be present. Over the years, I have spent literally hundreds of hours to be present for community events. They can be small gatherings at a library to educate residents on how to become citizens or huge Tet Festivals with thousands in attendance. I do this because in order to represent my community well, it is required of me to be present and to honor the sacrifice of thousands of volunteers who spend time throughout our community organizing events to celebrate their culture and make San Jose a wonderful place to live. Senator Nguyen took the time out of her extremely busy schedule to fly up for the opening of the Vietnamese-American Community Center in order to honor members in her community who put in so much time and energy to make it a reality. Over a dozen elected leaders and candidates were there to recognize the joyous occasion. Madison Nguyen was not there. But, that is not unusual. I have gone to dozens of Vietnamese-American just in the last year alone and she is never there. Contrast that with Senator Nguyen who makes an extraordinary effort to be present in celebration and support of her community in Orange County. And, even comes up here to support our Vietnamese-American community in San Jose. Being present and supporting the wonderful causes in our community matters. 

Second, think about how important it is for elected leaders to do the work of making laws. I am proud to say that not only have I been a very active Council Member, I have also served on our Valley Transportation Authority Board (VTA), Caltrain Board, Bay Area Air Quality Management Board (BAAQMD) and Housing Trust of Silicon Valley Board. I was even the Chairman of the Board of VTA and BAAQMD, the first person to ever Chair both organizations in history. During my time in service, I have written legislation and have led these agencies to crack down on predatory payday lenders, stop trains carrying explosive oil from entering our city, added more capacity for affordable housing, and succeeded in having BART come to San Jose ahead of schedule and $75 million under budget. 

Even as it relates to the Vietnamese-American community, I have not shied away from representing the community. I led the Council to create an Office of Immigrant Affairs, including a small business ambassador to specifically serve the Vietnamese-American small business community. I have repeatedly spoken out against human rights abuses, even signing on to and supporting Resolutions against the abuses of the Vietnamese government. I hosted the 40th Black April Memorial Commemoration at City Hall and have sponsored or supported many other Vietnamese-American community events. I fought for Little Saigon freeway signs, even as my opponent tried to slow progress and reignite hostility on the matter. And, I have shown public support for Senator Janet Nguyen's legislative bills regarding nail salons and rice cakes. In fact, I sent an official letter of support of her rice cake bill to the Senate Committee that heard the matter prior to the law being adopted. 

Of course, I have also joined the community when they have raised issues that matter to them. I have been to many of the vigils at city hall over the last half year protesting Formosa, have been there to show support when the community expressed rage over China's incursions into the South China Sea, and have celebrated many artist and authors in the Vietnamese community who have helped share the cause of freedom with the world. In fact, I recorded a radio interview just a few days ago with Congresswoman Lofgren condemning the arrest of blogger Me Nam. Needless to say, I have never seen Madison Nguyen at any of these events or protests to speak up against abuses of the Vietnamese government or to honor those who have been on the frontline of the struggle for freedom. She is also not someone who has written laws or served on meaningful regional Boards and, therefore, lacks the knowledge to effectively represent our city in Sacramento.

This leads to my third, and final, point in this article. As Senator Janet Nguyen does her good work on behalf of the Vietnamese-American community, who will be a better ally in the State Assembly? Senator Nguyen is a Republic leader in the Senate. The person who wins the race for Assembly will be a Democrat in the State Assembly. For those unaware of the poor reputation of Madison Nguyen, they may think it would be a good thing to have a Vietnamese-American representative on the State Assembly side to partner with Senator Nguyen. The truth of the matter is that having Madison Nguyen elected to the State Assembly will be a barrier to the work Senator Nguyen is doing on behalf of the community. It is not easy for Senator Nguyen to pass legislation that focuses on supporting the Vietnamese-American, like the rice cake or nail salon bills. And, certainly, it is difficult for her to pass Resolutions standing up for human rights and condemning the Vietnamese government for its atrocities. It will be much harder for her to pass such legislation or to make important statements standing up for human rights if Madison Nguyen is in the Assembly. Her Democratic colleagues in the State Assembly will look to her to respond to efforts by Senator Nguyen. Since Madison is a Democrat (although I am endorsed by the Democratic Party in our Assembly race), they will defer to her as to how to react to a bill or action from Senator Nguyen. If there is opposition to a Senate Bill from the Assembly, the bill dies and never sees the light of day again. So, it is actually quite dangerous to have Madison as the spokesperson of the Vietnamese-American community in the State Assembly. And, it will definitely not help the good work that Senator Nguyen is doing.

Now, it is true that I am also a Democrat. But, as evidenced by my support from Republican Van Le, I can work with all sides in order to come to compromises. Also, the areas where Senator Nguyen and I may disagree will likely have to do more with traditional disagreements between Republicans and Democrats regarding fiscal priorities. However, I whole-heartedly will work with Senator Nguyen on matters of human rights and representing the Vietnamese-American community with honesty and integrity. I will be a partner with Senator Nguyen and will seek her guidance as to how best represent the community with respect. 

Supporting my candidacy allows San Jose and Orange County to unite as I will work with Senator Nguyen to represent the community well and make sure the Vietnamese-American community has a voice in California like never before. I would be honored to have your support. 

Rock the Vote

Voter Speaks Up about ROV and Recount Debable

September 13, 2016

To: Santa Clara Board of Supervisors
Re:  Serious errors/flaws uncovered during the automatic recount of the San Jose City Council District 4 election

Dear Supervisors,

As a concerned voter of Santa Clara county and on my own behalf, I’ve written many comments about the sloppy operation Registrar of Voters (ROV), especially in the ballot duplication aspect, which raises serious doubts about the outcome of the San Jose City Council District 4 race, an extremely tight race with only 28 votes between the candidates, out of 17,350 votes for the candidates.

It does not matter to me who wins or loses.  It matters to me a great deal that we have an election system whose work and published results we can trust.  Complaints about the ROV have been raised in the past, but it was not until this recount that we have concrete data to substantiate our concerns.

The recount narrowed the winner’s lead from 28 before to 12 after the recount.  The ROV is now trying to say that they need to add in the 60 write‐in votes, which bring the winner’s lead to 36 votes before the recount.  In that case, the recount corrected the winner’s lead from 36 to 12, a whopping 67% correction. In other words, the original election results certified by the ROV were 67% inaccurate.

There are still many unresolved issues.  A precinct‐by‐precinct analysis shows over 200 votes are missing between the original count and the automatic recount.  The ROV offers no explanation for these missing votes.  Instead, the ROV try to distort the number of ballots counted during the automatic recount, claiming in its report to the Board that the recount encompassed 20,334 ballots when it only counted 20,079 ballots (as proven by tally sheets and ROV’s own report).  There are 10 illegal votes because 5 people double‐voted.  

Dozens of original ballots and duplicated ballots are missing. The most serious violation is in the ballot duplicating process, which include ballots being duplicated twice giving one candidate unfair lead, staff initialing for one another or not initialing at all, altering and forging of initials, even during the employee’s absence.  About 97% of the 280 challenges logged in during the recount were related to staff initials.

Below, I am providing some examples of the original and duplicated ballots for your review. Of most concerns are the following:

- a ballot where the original has different markings in different ink, like someone just quickly connected the arrow for Lan Diep before duplicating the ballot

-  ballots were duplicated without clear marks or notes as to why they needed be duplicated

- ballots where staff initials were altered.  we witnessed (during the recount) an ROV staff member who was very concerned  when she found her initials but not in her handwriting.

For these reasons, we urge the Board of Supervisors to not accept the ROV’s report because it contains wrong information (claiming that the recount counted 20,334 ballots when it only counted 20,079 ballots).  We also urge the Board to nullify the certification of the election results and the outcome of District 4 until after the Board fully investigates ROV’s wrongdoings.  And please keep the recount because it helps make ROV accountable to the county, and the voters.

Thank you for your leadership in ensuring that we have a fair, honest, transparent, efficient and accurate election system.

Sincerely yours,


Quyen Vuong

Why Manh Nguyen Is Taking on ROV?

ROV Needs Overhaul

Recent Letter to County Board of Supervisors by Councilmember Manh Nguyen.

August 10, 2016

Honorable Dave Cortese & 

Members of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors

70 West Hedding Street, East Wing / 10th floor

San Jose, CA 95110

Re: Errors and Omissions in connection with June 7, 2016 Fourth District

San Jose City Council Election and Recounts

Dear Mr. President and Members of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, 

Over the course of the past several weeks -- during the post-election canvass, the automatic recount required by the Board of Supervisors, and the voter-requested recount --and based on detailed personal observation, extensive document review, and personal interviews, it has become clear that numerous critical legal procedures and safeguards designed to ensure the integrity and accuracy of the election have not been followed by the office of Registrar of Voters (See the report below.) We have concluded that these violations are so significant - both in quality and quantity - and cast such serious doubt on the outcome of the election, that the intent of the majority of the Fourth District's voters can not be accurately ascertained. Consequently, the Fourth District election was fatally flawed.

In view of the many problems associated with the recent election, especially when placed in context with the well-documented problems over the last several election cycles, we request that Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, conduct an audit the office of the ROV to right the wrong, to correct all misconducts of the ROV's officials and/or employees and above all to ensure that the best interests of Santa Clara county citizens are being served.

Sincerely,

Manh Nguyen 

San Jose City Council Member District-4