Andrew Do for OC Supervisor

With 10 days before the election,  the supervisorial race for Orange County D1 is getting some actions.   The Democratic Party and labor unions have spent over $1 million in support of former State Senator Lou Correa (D).  Half of that money is in Little Saigon itself. 

His major opponent is Attorney Andrew Do (R) who is also a former Garden Grove City councilmember and deputy district attorney for OC.   Andrew Do is well known in Little Saigon for his community service.  His wife is a superior court judge.

 He receives the support of the OC Republican Party and some of the major elected officials, including State Senator Janet Nguyen, OC Supervisor Michelle Steel, Congressman Ed Royce and Congresswoman Mimi Walters.  There are two other Vietnamese-American candidates who are also running with the intention to split the Vietnamese votes against Andrew Do.

As a last minute bombshell strategy that is often used by the Democrats,  the Voice of OC Blog reported that two county social workers were recently fire for allegedly helping Andrew Do with his campaign.  The blog went on trying to prove that this incident shows that Andrew Do is "corrupt".  However, when county officials were asked, no reason was giving for their dismissal except that these individuals were contract workers,  not permanent employees,  and they had been with the county for seven years.

The Voice of OC Blog is known to be the voice of the labor unions after records show that they received $1 million financing from OCEA (Orange County Employees Association).   In the past election, it attacked Janet Nguyen constantly with sensationalized stories of "alleged corruption".    The political fodder points were disguised as "investigative report" and quite dramatic to a fault in its double speak language during the recent state senatorial race as the blog tried to steer the voters to  former State Assemblyman Jose Solorio.   The result is Solorio still lost by 20 points   in the election despite the fact that he outspent Janet Nguyen 3 to 1. 

Voice of OC reporting is so unethical and inaccurate that the Orange County District Attorney had to release a statement late last year -

http://ocpoliticsblog.com/2014/09/05/ocda-complains-about-unethical-and-inaccurate-reporting-by-the-voice-of-oc/#more-23231

The main statement of the press release from OCDA is:

"........Any publication that quotes any future stories from the Voice of OC should proceed with extreme caution and verify its accuracy.  If anyone would like the details of the Voice of OC’s pattern of misconduct and unethical behavior, they should contact me directly.  Meanwhile, the OCDA is contemplating all remedies available on future contacts with the Voice of OC..."


This  will be a very close election and whoever can get out their base will have an advantage.  The Democratic Party is determined not to lose the election and they are willing to throw the kitchen sink at Andrew Do if they could.   If the Vietnamese-American turnout is high, Andrew Do will have a good chance.  Right now, there are 20,340 absentee ballots returned already.  LSI is not expecting the turn out to be more than in the 2007 special election where there were about 48,000 ballots casted. 

Tet Festival in San Jose

     For 39 years ever since the Vietnamese refugees came to San Jose, there has always a Tet festival to celebrate the Lunar New Year in the city.   In most years, there are more than one festival and for this Year of The Goat, there will be three galas organized by different community groups.  

      What makes this particular Tet gala quite special is the fact that it will be organized by a group of people that either were born or  their whole life raised in the US.  The main organizers are professional folks in their late 20's and early 30's.  

      In the past, the festival is put together by their parents or their grandparents and the events are mostly aimed at their own community.    However, the upcoming festival in History Park is catered for a city wide audience of all ages to come and share the Vietnamese New Year's traditions and culture.  So come and enjoy the Lunar New Year with Vietnamese food, carnival games, all kind of contests and performances by local artists.    The organizers hope that this gala will be the first of many for years to come to show off the diversity and unique multiculture city that San Jose is. 

Happy Tet! 


Footnote: Tet means New Year in Vietnamese 
 

Chris Phan and Van Tran's Gang of Seven

The special supervisorial election in Orange County is two weeks away and the community is gearing up for a battle between Chris Phan's supporters and Andrew Do's supporters. 

Over the weekend,  Chris Phan organized a meet and greet event to rally his supporters.  Phan is mainly being supported by the same folks that were ardent supporters of Van Tran, the former state assemblyman.    Van has been calling on these folks to support Chris Phan.  Thus it was not surprise to see  some members or what left of Van Tran's Gang of Seven showed up and spoke enthusiastically in support of Phan.

Attorney Lan Nguyen,  a Garden Groves Unified School District trustee, and Van's original Gang of Seven member, declared loudly into the microphone: "Chris Phan is the only qualified candidate and deserve the community votes."   Tyler Diep,  a Westminster City councilmember, was also there to show his support.  He spoke highly of Phan and turned the table on Andrew Do by throwing some softball questions at Phan on  "how he felt about Andrew's supporters attacking Phan's record so far as a politician."  Diep  also went to Phan's campaign headquarters couple weeks ago to help Phan opening his campaign. 


Andrew Do meanwhile is taking full advantage of the anti-Van Tran's Gang of Seven supporters.   These are also the voters that helped Janet Nguyen won her election.

So you have it, a community divides again by the ghost of Van Tran and his cohorts.    Van  has politically  disappeared from the community after his bitter defeat in 2010 against Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez.   And the community still has a sour taste of the  all out war he waged against Janet Nguyen a few years back.  Yet he is still trying and  stubbornly insists to be the Godfather of Little Saigon.   Van is a family man with kids so he probably has heard of the famous song " Let It Go!"



 

Chris Phan for OC Supervisor

There are a number of people in the Vietnamese-American community asking about Garden Grove City Councilmember Chris Phan's role in the Garden Grove City Fire Department corruption as well as the Horizon Cross Cultural Center billing scandal.

Since Phan is running for OC Supervisor  in hope to fill the seat left open by Janet Nguyen, it is useful for the voters to have information in order to understand one's judgement and leadership.

As a lawyer and a deputy district attorney,  Phan curiously has exhibited laid back attitude  for the law and tendency to plead ignorance.

Phan was elected  Garden City Councilmember two years ago and then got a job as deputy district attorney for OC.   During his short tenure as a councilmember, he was confronted with a nepotism corruption involving the hiring of the son of the then mayor of Garden Grove to the fire department despite the fact that he was unqualified.  In the wake of the scandal, the mayor lost his re-election and the fire chief was forced to resign.   But the city council then approved a sweet settlement in secret with the fire chief worth more than $500,000 so that he would not sue the city.   The deal was considered illegal by law experts since it violated the Brown Act -

http://voiceofoc.org/garden-grove-fire-chiefs-settlement-illegal-say-experts/

When asked about the nature of the settlement and why it was not made public,  Chris Phan replied: "I don't know".    It took the Voice of OC reporter to figure out the story and make it public.

Chris Phan has been a board member and one time even Chairman of the Board for the Horizon Cross Cultural Center in Orange County.  The nonprofit center mostly serves the Asian community.   They receives funding from Orange County and other governmental agencies.   In the last few years, the Orange County Transportation Authority had been questioning the center about some billing irregularities and the actual transportation services that they claimed to provide to the elders and handicaps.  The center could not justify some of its billing and services and ultimately the funding for the particular program was terminated at the end of this summer.   

Strangely enough, Chris Phan,  instead of launching his own investigation as board member on this issue, took offense with the OC  Board of Supervisors.  On July 24, 2014 at the weekly OC Board of Supervisors meeting, he went off on them and complained how they had mistreated the center.

Chris Phan is running as a Republican but with neither the support of the Republican Party nor their elected officials in Orange County.   He is hoping to capture some Vietnamese-American votes away  from the leading Republican candidate Attorney Andrew Do.    Andrew Do meanwhile has the name recognition and the record serving the community as chief of staff for now State Senator Janet Nguyen.   Thus, he is getting her supporters behind him.   And Janet Nguyen has quite a lot of supporters and it showed in the recent election where she trounced Jose Solorio by 20 points.

This will be a tight race with such a short timeline to prepare and  raise money for the five candidates - 3 Vietnamese-American and 2 Hispanic.   Since it is a special election, the turn-out will be low.  Extrapolating from past special elections in OC, there will probably be less than 45,000 voters expected.  The 2 main candidates, Lou Correa (D) and Andrew Do (R) will mostly likely  receive bulk of the votes and it might come down to a few vote difference again.  So go to vote for every vote counts!



 

Cong Do Running for State Assembly

With so many Vietnamese-Americans running for office in San Jose this year and next year, it would not be complete without mentioning 2016.  With still 2 years away, Cong Do already announced his candidacy to replace State Assemblywoman Nora Campos for District 27.   He is so eager that his website is already up.  Of course, when you are not working and just staying home painting for fun, he has plenty of time to do whatever he wants. 

http://doforstateassembly.com/

A self-proclaimed anti-communist activist who has been trying to destabilize the Vietnamese government for years, he went back to Vietnam to promote his anti-communist activity and was jailed in June, 2006 on terrorist charges by the local law enforcement.  Three months later, he was freed when US Congresswoman Lofgren petitioned with the US Department to help her constituent. 

This will be an interest race since the infamous Madison Nguyen is also running.  The district has 33% Asian and 46% Hispanic.  It covers most of D7, D8 and D5.   Now whether the Vietnamese-American voters will vote for a Ly Tong clone or a former elected official who is not quite popular with her own ethnic base, we will have to wait for another 720 days.

Ash Kalra and Darcie Green are happy of course since at least they don't have to worry about the Vietnamese-American votes going mostly to Madison Nguyen. 

 

Tam Nguyen's Inaugural Ceremony

While Mayor-Elect Sam Liccardo and other newly elected city councilmembers will have their inaugural ceremony at the Fairmont Hotel, Tam Nguyen will have his at the city council chamber first and then joined the other in the evening.  He has invited his friend, State Senator Janet Nguyen, to officiate the swearing in.

He will also throw an open party for District 7 voters on January 18 at the Unified Center on Story Road to show his appreciation for their support during his campaign

Andrew Do vs. Lou Correa & Others for D1 Supervisorial Race

The race is officially on to fill the supervisor seat held by Janet Nguyen until she recently elected to State Senate.  The official election date is January 27, 2015 with  the mailing of absentee ballot starting December 26, 2014. 

The Orange County D1 has approximately 600,000 residents and covers part or most of Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Westminster, Midway City and Santa Ana.  The last time a special election was held, close to  48,000 votes were casted and Janet Nguyen won the election over Trung Nguyen by 3 votes.   There are about 51,000 registered Vietnamese-American voters in the district.

There are a total of 5 candidates, two Hispanic and 3 Vietnamese-American.  But the two main candidates with their respective party's endorsement and support are Lou Correa (D) and Andrew Do (R).

Lou Correa, 56,  is a termed-out state senator and was a D1 supervisor for 2 years (2006-2007).   Andrew Do, 51,  is a former Garden Grove city councilmember and former OC deputy district attorney.  He also serves as chief of staff for Janet Nguyen. 

Andrew Do has the endorsement of the OC Republican Party and many big names Republican included OC Supervisor Michelle Steel, State Senator Mimi Walters, and Congressman Ed Royce.  Of course, State Senator Janet Nguyen is supporting him strongly and her constituents within the Vietnamese-American community are likely to follow her suit.   He has a strong presence in the community with the many community programs that bring healthcare and social benefits.  

Even though Correa works very hard to win Vietnamese-American support but his unequivocal support of SCA-5 to repeal  the ban of colleges and universities in California to use racial preferences has angered many people in the community.   They see this legislature as threat to their children's education advancement since SCA-5 essential will limit the numbers of Asian students to be accepted to college.

This special election will be won by whoever can get their base to turn out.  Correa and his close support of President Obama and his amnesty policy for illegal aliens can be a plus to drive the Hispanic vote.  While Do with his Republican Party's endorsement will get the hard core party vote.

Andrew Do, with his strong Republican and natural Vietnamese-American base, has the most visibility with his party and in Little Saigon despite the fact that there are two other Vietnamese-American candidates.   According to conventional wisdom, candidate Chuyen van Nguyen, a relative unknown in the community, is there to dilute the vote on purpose.  Chuyen van Nguyen was a retired aide to former State Senator Joe Dunn (D).   Garden Grove Councilmember Chris Phan, meanwhile, has no record in the community during his 2 years in office except for his public ambition ever since he took council office to become the next supervisor .  He is being supported in the Vietnamese-American community by the remnant of Van Tran's supporters.  These are the same people that would not vote for Janet Nguyen or anybody who received her support.  Phan can play the role of the spoiler of course.

Expect the race will be a close one and LSI cannot wait to see another nail-biter like 2007.