Diep " Tyler" Truong Interfered with Police Investigation

In a recent article by Nguoi Viet newspaper, http://www.nguoi-viet.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=99712&z=3, it was reported that Diep "Tyler" Truong had interfered with a police investigation of Citryst Restaurant around Feb. of this year as a city councilman. Truong defended himself by saying that he was just new to the council so he did know the proper "protocol"

After receiving a phone call from the owner of Citryst about police visiting the restaurant for possible violations, Truong asked the police in charge of the investigation, officer Tim Vu, why was he visiting the Citryst Restaurant. The conversation was taped.

Officer Vu responsed by asking Truong if he would like him to stop the investigation. According to Nguoi Viet, Truong met up with the city police chief, Andrew Hall, several days later to clear his action.

Citryst Restaurant is owned by Amanda My Dung Nguyen, a relative of the owner of Pho 54 Restaurant. It was at the same Citryst Restaurant that by all account, Andy Quach, Van Tran and Diep 'Tyler" Truong were last seen together after they had left another restaurant the night Quach took out a corner of Westminster with his DUI. Both owners are financial contributors to Assemblyman Van Tran's campaign and are friends of Tran.

LSI has now been told that Diep "Tyler" Truong was also asking city staff the Monday after Andy Quach DUI if there were any home security camera in the area of the accident.

Diep "Tyler" Truong is a staff of Assemblyman Van Tran and of course is part of the well known "Gang of Seven" in Little Saigon

Van Tran Looking Ahead

Last week was a week to forget for Assemblyman Van Tran. From blogs, mainstream news and local Vietnamese-American media, the typical headline was "Van Tran Interfers with Andy Quach DUI"



Tran of course is running for congress against Quang Pham, an ex-Marine pilot, author and businessman, in the Republican primary next year. And if successful, he will have a chance to face the incumbent Loretta Sanchez (D).



The 47th Congressional District, according to an Associated Press news release, has 96,000 registered Democrats, 70,000 registered Republicans and 42,000 registered Independents. These numbers are attained from the Orange County Registrar of Voters. The Vietnamese American voters make up about 10% of the total registered voters. Historically, they always have high turn out and some insiders (mostly political consultants) have estimated that they will represent about 15% - 20% of the total votes, depending on how low the overall turnout will be.

Van Tran's assembly district overlaps the congressional district about 20%. In comparison, Janet Nguyen's county district overlaps 40%.

To combat the recent unfavorable press, Tran has instructed his hired guns to spread the words in op-ed pieces in the Vietnamese-American community as well as word of the mouth that Loretta Sanchez is really afraid of Tran for she cannot raise money. Hence she will opt out to run for governor instead.

Also, in response to the community's concern in regards to budget cut, Tran had a townhall meeting recently and informed the community that 80% of the budget cut will be compensated by federal grants and stimulus packages. This of course is really misrepresenting the facts by Tran to assure one his staunchest voting bloc - the old anti-communist voters who are mostly recipients of federal and state social services.





Tran's major concern right now is the primary of course. Even though he is talking tough and tries his best to ignore Quang Pham at the moment, he understands that the Vietnamese-Americans in OC are looking for a fresh face and are tired of the "Trannie" and the "Gang of Seven". Tran is so sensitive to the label "Gang of Seven" now that when in public events, they made a point of not hanging around together. Before the loss to Janet Nguyen in 2008, they were sticking together like glue to show off their unity and power.





Pham is a relative newcomer to politics. He has the name recognition within the Vietnamese-American community and somewhat of a celebrity with his autobiography of a soldier and soldier's son fighting for the idea of freedom and democracy.



So far the race has not been heating up yet. In term of fund raising, Tran managed to raise $250,000 for his race against Pham and Sanchez. Out of the $250,000, about $175,000 can be used for the primary, the rest is earmarked for the run-off. About $26,000 of the donation came from Vietnamese-American owners of companies that have close tie with the communist government in Vietnam. Pham declared his candidacy later in the filing cycle so his filing statement will not be available until Q3.

A number of factors in play in the Republican primary

1. Clearly the Vietnamese-Americans will play a major role in deciding whether it is Pham or Tran to go against Sanchez - An outsider vs. a political insider. Up until now, the conventional wisdom is that both will split the vote for the community is polarized strongly by Van and his "Gang of Seven". The downfall of Andy Quach is probably viewed indifferently by the mainstream voters. However, within the Vietnamese-American community, Andy Quach and Van Tran represents a political machine entity and its power. Whether this will hurt Van or not, only time can tell

2. The mainstream, how are they going to view Tran as a political establishment with records? Whether these records are in his favor or not, it will depend on his opponent to convince the voters. In addition, his wife conviction of insurance fraud in 2005 (a year after he won the election), will that be a factor? Tran was her attorney as a sitting assemblyman. She got off with a slap on a wrist - probation and a revoked insurance license.

3. Pham is inexperience in political campaign. Tran is well known to use dirty tactics in his political machine to destroy his opponents or perceived opponents, case in point - Janet Nguyen in 2007 and 2008. Even though Pham has been successful in business and has the name recognition in the Vietnamese-American community, he is an unknown outside his circle of business and military sphere.

4. Can Pham build a team to go against Tran's political machine and the "Gang of Seven"? Even though the "Gang of Seven" is less powerful than before with political defeats in 2008 and the now Andy Quach DUI.

All these questions will be answered soon enough as the politics will heat up in the fall (hopefully).

Van Tran Declared 80% of Calfornia Budget Cut will be Made Up by Federal Funding

Last Friday, California State Assemblyman Van Tran conducted a town hall meeting at Furiwa Restaurant for the Vietnamese-American community to help answer some of the concerns by the community in regards to the budget cut. The Vietnamese-American community in OC is particularly concerned about healthcare and welfare & social services benefits.

The event was reported by Nguoi Viet Newspaper , http://www.nguoi-viet.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=98931&z=3. The headline is: " Van Tran at Town Hall Meeting in OC: 80% of Budget Cut will be compensated by Federal"

Tran said that despite the $26.3 billion budget cut, this is a short term fiscal reduction and the state is doing all it can to compensate for loss revenue.

Tran emphasized the good news is that the 80% of the cut in education, healthcare and social services will be made up by federal funding and stimulus package so the community should not be worried. He was also proud that despite the cut, the better news is that there was no tax increase in the budget.

Calls were placed to offices of various Democratic and Republican leaders in Sacramento to confirm Van's statement about the good news of receiving federal funding to cover education and health care shortfall was met with skepticism.

Van Tran is running for congress so obviously he did not want to be the bearer of bad news to a strong voting segment of the community that relies heavily on state funded health care and social services for their existence.

Van Tran and Andy Quach DUI Cover Up

Within the Vietnamese American community, the story is well told as follows -

According to those who were at the West Coast Sea Food Buffet, Van Tran, Andy Quach and Diep "Tyler" Truong were there until 10:00 PM when Quach suggested that they go to Citryst. Quach jokingly enticed them with the line "there would be more pretty girls over at Citryst". Citryst is owned by Amanda Nguyen, a relative of the owner of Pho 54 restaurant.

Van Tran and Andy Quach left Citryst together while Tyler Truong left Citris earlier for he is not much of a drinker.


For the record, the owner of West Coast Sea Food Buffet claimed that Quach and Tran were not drunk when they left his restaurant. If there is an ambulance chasing lawyer out there, Citryst would be the place to start your investigation.

City Councilmber Andy Quach of course is part of the " Trannie" known in the Little Saigon as the "Gang of Seven". He is also a paid fund raiser for State Assembly Van Tran. The last bill to Tran was for $2,000.

So far the Andy Quach DUI incident is being implicated in blogs like Red County, Orange Juice, LiberalOC as a cover up by Van Tran and Andy Quach. The blogs have done a great job of vetting out the story. The OC Register also is piecing the story together as more information is being released by the police department.

We now know that Van Tran was there at the scene and tried to interfere with the investigation to a point that the police threatened to arrest him.

Questions are being asked right now in the community:

1. Who was in the car with Andy Quach when he mowed down the utility pole and plowed his car into a residential wall? Was he alone or somebody else was in the passenger seat? This could be easily determined by looking at the passenger side airbag activation.

2. If Van Tran was with And Quach and left the scene and then came back afterward, this is serious cover up and it shows the lack of judgement by Tran for allowing Andy to drive drunk.

3. Were there any security cameras at the scene that could shed light to the event?


Tran had so far have perfect explanation for everything. In the interview with the OC Register, he claimed that he left West Coast Sea Food at 10 PM and went home to read. At midnight, he responsed to Quach's call. Eventhough he admitted that he could not make sense of what Quach was saying, he managed to arrive to interfere with the investigation.

This contradicts with the story that they were both at Citryst after West Coast Sea Food Buffet.

QuachGate Update

Various American blogs like Liberal OC, Orange Juice Blog are calling the Andy Quach DUI as QuachGate. The reason is that there are more to the story. The Liberal OC, http://www.theliberaloc.com/, is reporting that State Assembly Van Tran was also at the scene. The issue being raised is whether Van Tran was in the car with Andy Quach or he was just conveniently there afterward. In addition, there is an on going rumor that Westminster City Councilmember Diep "Tyler" Truong was there at the scene also. And again, was he in the car with Quach and Tran?

It was quite an accident, Quach hit a smaller car that had 3 passengers, bounced into the utility pole and then hit a concrete wall of a private yard and brought down a whole section The car bursted into flame. Quach's blood alcohol level was 3 times higher than the legal limit. He was incoherent when the police arrived.

Van Tran claimed that Andy called him while Van was at home and gave him direction to the accident. This of course will need to be confirmed with the people at the scene and also the 911 tape might give us some idea.

This is one those stories that has taken a life of itself. Andy Quach is the one that Van Tran trusted the most in all of his underlings. He does not have the wit but makes up with loyalty and try to be the guy behind the scene for Van Tran.

Nguoi Viet Newspaper Goes Thru More Changes

With Do, Bao Anh's husband removed from the newspaper (he was brought in to keep an eye on the finance) and talented reporters leaving to the newly established Viet Herald, Nguoi Viet decided to hire back Vu, Hao Nhien, the one time fired secretary general of Nguoi Viet, to help bolster the newspaper.

Hao Nhien was fired for his role in the foot washing pan controversy. He went on and started the musing Bolsavik Blog.


Hoang Mai Dat, another young talented writer who was the secretary general until last Saturday, resigned abruptly (probably to make way for Hao Nhien).

With Phan Phu Thien Giao who is now the the editor in chief and the recent hired Dinh Quang Anh Thai as managing editor at large, Nguoi Viet hopes the restructure will boost it sagging ad revenue. It is estimated that after the controversy, NV lost about 15% to 20% of its ad revenue to Vien Dong and Viet Bao.

The publisher is still Phan, Huy Dat, the lawyer. Do Bao Anh's role is unclear for now but she and her family still control the large share of the newspaper. There will be more changes to NV as the newspaper struggles to gain back its lost reputation.

Loretta Sanchez and her Vietnamese-American Support

There is no doubt that the Vietnamese-American community in OC has embraced Congreswoman Loretta Sanchez (D) warmly in the last 5-6 years in response to her staunch anti-communist stand against the current Vietnamese government. Morevover, her many appearances in community events and show of supports have won her many supporters. Unlike other politicians who only provide lip service, Sanchez shows her outward commitment to the community by having two Vietnamese-Americans in her staff - Lilly Nguyen (field rep) and Diep Nguyen (case worker).

In contrast, Congressman Ed Royce (R) has no Vietnamese-American in his staff. It is noteworthy that none of the Republican congressmembers who are well known for their anti-communist stands and work closely with the Vietnamese-American community have any Vietnamese-Americans in their staff. Meanwhile, Democratic congressmembers like Mike Honda, Zoe Lofgren and Senator Jim Webb all have Vietnamese-American serving in their staff.

In a community that is quite politically active, this is is something to take note.