Long Pham vs. Joe Dovinh, Can We Make Peace Now?

Long Pham,  a perennial Republican candidate for the state assemblyman seat in Orange County, is still mad at Joe Dovinh (D) for taking away some of the Vietnamese-American votes that could have been his.  It is such a close race for second place that  300 - 400 extra votes could have propelled him into the runoff against Troy Edgar.

Long Pham had run against Van Tran in two previous races; he also ran against Allan Mansoor who was endorsed by Van Tran.   Of course he lost by a landslide in each of these elections.   The lost against Mansoor in 2010 primary was particularly bitter since early in the same year he donated $2,000 to Tran's campaign and publicly announced his support for Van Tran and his congressional candidacy.   Van Tran simply took his money and ignored him.

So in 2012 with Diep Truong bowing out,  Pham thought that he would have a very good chance to at least be in the runoff.   He dropped $100,000 of his own money into the race.   He went on the offensive against Joe Dovinh by labeling him a communist sympathizer and refused to debate Dovinh in a local Vietnamese community forum.  He said:" I don't debate with candidate who has a pro-communist view point".

It is ironic since in the  Democratic primary for state assembly in 2010, Joe Dovinh was calling Phu Nguyen a communist because he has a business in Vietnam.  Of course Dovinh lost to Phu Nguyen. 

Long Pham is an interesting candidate for he always has a hard time expressing himself in Vietnamese of issues except for the fact that he hates the communist.   But you have to admire his persistence.   He will be putting his name again in 2014, 2016 and so on.   

Cindy Huynh, Lottery Winner of $32 Million

Cindy Huynh of Ponoma County recently cashed in her lottery winning ticket worth $32 million.   She is joining a long list of Vietnamese-American lottery winners.   Some of the most notable ones are:

- Nguyen van Hien and his family members of 11 people won the PowerBall jackpot of $85.7 million in 2010.  They are from Baton Rouge, LA.  They have decided to form a familty trust called H and N  Family Partnership to manage the money as well as to donate some of the winning to charities and their Catholic diosece in Baton Rouge.

-  Nguyen van Ut in 2004 became the first Mega Millions winner in Texas.  His winning jackpot was $101 million.  He donated some of the money to build a buddhist temple in Duncanville, TX and went back to Vietnam to do charity work.

-  In 2006, eight workers at the ConAgra meatpacking plant in Nebraska won what was at that time the largest lottery jackpot in the US at $365 million.  Two of the workers were from Vietnam - Dao Quang, 56, and Tran Dung, 34.

What Does Ly Tong Want?

Supervisor Dave Cortese, his aide, The Vu Nguyen, Cam Van Le (a board member of ESUHD and a potential 2014 city council candidate, District 7), and Hung Do, a community leader, went to visit Ly Tong on June 8.   The Vu took pictures of Ly Tong shaking hands with the supervisor and meeting with the others.  The pictures can be seen on

http://www.vietvungvinh.com


In an interview with Cali Today (a local Vietnamese newspaper),  Hung Do said that  the captain in charge took Cortese and the group in a meeting room to talk with a pale looking Ly Tong.   Do emphasized that they could have brought in a cam recorder to record the conversation but nobody did.  Luckily, The Vu had a camera phone so he took some pictures and forwarded them to the Vietnamese-American media.

Cortese asked Ly Tong to stop the hunger strike so that he could be alive to fight another day, especially if he would like people to help him.  Cortese told Ly Tong: "Nobody can help you if you are dead."

According to Hung Do,   Ly Tong said that out of respect for the supervisor, he would take some water but he would not eat.  He asked that the video evidence at the convention from 8:00 PM to 8:15 PM (?)  should be submitted to court for a possible retrial to vindicate his innocent.   Ly Tong, in his latest message on June 9, told everybody that he does not want to be in jail for he is innocent.  He can accept only a probation sentence so that he could be out of jail with a new lawyer to fight for a retrial.

So what is going with Ly Tong at the moment on Day 16?  He is being monitored every two hours by a nurse  and he is staying in a room by himself.  He does take a hot bath everyday but he still refuses food and water.  He is waiting for Cortese to help him getting the film from the convention center.  He promised Cortese that he will not die.   Cortese's office is monitoring the situation closely.

Ly Tong and His Hunger Strike, Day 13

Ly Tong has stopped sending out his daily recorded message to his friends and families.   This is his 13th day without food and water.   Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese visited Ly Tong yesterday.  

His supporter gathered in front of City Hall to show support over the weekend.   City Councilmember Kansen Chu also visited Ly Tong earlier in the week.  He reported that Ly Tong is weak, his lips are turning purple and black and he lost a lot of weight already.

Is Rose Herrera in Trouble?

With election results settled and it is now clear Rose Herrera and Jimmy Nguyen are in the run-off comes November.  The conventional wisdom is that Jimmy Nguyen would have the full support of South Bay Labor,  Supervisor Dave Cortese and of course the Vietnamese-American voters.  

The message is very simple for South Bay Labor and Dave Cortese -  Anybody but the incumbent Rose Herrera.  

And of course the Vietnamese-American voters which make up about 20% of the regitered voters will be mobilized in huge number to vote against Rose Herrera because of her support for Madison Nguyen and vice versa.

So far Jimmy Nguyen has ran a campaign on "I am a blood donor" and that "I help Vietnamese filling out their immigration paper at a local Vietnamese Catholic church".  Of course, he is also a strong Ly Tong's supporter and anything to do with the anti-communist crowd.  

But it worked quite well for he got over 4,000 votes (mostly Vietnamese-Americans) and if he could get the rest of the votes from Labor, we might have an upset in the making. 

Tam Truong vs. Kansen Chu

With the ardent support of the Chamber of Commerce, Mayor Chuck Reed, Vice Mayor Madison Nguyen,  a host of wealthy PACs as well as the endorsement of the Mercury News,  it was quite a suprise to see that Tam Truong would not make it to the run-off (Based on the results from over half of the precincts counted).    Many people predicted that with 25% of the registered voters are Vietnamese-Americans,  Tam Truong would at least do better than 38%, especially when Rafael Sabic is taking away Kansen Chu's base.  

The strategy was of course to put in a three-way race for  it is usually difficult for any one candidate to win a majority in such a field.    However, the voters in District 4 is a smart bunch and they could smell something funny.   Tam Truong is actually a good candidate, much better than the ill-fated Hon Lien.   He just needs to be a little bit more seasoned and really the sky is the limit for a young and talented candidate like himself.  LSI can see him running for school board, bid his time and run for city council in District 4 in another 4 years from now.  Councilmember Truong does have a nice ring to it.

Completed Precincts 26 of 40
		Percent	Votes
KANSEN CHU		54.33%	4,427
TAM TRUONG		38.17%	3,110
RAFAEL SABIC		7.50%	611

Rose Herrera vs. Jimmy Nguyen

Jimmy Nguyen (back) with Tam Truong (front)

With a little more than 50% of the precincts counted,  the incumbent, Rose H. is leading an unknown lawyer Jimmy Nguyen and Patricia Roach Martinez by a substantial margin.  The only question is whether she can gain another 1.09 % point so that she does not have to be in the run-off against Jimmy Nguyen in the fall.

There is a good chance that it will happen since most Vietnamese-Americans use absentee ballots which were counted and posted first.   Jimmy Nguyen's number has steadily decreased from 29.5%. to 28.6% as the precinct ballost cast is taken over in the count.   The night is still young, so let us wait and see.  In the meantime,  it shows how difficult it is to defeat an incumbent.

Completed Precincts 24 of 47
		Percent	Votes
ROSE HERRERA		48.93%	4,144
JIMMY NGUYEN		28.68%	2,429
PATRICIA MARTINEZ-ROACH		22.39%	1,896