The best candidate that Orange County’s Vietnamese community had going into the June 5 Open Primary, Westminster Mayor Pro Tem Tyler Diep, dropped out of the race for the 72nd Assembly District. That left two Vietnamese candidates vying for that seat – O.C. Board of Education Trustee Long Pham, a Republican, and Garden Grove Planning Commissioner Joe Dovinh, a former Decline to State voter who is now a Democrat.
Dovinh has “spent $6,699 during the March 18-May 19 reporting period, brining his total spending in the AD-72 race to $16,352. He has $5,493 left in his warchest,” according to the OC Political blog. They also reported that Pham “spent $62,675 during the March 18-May 19 reporting period, bringing his total spending in the AD-72 race to $106,072. He has only $1,412 left in his warchest.”
Janet Nguyen is only for Janet Nguyen...
The only elected Vietnamese candidate who is running for reelection in the Open Primary is Supervisor Janet Nguyen – a Republican who is roundly despised by many in her own community and whose moneygrubbing corrupt ways have come to the forefront since she took over the Caloptima Board of Directors and immediately started squeezing health professionals for campaign donations.
Nguyen is not endorsing Pham, as far as I know. Pham does not list endorsements on his campaign website nor did he fill out his Smart Voter page. But if Nguyen had endorsed him we would have known as surely that would have resulted in a press release.
Ken Nguyen could afford a vacation in Tahiti, but he is a longshot for the OC Board of Education
There is a Vietnamese candidate, Santa Ana Parks and Recreation Commissioner Ken Nguyen, running to replace Pham in the race for Area One on the Orange County Board of Education. Nguyen is a Democrat and he too has failed to garner the support of Supervisor Nguyen, who has instead endorsed her fellow Republican, Robert Hammond.
So there you have it. Supervisor Nguyen is so far refusing to support any of her fellow Vietnamese candidates in the Open Primary. Without her support and without any major Vietnamese elected officials in the mix, such as now retired former Assemblyman Van Tran, the outcome for this spring’s crop of Orange County Vietnamese candidates looks grim.
- Troy Edgar has spent the most so far in the race for the 72nd A.D.
I think Dovinh might have the best shot at advancing due to the Top Two Open Primary rules. As one of only two Democrats running for the 72nd Assembly District (the other is 82 year old Tea Party Democrat Albert Ayala, who did not raise money and did not run much of a campaign), Dovinh is positioned to advance to the November General Election, as there are too many Republicans in the mix for the 72nd A.D. The other canidates, Troy Edgar and Travis Allen, have already spent a combined $300,000, making it likely that only one Republican will emerge to face off against Dovinh in November.
Supervisor Nguyen could have helped at least one of her fellow Vietnamese candidates, particularly Pham, but she chose not to. That is typical for her. She generally is for herself and herself only. Maybe it is her goal to emerge out of this as the only major Vietnamese Republican elected official in Orange County, but the next time she runs, for another office, she might find support from her community won’t be there for her…
The biggest disappointment on 6/5 is Janet Nguyen running effectively unopposed. She really really lucked out — if Kindee Durkee hadn’t stolen Solorio’s money (the idiot), she could have easily lost.
And you’re right — she’s in it only for herself. Fortunately, I suppose, she now has the highest political position she’ll ever achieve, but we’ll still have four more years of her incompetence.
It’s disgraceful that she wouldn’t endorse Long Pham, and I wonder if she put a price on it.
I voted for myself for supervisor.
Good Girl!
The trouble is the DPOC is so misguided, it doesn’t really matter who we vote for.
On one hand we have the Activist, that want to believe whatever the party says (Tom Daly is a Democrat).
On the other the Victims, I am Jewish and everybody hates me. Note to canidate: EVERYBODY hates you because you are an asshole. You talk too much. SUT UP. We don’t don’t care if you are a JEW, MUSLIM, CATHOLIC or what ever. You insult us. Sure you are smart by winning the “best of two” but that just means that Bob Huff is not as much of a crafty, sneaky canidate.
If the DPOC has to rely on tricks like Greg Diamond and Julio Perez (PLANT) to win. Send Scott Baugh a congratulations card. It’s as if the party leadership has conceeded and left the nuts down below to carry the message.
Perhaps recruiting leadership less like the Long Beach lady, even less like the abysimal failure that was Rhaffi(sp) and more like Harry Truman, we might get 25% of the REAL VOTE.
But this is a world where we let bloggers represent us.