UPDATE: Supervisor Janet Nguyen may be up to her old tricks again. In the past she has used anonymous surrogates to do her dirty work, including buying URLs similar to those used by her political opponents, and redirecting them to nasty sites. Now an anonymous letter has been sent to the CalOptima board of directors Thursday accuses two board members — Chairman Ed Kacic and Mary Anne Foo — of improprieties, allegations both strongly denied, according to the Voice of OC. And it turns out that Kacis is only trying to help the community:
Kacic, president of the Irvine Health Foundation, said his organization belongs to the Managed System of Care, a group that includes the CEOs of all Orange County hospitals, the county Health Care Agency, the Veterans Administration, CalOptima, clinics, major medical groups and business interests.
He said his foundation acted as an intermediary on behalf of the whole group in a $9.7-million federal grant application. If awarded, the three-year grant would be used to find new ways to improve care and save money in local programs for those with low income, including analyzing what is being done in other parts of the country.
If anyone has a conflict of interest, it is Supervisor Nguyen herself – she manipulated her weak minded fellow Supervisors so she could get appointed to the CalOptima board for two more years, and now she is using that position to hit up hospitals for campaign donations! Read on:
Remember when Supervisor Janet Nguyen bullied her fellow Supervisors into appointing her to the CalOptima board for two more years? Well now we know why. “A $250-per-person campaign fundraiser for Supervisor Janet Nguyen will be held Feb. 28 at the home of Dan Brothman, the CEO of Santa Ana’s Western Medical Center,” according to the Voice of OC.
The “Tribute to Supervisor Janet Nguyen” follows Nguyen’s successful drive last year to give hospitals a permanent seat on the board of the $1.4-billion CalOptima health plan for Orange County’s poor and elderly.
Nguyen pulled this same stunt a couple years ago when she voted against letter-grade restaurant health ratings – but took in over $20,000 from restaurants that had been fined by the Orange County Health Department – and she failed to tell anyone about the Lee’s Sandwiches restaurant that her husband, Tom Bonikowski, and her then Chief-of-Staff, Andrew Do, owned. That restaurant had an absolutely horrible record of multiple O.C. Health Department violations.
Nguyen got away with her restaurant health-grade vote. And she will get away with working the health community over while serving on the CalOptima board. The OC GOP will keep on covering up for her – if she was doing this in any other county the District Attorney would be prosecuting her for corruption.
And the O.C. Democrats continue to give her a free pass too. Will no one challenge this overtly corrupt politician?
If you are wondering what happened to Bonikowski, he sold his share of his restaurant to Do, who resigned from Nguyen’s office and then resigned from the Garden Grove City Council. And then Nguyen got him appointed to the Garden Grove Planning Commission. He’ll be running for higher office soon enough – guaranteed.
Think you got your Bonikowskis mixed up in that last paragraph. But you’re right — here’s another situation where Nguyen playing games instead of serving her District. That sh*t she pulled with splitting Fountain Valley to get the Viet votes she thought lived in the north end of the city was another example.
So, what’s Do going after?
Good point! And thanks for the edit. That’s what I get for writing so late!
I think Do is totally finished. Once Nguyen is finished with you, she tosses you aside and that is that. He was allegedly a carpetbagger when he won his Garden Grove seat, so I’m glad he is gone. And I heard he sold his restaurant too.
Supervisor Janet Nguyen is now supporting her former Chief of Staff, a Mr. Matt Harper, for the 72 AD district according to The Orange Juice Blog. Is there any end to her self serving actions?
Can you tell me where to find that OJ reference? I just spent 20 minutes over there and could not find it. And Harper STILL does not include Nguyen on his website’s list of supporters.
As for Nguyen, you are correct. Her greed and selfishness know no bounds.
Here is the Orange Juice link:
http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2012/02/too-bad-viets-says-the-oc-gop-its-not-your-time-in-the-72nd-ad/
Thanks. I read that post and they only confirmedthat Janet used to employ Matt. Surprisingly she has not endorsed him. I believe she is afraid to upset the Vietnamese voters by not supporting a Vietnamese candidate.