Janet Nguyen and her good friend, the disgraced former Santa Ana Councilman Carlos Bustamante
Janet Nguyen and Jose Solorio, the candidates for the 34th State Senate District, are accusing each other of being corrupt. But is this true? Are they both corrupt?
I feel like Nguyen’s GOP hacktivists have forgotten the meaning of the word “corrupt,” which is defined as “having or showing a willingness to act dishonestly in return for money or personal gain.”
Has Solorio ever been dishonest or acted for his own personal gain? I have known him since he started his career in politics on the Santa Ana City Council. We have not always agreed but I have never known him to be dishonest or to be a selfish politician. Does he at times vote for bills I disagree with? Yes he does but as far as Democrats go Solorio is a moderate and he is fairly pro-business.
Nguyen on the other hand recently voted twice against an Orange County Ethics Committee intended to root out corruption and ethics violations at the County of Orange, even though the two separate OC Grand Juries recommended the Ethics Committee. Her career in politics does in fact show a lot of corruption including:
- Voting against a letter grade restaurant health rating system that most Counties use and that the OC Grand Jury recommended. She was the key vote against this County ordinance but did not mention to anyone that her husband and her then Chief of Staff were the co-owners of an absolutely filthy Lee’s Sandwiches franchise in Stanton that had received numerous health violations courtesy of the OC Health Care Agency. She also had accepted over twenty thousand dollars in campaign contributions from the owners of various bars, restaurants and eateries that had terrible health violation records. She did not mention any of this when she voted against letter grade health ratings. Well she got away with it but her husband was reportedly fired from his job, working in food safety for a large food services corporation. Oops!
- Nguyen hired her own sister and paid her $73K for a County job – for part-time work!
- Nguyen hired back her husband’s ex-business partner and he is even now collecting a salary from her office – most likely though he is actually working on her campaign
- She says she is against taxes but she spent $136K of our taxpayer money on new office furniture that was not needed.
- Nguyen tried to take over the Black Friday event in Westminster a few years ago and was intending to use the event to promote herself and then GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman – luckily the Westminster City Council punked her and put Nguyen in her place!
- And Nguyen took over and ruined the CalOptima agency, forcing the OC Board of Supervisors to assign Supervisor Todd Spitzer to clean up her mess. After she took over CalOptima she held a fundraiser so the OC medical community could write checks to her campaign!
Now how can you look at Nguyen’s record and not arrive at the conclusion that she is hopelessly corrupt?
I have refrained from endorsing either Solorio or Nguyen up until now. I like Solorio but don’t like his record. But I really dislike Nguyen and her record even more. There are five votes in my household now as my 18-year-old son just registered to vote. None of us will be voting for Nguyen this year.
Will Solorio at some point disappoint me? Probably. But will he ever disgust me? No. Nguyen on the other hand is disgusting in every way. And even if she did win what would come of it? Do you think the Democrats who control Sacramento will work with her? Of course not. She will receive a tiny office in Sacramento and limited staff. Every bill she tries to pass will be ignored by the State Legislature and if a bill of hers somehow ends up on Governor Jerry Brown’s desk he will veto it.
Now if Solorio wins you can bet that he will be a major player in Sacramento as he was when he was a State Assemblyman. He will take care of his district – and unlike Nguyen he will not ignore Santa Ana. (Look at her record – 99% of her community events have been held in Little Saigon, not in Santa Ana).
A Nguyen victory will be an utter defeat for the people of the 34th State Senate District whereas a victorious Solorio would quickly be in line to become the next State Senate leader. That Nguyen is hopelessly corrupt is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to reasons to not vote for her!
Amen! I will not be voting for that scum Janet Nguyen either! She’s a corrupt and sneaky wannabe politician looking out only for herself. Such a shame she duped so many people in Westminster!
Well, Jose had fellow Democrat, Governor Brown tape a piece for him, it’s being blasted ALL OVER KFI640 Drive time (Jose made a HUGE AD BUY early, so he has the slots).
The problem is Governor Brown mispronounces his name, further demonstrating that this guy is a HACK.
Vote for Jane, she’ll be largely prostrate, and off the BOS. like her or not it’s the better decision for California and Central Orange County.
Jose represents ONE person: JOSE.
Janet Nguyen is corrupt and breeds corruption. Just look at Cal Optima. Just look at her record on the BOS. Just look at her buddy, Mayor Phil Tsunoda of Aliso Viejo, now a government hack at Cal Optima, and under investigation by the DA for campaign violations to which he as admitted guilt. Stop Nguyen. Stop the corruption.
Janet is endorsed by Howard Jarvis Organization. They wrote Prop 13!!! Don’t believe a word out of Brown’s mouth. Things have gotten worse under his watch. Picking the lesser of two evils.
They both are corrupt. Solorio lined his pockets while up in Sacramento, and happily sold out the interests of his constituents for personal power. The simplest of reviews show the money trail connecting his votes against the interests of his constituents to private donors. I always vote democrat, but not a chance will I vote for him. Between two corrupt alternatives, go for the one who can do the least damage. Solorio will have the power to cause incalculable damage.
We disagree. There is ample evidence that Janet has engaged in nepotism by hiring her sister (who barely showed up for her job) and has wasted taxpayer money on unneeded furniture and remodeling at her office.
It still bothers us that Nguyen was the key vote against letter grade health ratings for restaurants even though she did not tell the public that her husband and her Chief of Staff owned a restaurant with terrible health violations. She later planted her husband on the Garden Grove Planning Commission.
And don’t forget Janet’s takeover of CalOptima, so she could squeeze more donations from the medical community. She is a clear and present danger and we simply cannot advocate on her behalf. All five votes in my household are going to Solorio.
On the nepotism front, look at how Jose sandbagged labor and screwed the Latino electorate by pulling in Michelle Martinez (after Sal Tinajero and Vince Sarmiento declined his entreaties) into the 69th AD to split the latino vote then endorsed Tom Daly, the husband of his District Director, for the position.
On the corruption front, what Janet dis with CalOptima pales in comparison to the wholesale prostitution Jose Solorio engaged in with the insurance industry while he was chair of the assembly insurance committee. He sought to undermine prop 103, which stabilized and decreased California auto insurance rates. He co-authored a massive stealth bill which gutted workers compensation rights and access to health care, with a massively disparate impact on low wage earners (a huge part of his constituency). The list goes on and on.
And we cannot overlook how he consistently fought to ensure California did NOT pass laws banning the chemical BPA , a known hormone disregulator, toxin and all around nasty chemical which is particularly harmful to babies and young children, from baby bottles, plastic food delivery systems, and baby formula liners. All the while, of course, pocketing BPA industry donations. What section of society is most benefitted by the ban? Again low income familiea, because prices for BPA free bottles dropped when the ban finally was passed despite his opposition.
This is why he is going to lose to even a dirtbag like Janet: Because he is even worse.
I worked with Jose Solorio, while working for CA Technology Trade and Commerce Agency, regarding the base closure of El Toro Marine Corps Air Station and he was fighting for his district to ensure that it would get the best deal for it. He was effective then and will be effective in Sacramento again. If you ask me, he’s the type of person you want representing you.
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