Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Tag Archives: ken nguyen

Pham’s Vietnamese friends are afraid to talk to SAPD investigators

Posted on by Posted in Crime, Santa Ana, Vietnamese 9 Comments

As Santa Ana police detectives try to make sense of the melee that led to Kim Pham’s death, the investigation is running into a wall of silence. Pham’s friends have failed to come forward. One flatly refused to meet with law enforcement, despite pleas from the police, according to the L.A. Times.

Police Commander Tim Vu, the highest-ranking Vietnamese-American law enforcement officer in Orange County, says distrust of the government is still common among refugees who arrived in the area after the Vietnam War, according to CBS.

Nevertheless additional facts are beginning to trickle out: Continue reading→

Democrat electeds shot themselves in the foot by boycotting the Tet Parade

Posted on by Posted in Asians, Democratic Party, Jose Solorio, LGBT, Little Saigon, Lou Correa, Politics, Santa Ana, Travis Allen, Vietnamese Leave a comment

Travis Allen at the Tet Parade

Did the gay activists who insisted that their supporters who are elected officials boycott the Tet Parade, in Little Saigon, this past Sunday actually hurt their political allies?  Rest assured that the Republican elected officials, including Assemblyman Travis Allen (pictured above) were very well received by the masses at the Parade.

RSCCD Trustee Jose Solorio, for example, showed up in a car he was sharing with Ken Nguyen, the leader of a local Vietnamese American charity.  But Solorio jumped out of the car, to go hang out with the gay activists, leaving Nguyen to navigate his way through the rest of the parade, without Solorio (see the picture below).  It made for a bizarre image.  The worst part is that Solorio hopes to run for the 34th State Senate District in just two years – and now he has some explaining to do to the entire Vietnamese American community in Little Saigon! Continue reading→

Poll: Who is Santa Ana’s 2012 Man of the Year?

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, David Benavides, Elections, George Collins, Gerardo Mouet, Jeff Dickman, Jose Solorio, Julio Perez, Ken Nguyen, Lou Correa, Miguel Pulido, Paul Walters, Politics, Rob Richardson, Robert Hammond, Roman Reyna, Santa Ana, Sean Mill, Thomas Gordon 17 Comments

Sean Mill and Paul Walters

As has been our tradition, it is time to vote for the Santa Ana Man and Woman of the Year, for 2012.  And we have quite a few great choices to choose from, in our poll below.  You can vote for up to three nominees.  Voting will close on January 8, 2013.

This year’s mayoral race produced three of our nominees – Mayor Miguel Pulido, and candidates David Benavides and George Collins. But we also delved into our city’s non-profit sector to find stellar nominees Dwight Smith, of the OC Catholic Worker; Armando De La Libertad, the Director of the Delhi Center; Scott Overpeck, of the awesome community project Laundry Love; Scott Glaab, the head of the Santa Ana Athletic Foundation and a local high school wrestling coach; and Benjamín Vázquez, of El Centro Cultural de Mexico.

Please let us know if we missed anyone and we can add them to our poll right away.  Here is the poll – note that you may vote for up to three candidates at once: Continue reading→

Pulido stands up for Vietnamese Americans and the Council backs him up

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Civic Affairs, Claudia Alvarez, Development, Jobs, Jose Solorio, Miguel Pulido, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Vietnamese, Vince Sarmiento 2 Comments

As this year’s mayoral campaign drew to a close, Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido, in one fell swoop, was able to secure the vote of most Vietnamese Americans in his city.  On Nov. 1, Pulido held a press conference on the steps of the Santa Ana City Hall, with Assemblyman Jose Solorio and Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez, and dozens of Vietnamese American community leaders, to announce his support for a city resolution that would discourage visits by Vietnamese government and trade officials.

Tonight Pulido introduced his resolution and the Council majority reluctantly fell in line as it became apparent to them that there future in the Vietnamese community was on the line.  At one point during the meeting the community leaders invited Pulido and the Council to come down and take a picture with a giant flag of South Vietnam, the fallen republic.  Pulido and Alvarez quickly stood up and the rest of the Council had no choice but to do so as well.  They each received a scarf festooned in the colors of the flag of South Vietnam.  Pulido and Alvarez kept their scarves on but the rest of the Council took them off. Continue reading→

UPDATE: Tony Tapia to run for Rancho Board’s Area 3

Posted on by Posted in Education, Ken Nguyen, Myriam Tinajero, Nelida Mendoza-Yanez, Orange County, Politics, Republican Party, Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana, Thomas Gordon, Tony Tapia 18 Comments

Tony Tapia and State Senator Lou Correa

UPDATE: Santa Ana Council Member Sal Tinajero’s sister, Myriam Tinajero, has pulled out of the race for the Rancho Santiago Community College District’s Area 3.  The remaining candidates include Santa Ana Redevelopment and Housing Commissioner Nelida Mendoza-Yanez, LAUSD asbestos inspector Thomas Gordon  and Construction Laborer Tony Tapia, for Area 3 of the Rancho Santiago Community College District’s Board of Education.  Mendoza-Yanez ran for the Santa Ana City Council in 2006, losing to David Benavides.  She got over 10,000 votes in that election, according to Smart Voter. Continue reading→

Floral Park neighbors battle over RSCCD’s Area 5

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Dave Chapel, Democratic Party, Education, Ken Nguyen, Mark McLoughlin, Miguel Pulido, Politics, Santa Ana 1 Comment

Pictured: Rob Richardson, Mark McLoughlin, Carlos Bustamante and David Benavides

Rancho Santiago Community College District Trustees Mark McLoughlin and Dave Chapel both live in Santa Ana’s upscale Floral Park neighborhood and now, thanks to redistricting, they have to run against each other, in November, for the new Area 5.  One of them will lose and face the end of his political career.

Chapel complained about the redistricting in an email that the OC Weekly got a hold of.  But he could not stop progress.  The neat thing about the redistricting is that the Rancho elections are now area-specific.   Continue reading→

Democratic Vietnamese candidates just can’t win in Orange County

Posted on by Posted in 2008 Elections, 2010 Elections, 2012 Elections, Democratic Party, Garden Grove, Janet Nguyen, Joe Dovinh, Ken Nguyen, Little Saigon, Orange County, Republican Party, Santa Ana, Vietnamese, Westminster Leave a comment

Orange County First District Supervisor Janet Nguyen easily beat her unfunded opponent, Steve Rocco, in this week’s Primary Election, but she refused to endorse any of the other Vietnamese American candidates – and right now they are all losing.

In the 72nd Assembly District, Nguyen’s fellow Republican, Long Pham, is in fourth place, behind fellow Vietnamese American candidate Joe Dovinh, an independent turned Democrat.  Continue reading→

Orange County liberals crashed and burned in primary election

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Democratic Party, Education, Eleazar Elizondo, Elections, Julio Perez, Labor, Michele Martinez, Orange County, Politics, Santa Ana 9 Comments

It was not a good night for Orange County’s liberals, who crashed and burned in California’s first Open Primary.

Labor spent hundreds of thousands on Julio Perez‘ campaign for the 69th Assembly District. The result? So far he is in third place – ahead of Santa Ana Council Member Michele Martinez, wjho had 3,316 votes, and wannabe candidate Francisco Barragan, who must have run so as to keep Perez out of last place. Perez has 3,554 votes. Tom Daly is leading that race with over 8,231 votes. A Republican who spent no money, Jose “Joe” Moreno, is in second place with 4,495 votes. Continue reading→

The June 5 primary might be a disaster for O.C.’s Vietnamese candidates

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Elections, Janet Nguyen, Orange County, Politics, Republican Party, Santa Ana, Vietnamese Leave a comment

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.” Continue reading→

Santa Ana Church caught promoting Nguyen’s O.C. Board of Education campaign

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Charities, Churches and Religion, Democratic Party, Education, Elections, Politics, Santa Ana, Taxes, Vietnamese 9 Comments

St. Barbara’s Catholic Church, in Santa Ana, has been caught promoting the political campaign of Ken Nguyen, a Santa Ana Parks and Recreation Commissioner, who is running for the Orange County Board of Education, in Area One, which includes the City of Santa Ana.

Repeated phone calls have been made to the church officials and to the Orange County Catholic Dioscese, but to date the signs are still all over the church’s property.  This is illegal and puts the church at risk of losing their tax exempt status, according to the IRS: Continue reading→

Hammond enters the race for the O.C. Board of Education’s First Area

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Education, Elections, Orange County, Republican Party, Robert Hammond, Santa Ana, Tustin Leave a comment

As reported in an earlier post today, Republican Robert Hammond has withdrawn from the race for the 69th Assembly District, according to the OC Political Blog.  He is running instead for the Orange County Board of Education, in the First Area, which is being vacated by the incumbent, Long Pham.

Hammond is an extremist social conservative.  He is anti-immigrant and anti-gay.  He would be very much like former O.C. BOE Trustee Alexandria Coronado, who got the boot the last time she ran, after she made anti-gay comments. Continue reading→

Santa Ana Parks Commissioner Nguyen running for the OC Board of Education

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Democratic Party, Education, Elections, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Orange County, Politics, Santa Ana, Tustin, Vietnamese 1 Comment

I wrote a post recently bemoaning the lack of Latino candidates for the Orange County’s Board of Education, in the Latino-dominated First District, which is currently represented by Republican Long Pham.  Now there are two other candidates in the race – Santa Ana Parks and Recreation Board Member Ken Nguyen, and an unknown candidate named Anita Mathur.

Nguyen has reportedly been making the rounds to get support for his campaign. I hear that he has met in recent weeks with State Senator Lou Correa and Assemblyman Jose Solorio.  I thought Solorio might be interested in running for the First District, but perhaps not? Continue reading→

69th A.D. candidate Martinez gets bipartisan & Vietnamese support at event

Posted on by Posted in 2012 Elections, Carlos Bustamante, David Benavides, Democratic Party, Elections, Jose Solorio, Little Saigon, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Republican Party, Santa Ana, Sean Mill, Vietnamese, Vince Sarmiento, Westminster 8 Comments

I expected a good turnout at Santa Ana Council Member Michele Martinez’ fundraising event tonight, which was hosted at the home of Council Member Vince Sarmiento and his wife Eva.  And sure enough, the place was packed – but that was not the entire story.

For one thing, a lot of Republicans were there tonight, including past CRP Vice Chair Mario Rodriguez, who was a high-ranking official in Governor Schwarzenegger’s administration; Break Mayor Ron Garcia, who works with Martinez in NALEO (the National Association of Latino Elected Officials); MWD Trustee Brett Barbre; developer and consultant Steve Sheldon; and Santa Ana Council Member Carlos Bustamante. Continue reading→