Two campaign workers for Democratic supervisorial candidate Hoa Van Tran are in Orange County Jail in connection with a shooting that occurred just hours after a Tran fundraiser in April.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/tran-valle-gang-2046561-campaign-members

I write this response with the intent that we, and when I say we I mean us Democrats, take a breather and think about what’s going on within our party in regards to Hoa Van Tran’s campaign and the future growth of the Democratic Party in Central Orange County.

The personality conflict and associated drama between campaign staffers and supporters, past and present, Bloggers and party activists serves only to hamstring Hoa Van Tran’s Campaign and collaterally alienate a significant portion of Vietnamese Americans from becoming Democrats and voting for Democratic candidates whether they be Vietnamese or not. As far as amending the report, this issue has been blown out of proportion. The report is amended, as required by the FPPC, not as demanded by the bloggers pandered to on the right and appeased on the left.

Beyond that, I know there are greater issues before us to discuss and opportunities to maximize for the greater benefit of all Democrats. Democrats have the opportunity to solidify the relationship with the Vietnamese American Community with Hoa Van Tran’s candidacy independent of its success. Unfortunately, in my opinion, his candidacy was fundamentally dismissed in the beginning, minimally supported and at present, I am saddened to say, actively suppressed by people within the Democratic Party. These people are supposed to be helping Democratic candidates, not undermining them. I do not state this lightly for the consequences are detrimental which will result in Central Orange County ceasing to be a Democratic strong hold for the next 8 years.

Most everyone knows by now that Vietnamese Americans vote at a higher percentage than any other demographic in Orange County, thus it behooves Democrats to bring them inside the Democratic tent.
Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez and State Senator Lou Correa continue to invest a great deal of time, effort and resources in cultivating a relationship with the Vietnamese American electorate. The relationship can be articulated as an incumbent and tested during the election cycles. With all due respect to former State Senator Joe Dunn, former Assemblyman Tom Umberg and the Democratic Party of Orange County, and hind sight being 20/20, the shallow relationship that they accepted with Vietnamese Americans undoubtedly leaves them dramatically vulnerable should either of them decide to run again. This type of vulnerability is not limited to these two Democrats and the Party.

Let me explain, Lou Correa and Loretta Sanchez have made significant inroads into the Vietnamese Community for more than a decade and Assemblyman Jose Solorio is continuing with this endeavor in the same manner: hiring fully bilingual and bicultural staff that see themselves as the Vietnamese vanguard (perhaps the “VanTran-Guards”) of the Democratic Party; participating in key cultural events and championing key issues specific to the community. In other words, doing what Democratic politicians and the Party have always done as before with the Irish, Italians, environmentalists, LGBT, working families etc. For all the hard work of the elects and the staffers, recent elections demonstrate that this strategy is insufficient to meet the needs of all the stakeholders of the Democratic Party.

For example, by the time that Lou Correa ran for State Senate in 2006, had already appeared on the ballot in 5 election cycles and had very high name recognition by voters. Somehow, he almost lost the race in the fall to former Republican Assemblywoman Lynn Daucher. How could this happen when Lynn Daucher, was an unknown to most of the 34th District? The answer is Van Tran.

Republican Assemblyman Van Tran was able to redirect a large number of Vietnamese voters to Lynn Daucher, an unknown carpet-bagger. Van Tran and his group were successful in dramatically decreasing the support that Lou Correa had received in the past from the Vietnamese Community in spite of all his long term efforts with this community.
Janet Nguyen’s victory in the Special Election over Van Tran’s hand-picked candidate ultimately thwarted Van Tran’s Napoleonic design over Central Orange County by weakening his grip on the Vietnamese Community. This cannot be denied but her election deals with the symptom NOT the real problem facing Democrats during this election cycle.

The question has to be asked, does Janet Nguyen retaining the Supervisorial seat this election cycle help the Democrats? The answer seems to escape many Democrats, so please allow me to share my answer:

NO

We already know that she is anti-Unions, anti-Latino and anti-anything Democratic. With almost 500,000 Democrats in Orange County, why are we forfeiting the opportunity of getting a Democrat elected?
If any Democrat out there believes that Janet Nguyen helps neutralize Van Tran long term, you’re gravely mistaken; in the same way that the US government believed that Saddam Hussein would neutralize the Islamic Revolution headed by the Ayatollah Khomeini.

It seems that many Democrats do not consider Janet Nguyen a threat against Democrats in the future; but in reality, she ALREADY poses the greatest THREAT AGAINST DEMOCRATS in the present and the near future. Party activists, bloggers, and key constituents as well as elected officials need to double check their political calculus. Do we, as Democrats, really trust that Janet Nguyen to only go against Van Tran? When one considers how powerful Janet Nguyen will be if she retains the Supervisorial seat for 8 more years, do Democrats NOT see that by tacitly supporting Janet by omission, if not outright commission, they are jeopardizing their own political future and the viability of the Democratic Party in the future.

Because Janet Nguyen is more palatable to non-Vietnamese Republicans and thus will be more powerful than Van Tran could ever be. And sooner than later, if she is not defeated in the fall, Janet Nguyen will be more able than Van Tran to defeat whichever Democrat she goes up against, short of Loretta Sanchez.

The problem dictates the solution. We need more Democrats of Vietnamese descent elected not just a tacit alliance with the “enemy of our enemy” or better said “choosing the lesser of two evils” would still result in something evil.

We, as Democrats, have a choice as far as the case for Hoa Van Tran’s candidacy. Collectively we can dismiss him for a multitude of reasons such as not walking enough, not being well known, not having key endorsements outside of the Vietnamese American Democratic Club, Orange County Young Democrats and the Democratic Party of Orange County…all the other rest of the issues have already been beaten into the ground.

I know that as a Democrat, who happens to be Vietnamese American, Hoa Van Tran CAN WIN this seat in the fall with the support of the allies of the Democratic Party. It doesn’t matter what has been said or what people have been accused of on either side, it pales in comparison when we consider the opportunity that Democrats have before us of getting the emergence of the Vietnamese American community that votes at a higher rate than any other community of interest into the Democratic fold. If you are a Democrat, do you really want to let Van Tran, Dina Nguyen and Janet Nguyen take long term possession of this group of voters?

I, for one, am NOT. And thus I have submitted my resignation, with heavy heart but high hope, at Assemblyman Jose Solorio’s office to work full time on Hoa Van Tran’s Campaign for Supervisor. I know that Hoa is going to make it into the run-off.

This is where I stand. How about you, my fellow Democrats.

But if it does come in I think the better course is to do what they told the campaign they would do—take it off calendar. With all due respect Chris you don’t start creating a new reason to withdraw the endorsement just for the sake of endorsement. I doubt if they will comply and submit the amended report but if they do they should not take action on it tonight. However, to guard against the possibility that any amended report is a sham, they should refer the matter back to the E-Board and authorize the E-Board to take further action, including a possible endorsement revocation, if further action is warranted.

And Chris, while there are some similarities, Tan engaged in voter suppression which the GOP nationally is under court order not to do(based on the Lousiana and new Jersey injunctions). That plus the RPOC’s shameful experience here in OC in 1988 caused the swift reaction by the Reps. I;m not suggesting the DPOC not act, simply that the two situations are not quite on point.