The man credited with bringing community service and transparency to the Tet Festival is running to replace the termed-out Van Tran and is holding a fundraiser this Friday.
Phu Nguyen, former President of UVSA (Union of Vietnamese Student Associations), has declared his candidacy for the State Assembly 68th District. He will have to win the Democratic nomination before facing the Republican candidate.
His first public fundraising event is scheduled for Friday, January 29, 6pm, at Paracel Seafood Restaurant. See text of invitation here.
For a first-time candidate, Phu has quickly amassed an impressive array of endorsers. Even though there’s another Democrat in the running, many top Dems have endorsed Phu, including: the only OC Democratic Congress member, Loretta Sanchez; the only OC Democratic State Senator, Lou Correa; and one of two OC Democratic Assembly member, Tony Mendoza.
Phu is the second Viet to declare for the seat. Tran’s 2006 opponent and current OC Board of Education member Long Pham is also running on the Republican side. (If Pham doesn’t win the primary, Phu’s likely Republican opponent will be Costa Mesa mayor Alan Mansoor, and Mansoor’s colleague on the Costa Mesa City Council, Katrina Foley, has endorsed Phu.)
Phu Nguyen was UVSA President in 2001 when the organization (or rather a handful of key figures in the organization) modernized the Tet Festival and raised $80,000 doing it in Westminster, at the empty lot where the Vietnam War Memorial now stands.
The following year, the group held another successful Tet Festival at Garden Grove Park. The year after that, with Phu still at the helm, the group made a successful presentation before the Garden Grove City Council (where Tran was a member at the time) to win approval of a long term contract for the UVSA to hold the Tet Festival at Garden Grove Park.
The UVSA’s winning proposal includes two features that have become the signature aspects of the festival ever since: Donation of half the proceeds to community groups; and financial transparency.
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