Yesterday, the Bolsavik stopped by the campaign HQ of the “other” candidate for OC Supervisor, Hoa Van Tran (picture).
It was Hoa Van Tran’s kickoff event, and the first person the Bolsavik met as he came up the stairs was one of the people shown on Dina Nguyen‘s financial disclosure as donating big bucks to her. The donor said he gave the same big amount to all three candidates – Hoa and Dina as well as Janet Nguyen. That’s not unusual; the Bolsavik knows a lot of Vietnamese-Americans who hedge their bets that way.
Hoa’s mom was there, as were his wife and daughter. The food was Vietnamese, and the crowd mostly Viets and Latinos. Phu Do Nguyen, Hoa’s boss at the law firm and the person who signed Hoa’s first financial disclosure, told the Bolsavik that the campaign had hired a professional treasurer – someone who used to be Lou Correa‘s campaign treasurer.
That’s convenient. Hoa’s campaign manager Edgardo Reynoso (photo below, left) was Lou’s campaign manager too. Reynoso, btw, is also Lou’s brother-in-law. It appears the only thing Hoa hadn’t taken from state senator Lou was an endorsement. But Phu seemed to think that Reynoso’s presence made up for it: “He doesn’t endorse, but he gave us his brother-in-law. What else can you ask for?” Hmm. You could ask to trade in the brother-in-law for an endorsement, I guess?
The Bolsavik asked Reynoso about said endorsement and he explained, “Hoa is new, so they don’t know Hoa, but as soon as we reach the runoff, they will endorse Hoa.”
“They” being not just Lou but also other local Democrats such as U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez and Assemblyman Jose Solorio.
Hoa had the same idea. He told the Bolsavik his plan to win: “The First District is a majority Democratic district. If we can capture a large part of that vote, and get a fair share of the Vietnamese-American vote, we will get into the runoff. Once we’re in the runoff, the Democratic voters will help us win.”
So, what makes Hoa Van Tran a Democrat? “The values that the Democrats all share, Hoa shares those values,” Reynoso said. So the Bolsavik went over to ask Hoa for more details. And details he had: Rights of the elderly, children, the middle class, mobile home dwellers. Education. Public transportation. Safety. Crime. Pocketbook. Alright, I got it, I got it.
Hoa’s campaign also claims he’s the only Vietnamese-American politician who can reach across the ethnic divide to the Latino community. One of Hoa’s volunteers explained it like this, “The other Vietnamese politicians have been running from an anti-Latino position for so long (images of Van Thai Tran and Tan Nguyen flashed through the Bolsavik’s brain) they can’t change. Hoa is going to fight for all citizens of the First District, including the Latinos and the Vietnamese. That’s the difference.”
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I think Hoa is ridiculous pretending that political refugees and illegal immigrants are the same. Also, the Vietnamese community realizes that maintaining the sovereignty of your borders is important. They have seen first hand what happens when you don’t.
Additionally, Assemblyman Van Tran makes it pretty clear that he is PRO-immigrant. He has sent letters to President Bush in opposition to the recently raised fees on becoming a legal citizen (http://republican.assembly.ca.gov/members/a68/Index.aspx?page=PR&pr=3635) and voted for a 2006 bill which will provided financial assistance to legal immigrants seeking citizenship. He even sent out a statement applauding the Governor for signing it. (http://republican.assembly.ca.gov/members/a68/Index.aspx?page=PR&pr=3465)
“As an immigrant myself, I know that you can not support both legal and illegal immigration. This bill is a great step forward for all of those folks who are going through the process the right way.” – ASSEMBLYMAN VAN TRAN (http://republican.assembly.ca.gov/enews/eletter.aspx?id=37)
And what a stretch by Hoa’s goons to say the Assemblyman is being anti-Latino because he doesn’t want the border wide open. Typical Democratic race-baiting.
Here is an excerpt from an LA Times article last year. It doesn’t sound like Tran is anti-Hispanic. It just sounds like he address issues that all communities care about:
O.C.’s mix of cultures yields cooperation, tensions
By David Kelly
Los Angeles Times, June 24, 2007
…After the Tan Nguyen debacle, Assemblyman Tran cosponsored legislation with Democratic Assemblyman Jose Solorio of Anaheim targeting those trying to intimidate voters. He said he preferred to look for similarities, not differences between the groups.
‘Hispanic families are very conservative on issues of family values. We share the same religion — Catholicism in many cases. Issues such as education are very important to both communities,’ Tran said. ‘The trials and difficulties of assimilating and language-gap issues are the same.’
He opposes illegal immigration but does so in a way that he says avoids ‘emotionalism and divisiveness.’
‘You can articulate your view without offending people,’ he said.
Tran, a former Garden Grove councilman, was one of the first Vietnamese Americans elected to a state legislature and has become a powerful political figure in the immigrant community.
‘The county is becoming more Hispanic and more Asian, and I am conscious of the growing pains it is going through,’ he said. ‘It’s no big mystery how I get people to support me. I address issues that all communities care about.’…