Bolsavik.com

Escalating their opposition to gay and lesbian Vietnamese participating in the Tet Parade in Westminster, a group of Viet religious leaders and activists assert they will boycott the event, and several Catholic organizations have pulled out.

At a press conference Thursday morning, the Vietnamese group Hội Đồng Liên Tôn (Interfaith Council), who had planned to march in the parade, announced that they’re withdrawing.

The head of the group, Lutheran minister Tran Thanh Van, said, “We cannot participate if they (Vietnamese GLBT) are in the procession.” Rev. Tran said the Interfaith Council already sent in their withdrawal letter.

The Catholic representative on the council, Rev. Si Nguyen, said that he would be willing to acknowledge gay people, but not during Tet.

Said he, “During Tet, we don’t bring up ugly matters, anything unseemly in the family we hide it away, we only bring out what’s good.” He calls on “all the faithful” to stay away from Bolsa Avenue during the parade.

Garden Grove Councilmember Dina Nguyen attended the press conference, and spoke up. She said, “I don’t believe in homosexuality” (in Vietnamese: “Tôi không tin vào chuyện đồng tình [sic] luyến ái”). She didn’t explain any more about what she meant by that.

Nguyen also said that next year, she would “suggest to the City of Westminster to respect Vietnamese tradition.”

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If you want something kept secret, don’t tell anyone. Bruce Tran (pictured) hasn’t publicly announced his run for Mayor of Westminster yet, but it seems like he’s privately told so many people that one just blurted it out at a public meeting.

Tran was attending a community meeting put together by the Hội Đồng Liên Tôn, a group of Vietnamese religious leaders and activists. When he came up to speak, the moderator introduced him as a candidate for mayor of Westminster.

Tran spoke, and said nothing of his candidacy, but it’s too late. The Viet Herald daily newspaper wrote it down, and printed it.

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Taking a more aggressive stance than when she was running for OC Supervisor, at yesterday’s Westminster City Council meeting Dina Nguyen spoke out against the proposed bridge (artist’s rendering, above) across Bolsa Avenue, even though the Council already pulled the item from the agenda.

The council was supposed to discuss and vote up-or-down on a proposal by the County to pay for and build a pedestrian bridge across Bolsa Avenue. The bridge would be, in all fairness, exactly where the most pedestrians would cross, right in front of Asian Village Mall (”Phuoc Loc Tho” to Vietnamese).

However, the bridge being there would link two shopping malls, one owned by and the other managed by Bridgecreek, the same company that once banned Andy Quach’s political signs on its properties.

The bridge, dubbed “Freedom Bridge,” is a cornerstone of OC Supervisor Janet Nguyen’s agenda and electoral platform. As a result, in addition to all the reasons people may have to support or oppose the bridge, their feelings for Janet, one way or the other, play a role as well.

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Remember how the Bolsavik said (here) that the candidates in the June elections still had to file another financial disclosure statement even though the election’s over?

August 1 was the time to file. The reports by Janet Nguyen and Dina Nguyen are now online. Here and here. Hoa Van Tran’s isn’t yet. The latest filing available for Hoa is a late contribution report dated June 2, 2008. <The Bolsavik’s mistake — the limit is $1,600 not $1,500.>

Dina showed no new contributions and some outstanding balance. Janet raked in another $10k after the last filing. The advantage of winning, probably.

But there’s something funny (funny funny, not funny hah-hah) in Janet’s filing.

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On late-night radio and in a long rambling email, Van Tran’s PR man Hung Phuong Nguyen — also a favorite of The OC Register whenever they’re looking for a right-winger’s quote — blamed OC GOP’s racism for the defeat of Dina Nguyen to incumbent OC Supervisor Janet Nguyen.

That’s Hung in the picture, manning the computer and projector showing the election results on the night of the primary, at Dina Nguyen’s campaign headquarters.

Hung Phuong Nguyen first read this text on the radio on Saturday night, on the “Anti-Communist Forum” (Vietnamese: Dien Dan Chong Cong) that is the Trannies’ outlet. (It’s the same one where Dina Nguyen blurted out her disgust of all the protest crapola.)

Immediately that same night, other radio hosts jumped on Hung and just ripped him apart.

Undaunted, yesterday Hung sent his text out by email to a huge long list of recipients that includes practically all known listservs, and the Coalition Against Resolution 36. Hung is a member of the Coalition.

In the text, Hung claims that the OC GOP is intent on bringing down the Vietnamese voting power, and so would support the independent Janet Nguyen rather than Dina - someone with an alliance with other Vietnamese. Quote (translated):

The Republican Party is afraid of the influence yielded by the Vietnamese-American elected officials, led by Assemblyman Van Thai Tran. (more…)

Commenter Tien Huynh here asked the Bolsavik to issue this reminder, which the Bolsavik thinks is a good idea:

Now would be a really good time for Dina Nguyen and Hoa Van Tran to issue public statements congratulating Supervisor Janet Nguyen (pictured) for her well-earned electoral victory, and that Dina and Hoa are both open to help Janet with any issue that benefits the people of the First District.

And right after that would also be a good time for Janet Nguyen to issue a statement praising Dina and Hoa for being very tough and worthy adversaries and that Janet is looking forward to working with Dina and Hoa to make the First District a better place.

And then everyone should say this: “You know what, I didn’t mean it about you being a communist.”

Kumbaya.

This young man, whose name the Bolsavik failed to get (sorry!), showed off his athletic skills while watching the returns at Hoa Van Tran’s campaign office on election night.

His enthusiasm does not reflect the low number Hoa was getting. The candidate was garnering around 15% of the votes and wasn’t even in the office when the Bolsavik got there, and neither was his boss Phu Do Nguyen. His campaign consultants Edgardo Reynoso and Kimchi Nguyen were there, though, as were a lot of supporters milling about on the balcony. Paul Lucas, a former Democratic candidate for Assembly and now a controversial figure among Democrats, was heading out just as the Bolsavik pulled in to the parking lot.

Things were a little livelier at Dina Nguyen’s (pictured right) campaign headquarters, across the street from the Asian Garden Mall (”Phuoc Loc Tho”).

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The Register’s Peggy Lowe published this entry reporting that Orange County’s campaign finance watchdog (and the author of the OC campaign finance laws) Shirley Grindle has filed a formal complaint with the District Attorney and the California Attorney General, alleging campaign finance violations by Assemblyman Van Thai Tran (pictured) and supervisorial candidate Dina Nguyen.

The complaint centers on a Van Tran mailer in support of Dina Nguyen’s candidacy, and alleges the following:

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You know what happens when you keep throwing stones at somebody? Sooner or later they will toss some at your glass house.

In the case of Assemblyman Van Thai Tran and his underlings accusing Supervisor Janet Nguyen of being a commie, and with the absentee balloting already going on, the tit (the one that’s for the tat — get your mind out of the gutter) was sooner rather than later.

The Bolsavik received in his email something that appears to be Janet’s mailer, front and back. And it accuses Van Tran’s gang of the exact same thing they accused her. (Of course.)

The front of the mailer shows Janet at several protests against communist Vietnam, lobbying U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer for the Vietnam Human Rights Act, and asks “Where was Dina?”

Which is a fair question, because Janet’s challenger Dina Nguyen (as pictured right; click to see whole mailer) is extremely new to the community and to politics, and unlike the savvy Van Tran, didn’t show up at events unless somebody (usually Van or Westminster City Councilman Andy Quach) drags her there.

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… and the Janet camp capitalized.

OC Supervisor Janet Nguyen’s campaign sent out an email in counter-attack to all the red-baiting done by the Dina Nguyen side including its high priest Van Thai Tran.

Maybe the Bolsavik will review the email later, but for now what caught the Bolsavik’s eyes from Janet’s own red-baiting, was Dina honestly saying the way she truly felt about the anti-communist demonstrators.

In public.

On the record.

On radio.

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