Hoa Van Tran was one of 3 candidates, all Vietnamese-American, fighting for the seat of OC Supervisor, 1st district, in 2008. The other two are the incumbent Janet Nguyen and Garden Grove Council Member Dina Nguyen.

The treasurer for Tran’s campaign is his boss at his day job, lawyer Phu Do Nguyen. Both Tran and Phu Do Nguyen may be subject to a $2000 fine by the Fair Political Practices Commission when they meet next week on May 13.

Reached at Phu Do Nguyen’s law office, where he works, Tran told Nguoi Viet reporter (the Bolsavik in his day job): “There’s nothing to comment, really, it’s just a mistake in the paperwork.”

The unreported campaign expenditures consist of 13 items, totaling $18,012 and amounting to 94% of the spending in the period of January 1 to March 17, 2008.

The Bolsavik has said it before, and will now say it again: Just as you shouldn’t date where you work, you also shouldn’t let your boss at work be a staff member on your campaign.

The three-way race ended with Janet Nguyen getting reelected with 55.4% of the vote, Dina Nguyen 28.2%, and Hoa Van Tran 16.2%.

A Democrat, Tran had planned to force a runoff provided that the two Nguyens would split the GOP vote.

The Bolsavik came over and asked Hoa (picture) what he meant. And he said, “That’s exactly what I meant. That’s my personal stand.”

“Illegal immigrants should be given some way to become legal immigrants and to naturalize,” he said.

So the Bolsavik and Hoa sat down to get some more details. Hoa opened with the statement that “It’s really a federal matter. I’m just stating my personal feeling.”

But what about the perception that Vietnamese voters are conservative law-and-order types who’d want to deport all illegals?

“I don’t think that’s right,” Hoa said. “When we left Vietnam as boat people, we went to a third country. Like Malaysia or Hong Kong. When we came, they put us in camps, because we were illegal.”

“We’re legal now,” Hoa said, “but we were illegal when we landed in the refugee camps.”

Hoa himself was a boat person who landed in Singapore. He mentioned the Whitehead camp in Hong Kong several times. That camp was notorious as the very last refugee camp in Hong Kong, and from which tens of thousands of Vietnamese were forced back to the communist country by the British in their hurry to turn the island over to the Chinese government.

Hoa explained further, “From a practical standpoint, how would you deport 10 to 12 million people?” He pointed out that all three major presidential candidates – McCain, Obama, Clinton – have repudiated mass deportation.

“As Democrats, we look at social issues. We need to help out the little guys who have no voice,” Hoa said. “This country was built on immigrants, and we shouldn’t turn our back on immigrants.”

But there’s a difference between legal immigrants and illegal immigrants, no?

“Look,” Hoa said. “There are illegal immigrants from everywhere. There are illegal immigrants from Mexico, there are Asian illegal immigrants from Vietnam. There are white illegal immigrants from Europe and Canda. Do we check everybody, check their passports, check their birth certificates? Or do we only check based on skin color?”

“From a human standpoint, I am an immigrant,” Hoa said. “When we landed in Singapore, we were illegal. When other Vietnamese landed in Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, we were all illegal.”

What about Assemblyman Van Thai Tran (no relations) and OC Supervisor Janet Nguyen and their stands on immigration?

Phu Do Nguyen, one of Hoa’s most ardent supporters and one-time campaign treasurer, who had been listening from a safe distance away, walked over and chimed in, “The guy (Van Tran) is a disgrace. He doesn’t know where he’s coming from.” Hoa calmed Phu down: “Van came in 1975, he wasn’t a boat person.”

Phu kept on, “Just because we achieved our American dream doesn’t mean we should turn our back on other people who want to pursue their American dream.”

But, we Vietnamese were escaping an oppressive communist regime. Whereas, let’s take Mexico; Mexico is a democratic country.

Not really, Phu said. “In the refugee camps, everybody’s positioning themselves so they could be resettled in America. Nobody wanted to go to Australia or France. Why? If seeking freedom was the only reason, we’d go anywhere, not just America. No, we were also chasing the American dream.”

So what would Hoa do about it? Nothing. “I’m just stating my personal stand. It’s really a federal matter. I’m running for county office.”