OC Blog

Nguyen V. Nguyen Round Two: It'll Be Trung v. Janet And The Registrar Of Voters

Busy day.

This came over the transom from Janet Nguyen consultant Dave Gilliard this morning:

The Court of Appeal today rejected Schroeder/Trung's motion to disqualify the registrar of voters from participating in the appeal hearing and granted Janet Nguyen’s motion to take judicial notice of various pieces of legislative history, including the Governor's signing statement which confirms the interpretation made by Janet’s attorney of the state statute.

Martin Wisckol has more over at Total Buzz. I presume that means we'll see Leon Page back in action for the ROV.

So they're getting the band back together. You can see video the cast of characters from the previous run of Nguyen V. Nguyen this past spring here, here, here and here.

Grindle Filed Complaint Against Trung

As reported today by Total Buzz, Shirley Grindle, the self-proclaimed watchdog of campaign finances filed a complaint with the California Attorney General and the Orange County D.A. against Trung Nguyen based on her rationale of "fairness." 

I want to get this straight: Janet opened an illegal bank account, asked donors with business before the County of Orange to give "anonymously", and over the contribution limits to that account.  When she told that such an account was illegal, waited at least 50 days to refund the money, after the OCBlogsphere intensified their pressure.

On the other hand, Trung inadvertently accepted checks from candidate-controlled committees, none of which were over the limits, and refunded the money within seven days, which is in accordance to the law.

While I am confident that nothing will come of this complaint, I fail to see the connection nor do I see the "fairness Shirley Grindle is looking for.

Janet Nguyen Will Pay $5,000 In Fines For TIN CUP Violations

Supervisor Janet Nguyen and her campaign committee have reached an agreement with the Attorney General and the California Fair Political Practices Commission, whereby she'll stipulate to seven counts of violating the county TIN CUP campaign finance ordinance. The violations stem from her illegal legal defense fund set up during the post-special election recount.

As part of the stipulation, her campaign we'll pay $5,000 in fines which will go into the county general fund. Maybe they can be earmarked for her outreach office?

Here's the stipulation and the accompanying exhibit. The FPPC will take this up at its December 13, 2007 meeting, and presumably OK it.

I think one can pretty much guarantee this will end up in a number of negative mailers against Janet during the primary campaign. This was a needless self-inflicted wound.

UPDATE (5:50 p.m.): This statement from Janet Nguyen consultant Dave Gilliard just came over the transom:

“We are very gratified that the FPPC concluded that there was no evidence of any intentional violations and that all campaign reports were filed properly.  It is time for Mike Schroeder to end this personal vendetta and quest to destroy the career of Republican officeholder.”

Nguyen v. Nguyen: Oral Argument Scheduled

Unfortunately Mike Carona will not be the only person sitting in a critical trial with political ramification this holiday season.  Yes, oral argument in the appeal case between the two Nguyens is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, December 18, 2007 at 9:00 AM at the court house located on 925 N. Spurgeon Street in Santa Ana.  I cannot wait...

Nguyen v. Nguyen: Appellate Court Rejected Janet's Motion to Strike

The motion to strike filed by Janet Nguyen and joined by the Registrar of Voters was denied by the Appellate Court yesterday.  We can now expect to hear oral arguments in early December and get a ruling around Christmas:

The motion to strike the appellant's appendix is DENIED. The alternative application for extension of time is GRANTED. Pursuant thereto, the time for both respondents to file their respondent's brief and any respondent's appendix is hereby extended to Friday November 9, 2007. The reply brief will be due 20 days thereafter, i.e., Thursday November 29, 2007. The case shall be scheduled for the December oral argument calendar; notice of date and time will be given by the clerk. The court anticipates no further extensions, except for good cause. The requests for judicial notice contained in the appellant's appendix are all hereby DENIED WITHOUT PREJUDICE for appellants to file them in a proper form. Appellants shall have only until Friday, October 19, 2007, to file renewed motions for judicial notice. The request for sanctions made by respondent Janet Nguyen against appellants is DENIED. SILLS, P. J. * Before Sills, P.J., Aronson, J. and Fybel, J.

This could be a disappointing holiday season for either Janet or Trung.

Legal Complaint Filed Against Janet for Issuing Bounced Checks

Martin Wisckol over at Total Buzz just posted another update on the legal drama between the two Nguyens:

Today, a complaint was filed with Attorney General Jerry Brown (who, ironically, Schroeder attempted unsuccessfully to have removed from office). It wants Nguyen prosecuted for perjury on the grounds that she lied when she said she returned a stack of illegal contributions. The basis of that lie: She signed a campaign disclosure saying they had been returned, but the complaint says that the checks bounced.

(Janet solicted funds for a legal defense account managed by her attorney, Phil Greer. Weeks after it became public that such an account was illegal, Greer and Janet announced they were returning the money.)

According to reliable sources, the donor community is intensifying its pressure on the GOP leadership to secure a peace deal between Trung Nguyen and Janet Nguyen.  Obviously, there is no progress yet on that front as the Dark Lord is still relentless in his legal attacks.

UPDATE (9:31 PM): There are copies of the bounced checks floating around and the California Attorney General should have a stack of it on his desk, according to a reliable source.

Nguyen v. Nguyen: Registrar of Voters Joined Janet in Court Extension

Today the Registrar of Voter filed this motion in the Appellate Court to extend their and Janet's response time to Trung Nguyen's opening brief.

Resp Orange County Registrar of Voter's to resp Janet Nguyen's application for ext of ime to file RB.  Filed by the Registrar of Voter on October 3, 2007.

Nguyen v. Nguyen: Janet Filed Motion to Strike

On September 28, five days before Janet Nguyen's brief was due in court in response to Trung Nguyen's opening brief, her attorney filed a motion to strike.  This of course will drag the process out even further as the Appellate Court will now have to deliberate on Janet's latest legal maneuver.

By respondent Janet Nguyen to strike aplt's appendix and request for sanctions (or in the alternative, application to extend time).  Motion filed on September 28, 2007.

Had Janet file a response on or before October 4 as expected, we could read the court's finding by mid November, according to a reliable legal source.

Nguyen V. Nguyen Update: Opening Brief Filed

I see there's been a new filing in the Nguyen v. Nguyen court case (yes, it is still going on).

Today, the"appellant's appendix and opening brief" was filed. I don't know exactly what that means, but I have some calls out to find out.

UPDATE (1:42 p.m.): I just got off the phone with Steve Baric, whose been working on Team Trung with Mike Schroeder. Steve said the opening brief is pretty much the same stuff that was in the writ filing.

What's new is they've included research from the Secretary of State's voting machine investigation (which led Debra Bowen, rightly or wrongly, to de-certify the voting machines), specifically her researchers' contention that the only  way to determine if the machine's have been monkeyed with -- and the results altered -- is via the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail.

Team Janet now has 30 days to respond, and then Team Trung has 10 days to reply to that response -- and then the oral arguments begin.

New Report Raises More Questions About Anti-Bustmante IE Committee

Back in February, I wrote a few posts (here, here and here) trying resolve the mystery surrounding an independent expenditure committee -- Orange County Healthcare, Education and Neighborhood Leaders PAC -- that sent out this mailer attacking Santa Ana Councilman Carlos Bustamante in the final days of the 1st Supervisor District special election.

I put the issue in my mental tickle file until the latest campaign reports became available and I could try to answer some unanswered questions.

But first some back story:

Will Janet Pay The Fine?

Martin Wisckol wrote a post last Thursday suggesting Supervisor Janet Nguyen if she "went straight to the state Fair Political Practices Commission today, explained that she had possible violations in the last election and that she was eager to settle, she might sidestep a lot of the legal hassling she's facing from Team Trung Nguyen."

Later that day, Martin followed with a post reporting that Sup. Nguyen was interested in his idea:

"I'm going to look into that," she told me a little while ago.

Nguyen V. Nguyen Update From Total Buzz

Total Buzz's Peggy Lowe, who indefatigably covers the ongoing court drama between Supervisor Janet Nguyen and Trung Nguyen, posted this update earlier in the day:

Had a nice meeting of the Recount Recovery Support Group this morning over at Judge MIchael Brenner's courtroom. The Nguyen v. Nguyen peeps were back in court over a couple issues I wrote about last Friday.

In a motion brought by Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley, the boys needed to decide if 1.) Brenner could return the approximately 200 challenged ballots from the trial, and 2.) if Kelley could proceed with routine maintenance on the machines, which means he needs to break the seal on the machines used in the First District special election.

 

Neither Mike Schroeder, Team Trung's guy, nor Phil Greer, Janet's guy, had problems with Brenner giving back the ballots. Brenner's retiring on Friday and so he handed them over to Leon Page, Kelley's lawyer, who walked out of court with them this morning.

You can read the rest of Peggy's post here.

Trung Responds To OC Register Editorial

This came over the transom a little while ago. it's a response from Trung Nguyen to the editorial in today's OC Register:

Making Ones Own Bed

By Garden Grove Unified School District Vice-President Trung Nguyen

Thursday, June 21, 2007

I was disappointed when I read the Orange County Register's June 20th editorial criticizing several good government legal battles as "lose-lose" and efforts to "destroy the re-election hopes of Janet Nguyen" – nothing could be further from the truth. Sadly, for the Republican Party and Orange County's Vietnamese community, Janet has brought these legal challenges on herself by refusing to follow the laws that every elected official in our county follows. I am frankly surprised that after Assemblyman Van Tran's and my own efforts to elect Republican Assemblywoman Lynn Daucher to State Senate last year, that anyone would accuse us of trying to "weaken the GOP." We are both passionate about freedom, good government and our conservative Republican beliefs.

Steve Greenhut's Perspective On Janet Nguyen's Troubles

Steve Greenhut wrote an editorial calling for an end to the Janet Nguyen-Trung Nguyen feud, and yesterday posted this item on the Orange Punch blog in which he puts forth his belief that Janet's "real crime" was "defying" the Van Tran "political machine":

We know Janet's real crime. She defied Assemblyman Van Tran's political machine and ran for office without his blessing. She won the election. She is independent of them. Janet's politics aren't noticeably different from those of Trung Nguyen, Van Tran or even Mike Schroeder. But the political establishment would rather drive her out of office than have in office a Republican who doesn't owe them any allegiance. At least that's my theory.

Vietnamese Media Coverage Of the Janet Nguyen Disclosure Episode

A reader sent me this article that appeared in a Vietnamese-language publication called Thu Vien Toan Cao about Supervisor Janet Nguyen's illegal legal defense fund caper.

I don't understand what it says, other than I can pick out names like "Christian Berthelsen," "Andrew Davey" and "Matt Cunningham," and I'm curious to know how the Vietnamese-language covered the brouhaha. If anyone wants to take the time to translate the article, or at least a detailed summary, be my guest:

Khởi đầu câu chuyện, ký giả Christian Berthelsen của tờ LA Times số ra ngày 4 tháng 5, năm 2007, đã tiết lộ về một điện thư (e-mail) xin tiền bí mật...

Bị Áp Lực Báo Mỹ: Janet Đã Khai Báo Thu Tiền Bí Mật Bất Hợp Pháp

Lửa Việt - Tin Tổng Hợp

New Complaint Filed Against Janet Nguyen

I just saw this on Total Buzz:

Trung Nguyen loyalists have filed a second complaint against county Supervisor Janet Nguyen. The first attacked her illegal legal defense fund, which she has since dissolved, refunded the money and -- 50 days after the deadline -- disclosed the donors.

You can read the rest of the post here.

UPDATE: Here's Steve Greenhut's reaction from Orange Punch:

Here are reports on OCBlog and Total Buzz about Trung Nguyen supporters' latest legal action against Supervisor Janet Nguyen. This is enough already. Trung lost by a razor-thin margin, but such is life. These efforts strike me as an abuse of the legal system for political purposes. If Trung feels wronged, he should gear up to run for her seat, which will be up next summer -- given that the special election only filled the remainder of Lou Correa's term as he vacated the seat for the Senate.

Janet Nguyen Count-Up: The Likely End Of A Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time Episode

I'm sitting in the lobby of the Sacramento Grand Sheraton, having flown up this morning to sit on a panel at California Association Realtors conference (Wayne Johnson, Richard Temple and Gail Kaufman were the other panelists).

I'm sure readers have already seen Janet Nguyen attorney Phil Greer's letter to Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley and Janet's statement blaming her lawyers over at Total Buzz, but here they are anyway:

“On the advice of my attorneys a legal trust fund was established and funds were collected to cover the cost of legal bills related to the recount and election contest. These funds were never in my possession, nor were they ever deposited into my campaign committee account. When the advice of my attorneys changed, we determined it was best to return the money and we reported all the details about the funds to the Registrar of Voters. I am happy the issue is behind us now.”

Did Janet Finally Disclose?

Is the long wait finally over? Rumors were swirling today that Supervisor Janet Nguyen would finally end her inexplicable refusal to disclose the identities of the three donors to her illegal legal defense fund.

One of our commenters posted this about 45 minutes ago:

Finally, Janet Nguyen filed her paper today. It showed three donors: Mission Viejo Company for $5K, Townsend for $5K and Parking Concept for $2.5K. All checks were returned on April 14.

Check it out.

I get a vibe of legitimacy about this. And if this comment is accurate, then why did Janet wait so bloody long to disclose contributions from a developer, a lobbyist and a company that presumably would like to do some business with the county? It's not as if a supervisor has never received contributions from a developer, a lobbyist and a company that would like to do business with the county.

If this sudden decision to disclose is first of all genuine and secondly, related to Matt Harper's arrival today on Janet's staff, then perhaps we're seeing the beginning of the end of amateur hour in Supervisor Janet Nguyen's office.

Janet Nguyen Count-Up: 53 Days Of Evading The Law

Local liberal blogger Andrew Davey posted this over at Calitics, and I think it accurately conveys the sentiment of the OC blogosphere across the political spectrum:

Left, Right, and Center ALL AGREE: Janet Nguyen Needs to Come Clean

Why is Orange County Supervisor Janet Nguyen evading the law? This is a question that all of us are asking. This is a question that bloggers on the left, right, and center are all asking. This is a question that Janet Nguyen is forcing us to ask so long as she refuses to file a report on those secret campaign contributions that violated Orange County's campaign finance law. And so long as Janet Nguyen does not file this report, we will all be counting the days that she has not filed.

Even though Martin Wisckol began reporting on this matter at The OC Register's Total Buzz blog, Janet Nguyen has not taken notice, and she has not reported. Even though Mike Lawson has begun counting the days that Janet Nguyen has evaded county law at The Liberal OC, Janet Nguyen has not taken notice, and she has not reported. Even though Matt Cunningham has spoken out about this at OC Blog, Janet Nguyen has not taken notice, and she has not reported. Oh yes, and even though we at Calitics have turned our eyes to Orange County for this, Janet Nguyen has not taken notice, and she has not reported. So what will it take for Janet Nguyen to report these contributions? How many more days must we count?

The "Guess Janet's Secret Donors" Contest

Who are the three mysterious and overly generous donors to Supervisor Janet Nguyen's illegal legal defense fund?

Unions?

Vietnamese with ties and/or sympathies to Hanoi communists?

Democrats?

I don't know, but it sounds like a good excuse for another Red County/OC Blog contest.

Post a maximum of three guesses in the comments. The commenter with the most correct guesses will win a Magic 8-Ball:

The winner will be announced when and if Janet Nguyen discloses the identities of the three donors.

Janet Nguyen Countup: 52 Days Of Evading The Law

I was talking to some keen observers of county politics this morning, and much of the conversation turned on Supervisor Janet Nguyen's on-going refusal to comply with TIN CUP requirements that she report the name of the three donors who gave too much to her illegal legal defense fund -- as well as the excess amount and date of donation.

There was a general consensus that the drip-drip of bad publicity stemming from this strange refusal to come clean only hurts her politically. Most 1st District voters are still unfamiliar with her, but ever since the adulatory "first Vietnamese/youngest supervisor" media immediately after being seated, her press hasn't been good.

The longer this goes on, the more intensely it focuses attention on who these three donors are. How toxic must they be that Janet Nguyen would rather continually and knowingly violate a county ordinance than simply disclose who they are?

Cauterize this self-inflicted wound, Supervisor -- disclose the donors.

(H/T to the talented Mike Lawson of TheLiberalOC.com. Hope he doesn't mind us boosting his cool graphic).

Janet Nguyen Countup: 51 Days Of Evading The Law

As also noted over at Total Buzz and TheLiberalOC.com, we're now at 51 days since Janet Nguyen was supposed notify the Registrar of Voters about the names of the three donors who donated to her illegal legal defense fund, the excess amount and the dates given.

Come on -- it's not that hard!

Janet Nguyen Countup: 50 Days Of Evading The Law

Martin Wisckol has started a daily "count-up" of how many days since Janet Nguyen has failed to report the name, excess amount and dates of the three excessive donations to her illegal legal defense fund within 72 hours -- as the law requires.

It's both ridiculous that Janet Nguyen has failed to file some simple paperwork, and wrong that she is deliberately flouting a county ordinance. Some have speculated it's because she'd rather do that than risk the political fallout from the identities of the donors. But how bad could the fall-out be? Did she get a check from Dennis Kucinich?

Supervisor Nguyen knows the law and is choosing not to comply with it.

So in solidarity with Total Buzz, Red County/OC Blog will also keep the count-up: 50 days of evading county campaign law.

Just Cough Up The Names, Janet

What is up with Janet Nguyen?

When Christian Berthelsen first broke the story about Janet Nguyen's illegal legal defense fund, you could almost excuse based on the hurly-burly of the post-special election recount and unfamiliarity with TIN CUP.

I don't buy that explanation, but I can see how someone might.

But her refusal to comply with a simple provision of TIN CUP is difficult to understand. It's not a complicated task -- all she has to do is fill out some paperwork about three donors to her illegal legal defense fund whose donations exceeded TIN CUP contribution limits.

Little Saigon Outreach Headquarters Grand Opening

Little Saigon Outreach Headquarters Grand Opening
LITTLE SAIGON OUTREACH HEADQUARTERS
Asian Village Mall
9191 Bolsa Avenue, Suite 209
Westminster, CA 92683
May 30, 2007

Dear Friends,

As part of our ongoing outreach effort and constituents service, we will be inaugurating the Little Saigon Outreach Headquarters to better serve our mutual constituents in Central Orange County. Below are details of the grand opening celebration:

The World's Longest 72 Hours

Martin Wisckol has an interesting post over at Total Buzz in which he talks to Shirley Grindle about Janet Nguyen's illegal legal defense fund.

Grindle dismisses the Trung Nguyen/Mike Schroeder complaint filed against Janet Nguyen:

"It's a stupid complaint," she said. "It's nothing more than an effort to give a political opponent a bad name."

I'm wondering if Shirley's dislike for Mike Schroeder has trumped her dislike of campaign's evading her TIN CUP ordinance, because the above remark seems like a climbdown from Grindle's reaction when the story broke:

"If that isn't evasion, I don't know what is," she said. "They can't do this."

In Other Nguyen News...

Peggy Lowe posted yesterday on Total Buzz the complaint filed with the District Attorney by Team Trung against Janet Nguyen regarding her illegal legal defense fund has been forwarded to the state Attorney General:

Bill Feccia, senior assistant DA in charge of special prosecutions, says it would be "more appropriate" for the state Department of Justice to investigate Janet Nguyen's campaign finances. Rack's conflicts include, but are not limited to, his campaign manager Micheal Schroeder, his unpaid advisor Michael Schroeder, and Michael Schroeder's wife, Susan, who works for Rack. Yes, the Consigliere is a multi-tasker.

Team Trung To Re-File Recount Appeal Next Week

I spoke with OC power broker and Team Trung attorney Mike Schroeder earlier this morning about the where the Trung appeal goes from here in the wake of the state appellate court's rejection of their writ request.

Mike sounded undaunted by the appellate court decision and said he'll re-file the appeal next week. The only difference, he said, is that instead of obtaining an appeals court decision on Judge Brenner's ruling in a matter of days via the emergency appeal route, Team Trung will have get a ruling within 45-90 days of the re-filing through the expedited appeals process.

Unlike the writ request, the appellate court has no discretion on whether or not to hear the expedited appeal.

Janet Nguyen Illegal Defense Fund Issue On Slow Burn

The issue of Janet Nguyen's illegal legal defense fund keeps on walking. Peggy Lowe reports over at Total Buzz that Team Trung has asked District Attorney Tony Rackauckas to investigate:

As expected, Team Trung filed a complaint today asking DA Tony Rack to investigate Janet Nguyen's, um, illegal legal defense fund. Yes, that would be the one she's already copped to, or as the complaint says, "has brazenly confessed to" in published reports. Any use of the adverb brazen will be encouraged here at Total Buzz.

You can read the rest of Peggy's post here.

Trung Nguyen Appeal: DENIED

According to an e-mail just received from the court send at 4:30 p.m...

Nguyen et al. v. The Superior Court of California, County of Orange, Case: G038475, 4th District

Disposition date (YYYY-MM-DD):   2007-05-14
Disposition description:   Petition summarily denied by opinion
Disposition status as of 2007-05-14:  Final

Now, does this mean it's all over?  Time for the blogging lawyers to let us know...

UPDATE:

Links to court documents: 
Docket Chronology
Opinion (downloads as a .pdf)

Janet Nguyen & TIN CUP

I have no love for TIN CUP. I'd like to see it abolished and replaced with something rational. Hence, my first instinct is to be sympathetic to candidates who inadvertently run afoul.

So I wanted to be sympathetic to Janet Nguyen while reading the Los Angeles Times story about her e-mail fund raising solicitation that ran afoul of TIN CUP:

"That was sent after my election," Nguyen said in the interview, referring to the solicitation e-mail she sent to potential donors.

"At that time, I was advised my legal fund is not related to the campaign, so therefore it was not a campaign contribution.

"Since then, after the recount and trial went through, I was advised" that apparently Orange County has different contribution rules, she said, and decided to take the "conservative route" by instructing her lawyer to refund the money.

But this whole thing is hinky, though. Janet Nguyen's campaign had more than passing experience with TIN CUP compliance. Last year, she "cleaned" $91,000 from her Assembly account into her Supervisor account. Her campaign asserted it was all done in compliance with TIN CUP, so they had to be well aware of what TIN CUP does and does not allow.

Oh Yeah, That 1st Supes District Recount Thing...

Lest we forget, Peggy Lowe reports over at Total Buzz on the latest in the legal wrangling over the recount of the 1st Supervisor District special election:

Well, just when you thought all this recount business is up on the shelf for a while...the boys were back in court today.

Phil Greer, Janet Nguyen's lawyer, and Leon Page, Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley's lawyer, were back in Judge Michael Brenner's courtroom this morning at the request of Steve Baric, Trung Nguyen's lawyer. Essentially, Baric wanted some of the verbage changed on the judge's written decision. (Consigliere Schroeder is traveling in Europe with Susan B. Schroeder.)

Why the need for the changes?

Find out by reading the rest of Peggy's post here.

Dave Gilliard Comment On Trung Appeal

I heard from Janet Nguyen consultant Dave Gilliard earlier regarding the Court of Appeal's decision on the emergency writ request from the Trung Nguyen campaign:

There has been way too much made of what the Appeals Court did this week. They did not agree to “hear the case”, they simply asked for comment from the other parties as to the propriety of hearing the case. In other words they have done nothing yet. By focusing on a specific section of the Elections Code, they are asking whether or not Trung even has the ability to ask for a writ, something our attorney Phil Greer believes is outside the scope of the remedies regarding an election contest and its aftermath.

OC Supe Race: Clarification on the Action of the Appeals Court

Earlier in the week, I posted on a decision by the Court of Appeals in Orange County agreeing to hear arguments on a writ filing on behalf of Trung Nguyen, who won the election day balloting for First District Supervisor, but in a recount, was deemed by the Orange County Registrar of Voters to then be the loser.  Janet Nguyen was sworn in after being certified with margin of votes you could count on two hands.  Anyway, I threw out an amazing statistic about how the Appeals Court only hears 1 in 100 or so writs that are filed with the court, and made it sound like that hurdle had been jumped by Trung's legal team.

In another reminder of why we should let lawyers blog about this legal-beagle stuff, I was wrong.  The Court has not agreed to hear the matter, they have agreed to take written testimony on why they should or should not hear the matter.

So while I would imagine it is not that easy to get even to the point where the Appellate Court wants to hear such arguments, Trung Nguyen's legal challenge to the original Judge's decision to certify Janet Nguyen's election still is on "this side" of that 1 in a 100 hurdle. 

By the way, Janet's legal team has some very real concerns about whether Trung Nguyen even has the legal right to ask for a writ in this case.  More fodder for the court to consider.

We'll see what happens in early May.  In the meantime, smart money is still on Janet to retain her new post.

BREAKING: Court of Appeals takes up Nguyen-Nguyen Election Contest

(Cross posted from an original post over at the FlashReport website.)

Yesterday Trung Nguyen filed an application for an emergency writ to the Court of Appeals regarding his election contest with Janet Nguyen, who has been seated as an Orange County Supervisor.  Trung Nguyen won the election day vote by seven votes and after the recount Janet was declared the winner by 3 votes.  Trung then filed an election contest to the issue as to whether or not, in a recount, the paper trail that is produced by electronic voting machines must be recounted.  The trial judge ruled that they did not have to be recounted, and Trung appealed this on this ground and on the ground that someone requesting a recount cannot shift counting methods back and forth between machine counts and hand counts based on what benefits them the most.

The Court of Appeals summarily denies 98.5% of writs filed before them, either on the grounds that it is not an emergency, or on the grounds that the writ has no merit.

Today the Court of Appeals issued and order in this case taking up the matter and ordering that briefing be completed by May 7, 2007.

The decision in this matter will be groundbreaking because it will be the first Court of Appeals decision in California as to whether candidates can change methods of counting mid-count and whether or not voter-verified paper ballots that are created by machines have to be counted in a recount.

The mere fact that this matter is being heard, given the long odds, is a testament to the legal work of Mike Schroeder and Steve Baric, the attorneys for Trung Nguyen.

UPDATE (from Jubal): Here is the actual writ.

Trung Nguyen Campaign Files Emergency Writ

I just spoke with Trung Nguyen attorney Mike Schroeder. He said they filed an emergency writ request this morning with the state Court of Appeals, in hopes of overturning  Judge Mike Brenner's decision to let stand Supervisor Janet Nguyen's three-vote recount victory.

Schroeder said the court typically responds to these within a couple of days. The court will either simply deny the motion, in which case the Trung campaign would likely file for an expedited appeal (which would take 3-4 months).

If the court doesn't deny the writ, it will direct Team Janet to file a response to the writ in a court-determined time frame.

I'll keep you posted.

Red County/OC Blog Wins Its First Award

Mrs. Jubal and I hosted our 2nd Annual "St. Paddy's Day...South of the Border" party this past March 17, and Orange County Employees Association General Manager Nick Berardino was among our guests.

Nick and I obviously don't see eye-to-eye on a number of issues, but I like and respect Nick very much. He fights hard for what he believes, but doesn't make it personal.

In any case, at the party Nick presented me with this, the OCEA "Blemmy" (short for "blog Emmy") for our coverage of the 1st Supervisor District special election:

 

I think it is a wonderful irony that center-right Red County/OC Blog's very first blog award should come from a government employee union.

Thank you, Nick! And also thanks tot he rest of the Blogpen, to whom this award belongs, including Quang Pham and especially Mark Leyes. Without Mark's reporting, commenting and analysis, our coverage of the special election wouldn't have been nearly as good or complete.

The Winner Of The 1st Supervisor District Special Election Prediction Contest Is...

Now that we finally have an official winner in the 1st Supervisor District special election (assuming Judge Brenner's decision is upheld on appeal), it dawned on me I can now declare a winner in the 1st Supervisor District Special Election Prediction Contest!

I scanned the predictions and selected as winner the commenter who 1) predicted Janet as the winner and 2) came closest to Janet's winning percentage of 24.1%. Commenter Mark Brainard came very close to winning an unprecedented third prediction contest with a prediction of 22.3%, but was edged out by long-time commenter Eldad Taylor's prediction of 23%.

Congratulations, Eldad! You need to e-mail me with his/her mailing information so I can send the handsome prize bundle of a large Red County coffee mug and Magic 8-Ball.

Trung Nguyen Will Appeal

Peggy Lowe reports over at Total Buzz that Trung Nguyen will appeal Judge Michel Brenner's ruling that put Janet Nguyen in the 1st District Supervisor's seat:

Coming as a surprise to absolutely no one, the Consigliere Schroeder (see also: Darth Vader, Darth Schroeder, or any Godfather reference) says Trung Nguyen will appeal the judge's decision this week that made Janet Nguyen the winner of the First District supes seat.

You can read the rest of Peggy's post here.

Janet Nguyen Replacement Attempts Deadlock

I queried Garden Grove Mayor Pro Tempore Mark Rosen on how things went last night with the city council's attempts to appoint a replacement for new-Supervisor Janet Nguyen.

According to Mark, twelve people spoke and expressed their desire be appointed to the vacancy. Councilwoman Dina Nguyen, who has expressed support for filling the vacancy via special election rather than appointment, made a motion to postpone any decision until after the council's upcoming Korea trip. That motion was defeated.

Sup. Janet Nguyen's New Chief of Staff: Andrew Do

Janet Nguyen is the new Supervisor for the 1st District, and one of her most immediate tasks is hiring staff to run her office and serve as liaisons between herself and the various tentacles of county government.

Andrew Do, who served as her attorney during the recount saga alongside lead counsel Phil Greer, is the first hire  -- as her chief of staff. I think that's a smart move on Janet's part. You can always find staff who are from and can navigate county bureaucracy, but it's wise to have at least a couple of staff -- especially the top spot -- filled by loyalists with at least some political instincts who can help negotiate the political, as well as bureaucratic, landscape.

Anyone interested in joining Janet's staff should fax a resume and letter of interest to her office fax: 714.834.5754. Of course, her campaign consultant Dave Gilliard and pollster Adam Probolsky are close to Janet, so having them out in a good word on behalf of interested parties probably wouldn't hurt.

Legislative Counsel Opinion Contradicts Judge Brenner's Ruling

A March 19 opinion from the state Office of Legislative Counsel contradicts the ruling issued by Judge Michael Brenner yesterday (H/T to Total Buzz). I'd heard about this opinion from the Trung legal team last week during the trial last week, but for some reason they either couldn't use it or the Leg Counsel's office wouldn't release it to them (my short-term memory is a little fuzzy on that count).

Here's the press release from Team Trung:

NGUYEN v. NGUYEN DEVELOPMENT

ATTORNEYS FOR CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE MAKE LEGAL FINDING THAT COUNTY REGISTRAR REQUIRED TO USE VOTER VERIFIED PAPER AUDIT TRAIL IN CONDUCTING ANY FULL RECOUNT OF AN ELECTION

*Finding casts doubt in the validity of the certification by the Orange County Registrar and the ruling Superior Court for Janet Nguyen as the Trung Nguyen campaign mulls decision on whether to file an appeal.