Trung Nguyen Photoshopped Into Picture With Schwarzenegger

This is one of those incidents that causes you to scratch your head and ask, "What are they thinking?"

Here's an ad for Trung Nguyen for Supervisor that ran in the Vietnamese-language Vien Dong newspaper this Saturday:

It's a picture from a Lynn Daucher for Senate rally, a starring Gov. Schwarzenegger. You can see Trung standing behind Lynn Daucher and to her left. It's a hinky picture: Trung seems to have not only grown a few inches, but acquired a completely different coloration than every other person in the photo. Plus he's the only person in the crowd on whom the sun is shining.

Why the hinkyness? It seems pretty obvious Trung was Photoshopped into this photo.

Here's a photo of the same event, with everyone around the Governor speaking at the podium:

You can see the Governor and Lynn Daucher wearing the same outfits as in the Trung Nguyen ad. And even though this shot takes place within several minutes of the one in the ad, there is no Trung Nguyen to be seen.

So, was Trung even at this event? Yes, he was, as you can see in this picture (which looks to have been taken after Schwarzenegger and Daucher took their turns speaking from the podium):

The problem is Trung is wearing a different suit than in the ad photo. In the ad, he's wearing a  light brown suit. Here, at the actual event, Trung is wearing a dark blue suit.

Trung was at the event. He just wasn't front-and-center behind Schwarzenegger and Daucher as the Photoshopped picture in the ad would lead one to believe. And the shot was obviously Photoshopped -- unless Trung was standing behind Daucher on his tip-toes while she spoke (and via some unique meteorological phenomenon was the only person catching some rays), then drove home, changed into a dark blue suit and returned just in time to sidle up Daucher and the Gov.

So why the Photoshop job? And why such a bad Photoshop job?

UPDATE (1/29/07): Commenter "Nice...." posted a link to a video of the Schwarzenegger-Daucher event. You can watch it here.

And the LA Times' Bob Salladay picked up the story on his cool Political Muscle blog.

Comments

[rebecca]

Nice one, Jubal! What fun!

[Art Pedroza]

I think it would have been far more effective if they had photoshopped Trung's head onto Daucher's body. Then he really would have been a Trannie!

[Critic]

No, No, this can't be true! I've seen his campaign brochure.

Integrity. Trust. Leadership..

This must have been some rogue staffer acting without his knowledge.

[Phil Paule]

This makes Trung out to be

1) A Liar

2) Void of all ethics

3) Stupid for thinking you can get away with this

4) He shows what little respect he has for the intelligence of the Vietnamese community for beliving that he could put one over on them.

This guy is a major joke !!!!

[Re: Phil Paule]

Hey Phil,

Isn't your wife on Janet's payroll?

Talk about void of ethics.

[Phil Paule]

1) Yes we are supporting Janet, I don't really see and ethics problem with working for a candidate. In addition my wife Julie is an expert at Photoshop. Maybe Trung's campaign team should take a class.

2) ""I think it would have been far more effective if they had photoshopped Trung's head onto Daucher's body. Then he really would have been a Trannie!""

Art- that is one of the funniest comments I have ever seen on the OC BLOG- Great Stuff !!!!!

[Re: Phil Paule]

Phil Paule and Art Pedroza

That's a winner!

:D

[Trungs Volunteer]

So I guess Trungs people are now on here defending the photoshop Job and beating up on Phil and Art. This is also in Viet Bao today with the phony Ken Maddox claim of Janet Never working for the Board of Supervisors. This is Classic! and a great example of how the Trannies play the Viet community. You should hear them make phone calls and them claiming to be the Registrar of Voters office.

[Phil Paule]

I don't have picture of me with Art- Can you kids at Team Trung take care of that for me ??

[Re: Trungs Volunteer]

Hi Janet!! :)

[Trung Done]

This kind of thing will sink any candidate who, like Trung, is trying to run on an integrity platform. A big black eye for the Tran "machine", such as it is.

[Bladerunner]

Great post Jubal. "What are they thinking" is exactly right.

Janet's picture of her and Arnold looked legit but the picture of Arnold with Carlos and his family looks photshopped, but not as badly as Trungs. What do you think?

[Pass the Blame]

I bet Trung tries to blame his campaign manager or consultant, fires him in a big public display, etc., etc. We seen it all before.

[Art Pedroza]

Maybe they can blame the Tan Nguyen staffer who sent out that notorious letter...

[wow art]

Art is on a roll with this thread.

[Jubal]

BR:

Which mailer was that in?

[Phil Paule]

I don't know if I can do this, but I am going to award Art the Bloger of the Day Award

[Saving Face]

Will blaming his staff allow Trung to save face and continue his campaign, or would he be better off taking responsibility? If he does take responsibility, will he attempt to continue his campaign.

[Woof]

Janet must be really worried to have attack puppy Phil out in his finest form. How badly are you losing Phil?

[Three's a Crowd!]

Isn't it against the law what Trung is doing? Better call $1500.00 donor and Attorney/Kingmaker Michael Schroeder to spin this baby. Time to withdraw from the race Trung and support Janet.

I'm wondering in Van Tran and Lynn Daucher approve of this?

[Three's a Crowd!]

This should be on Wiskol's and Lowe's Buzz...What a crock! Trung must go.

[Who's in charge of photoshop????]

TRUNG NGUYEN FOR SUPERVISOR ANNOUNCES CAMPAIGN TEAM
WESTMINSTER – Trung Nguyen, Garden Grove Unified School District Trustee, and candidate for Supervisor, 1st District, announces today his campaign team for the Special Election to be held on February 6. Assemblyman Van Tran will be co-chairing his campaign committee.
The rest of the team is made up of:
Joe Giardiello – General Campaign Consultant; head of a Southern California based political consultant firm specializing in message development, voter contact, opposition research, absentee ballot programs, and ground operations. He also serves as District Director for a prominent State Senator.
Gene Ulm – Pollster; of Public Opinion Strategies, a survey research company specializing in corporate, public policy and litigation research, and one of the largest Republican polling firms in the nation.
Steve Linh Nguyen – Senior Advisor; Steve is a former Westminster Planning Commissioner and has worked over the years in several successful campaigns at a local level, most recently as the Campaigner Manager on the Dina Nguyen for Garden Grove City Council.
Saulo Londono – Campaign Manager; brings his experience and skill with ground operations and absentee ballot programs from working with the state party and various state races such as Lynn Daucher's State Senate campaign.
Truong Diep – Deputy Campaign Manager; previously worked as a legislative aide to Assemblyman Van Tran where he served as a liaison to the Vietnamese-American media. In November of 2006, Truong was elected as a Director on the Midway City Sanitary District.
Jason Cannata – Deputy Campaign Manager
Chris Vo – Field Director

[Phil Paule]

I am guessing that the next stunt the Trung campaign team is going to do is make phony videos of Trung and Ronald Reagan together and put them up on You Tube. I know Joe G is smarter then this- so this must be the work of the other kids at the HQ.

[Question for Phil]

Phil - you are a political pro. Have you ever seen a case like this where a candidate inserted himself into a photo with some big name? I know is is joked about. Maybe even talked about. But I have never seen a case where it was actually used in a campaign. Is there any way Trung can continue? Don't all his photos and all his statements now deserve special scrutiny?

[Trung Guilty]

I bet Trung did it on his own, then gave it to his consultant to use without telling him the photo was a fake.

[Phil Paule]

I have been at this for 17 years. I have never seen something as stupid as this.

I have great respect for Assemblyman Tran and former CRP Chairman Michael Schroeder. I hope they choose to distance themselves from the bad judgement of this campaign.

[Be a Man Van, Mike and Rig]

Phil Paule is right. Van should issue a statement that he is no longer supporting Trung. So should Schroeder and Righeimer. Everyone knows why these three endorsed Trung in the first place and their strategy of peeling votes off Janet Nguyen may have already worked, but now their own fine reputations are on the line.

[What a Story]

Quick, someone write the press release.

Trung Nguyen for Supervisor Headquarters Broken Into
Candidate Photos Edited Without Knowledge

[Art Pedroza]

After further review, it is obvious that illegal immigrants are to blame for this photoshop malfunction...The Trung Nguyen campaign will be sending Trung back to the border posthaste to dispense his particular brand of justice! It is not yet known what grimace he will decide to wear on his face while at the border...

[Ton Tran]

INTEGRITY - TRUST - LEADERSHIP !!!

For the sake of many children in the Garden Grove School District, Trung Nguyen should consider resigning from the GG Board of Education before the voters take him out.

[Mr. Photoshop]

The Trung at the border piece was probably Photo Shopped too! Trung and the trannies new nick name. Mr. Photoshop and the Photoshop gang

[Is Everyone on Someone's Payroll?]

Great eye Jubal. I'm also scratching my head...

However, Mark Rosen in the 3rd photo with the Vietnamese flag over his forehead looks suspicious to me. In addition, he's a Democrat in a rally with a Republican governor. Why on earth is he in the picture?! Bring on the investigation!

Oh yeah, never mind. This thread seems to be about fellow Reeps eating each other up...

[Loving it]

Reeps eating each other up is Orange County's favorite spectator sport! Thanks to OCBlog we now get it 24/7.

[Phil Paule]

This may just be the tip of the iceberg.

I understand that three of the other campaigns are now reviewing ALL of Trung's mail to see if any of it is real.

I don't think any laws were broken, although using the US Postal System to defraud people is a crime.

This story will move from the BLOGs to MSM and thus Trung's campaign is over. Since the phony photos involve the Governor, all major media outlets ( OC Register, LA Times and TV) will pick it up.

Mr. Trung should withdraw from the race before he causes himself and his supporters any further embarassment.

[Snow Ball]

Does anyone know if Trung has issued a statement or apology of any kind? Was this just a one-time mistake, or part of a pattern? The candidate needs to speak to the people soon, before this scandal snowballs and takes Trung, Van, Schroeder, et al down the slope with it.

[Flowerszzz]

I think Mark Leyes is photo shopped in! :-)What about the girl in the 3rd pic....peaking around schwartnegger?

[Mike Lawson]

Yesterday I wrote (here) a little something about how there were 1/2 a million head shots of Trung up on his campaign website.

Soon after this post appeared on The OC Blog, I went to Trung's site to see if maybe I could find the head shot that he used in this (poor) photoshoped image...but it looks like Trung's campaign removed most of the photos in the gallery.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

[Jail Time?]

I doubt there will be any convictions handed down for this, just like there won't be any for Tan Nguyen.

That doesn't make it right.

[Money Laundering?]

Trung's campaign reports show a total of $2000 from corporations owned by a certain Cuong Bui.

An individual cannot bypass contribution limits by making additional contributions out of other controlled entities.

I wonder if any more of this is going on?

[Flowerszzz]

Oh good gawd - so he may have to refund $500, wow huge money laundering scheme!

[Nice.....]

Here is a link to a video of the actual event.

http://www.thanksarnold.com/

Nice how the covered up Westminster Councilman Andy Quach with Trung's picture.

[More proof that anybody political can be a campaign manager.]

I have always said that managing a campaign is very, very, very overrated.

Here's proof!

[Trung Statement]

Has Trung issued a statement yet? What about Van Tran? This is now in the LA Times, FlashReport, and all over the Vietnamese media. They cannot just ignore it and hope it goes away.

[aye aye aye]

obviously a ridiculously dumb move...but as you've admitted he was at the event...maybe he just wasn't photogenic in any of the originals...I think this is being blown way out of proportion in a sad attempt to get votes by opposition campaigns

[Wrong on many levels]

It is one thing to touch up a photo in Photoshop (electronic airbrushing) and make someone more "photogenic."

It is something completely different to put him in a location he wasn't.

Yes, he was at the event. No, he wasn't front and center standing between Lynn Daucher and Arnold Schwarzenegger. To suggest this is a fraud. Only someone with no morals would claim that "he was at the event so it must be ok."

This is actually stupider than the Tan Nguyen situation. At least Tan Nguyen, had he been smarter, could've covered up his actions. There is no covering up something like this no matter how hard you try.

So, Trung Nguyen's campaign is more stupid than Tan's. Also, they are more wrong. Tan's letter, while stupid, wasn't necessarily wrong because it informed voters that non-citizens can't vote. Putting someone in a place where he isn't is just flat-out wrong.

[CentralOCguy]

Guys, the picture is funny, some would say it is idiotic, but it's not blatantly "wrong at many levels". I really don't think so. You exaggerated too much. How come the argument is so heated this morning? The second Nguyen (Trung) is not as well-known as Janet. 3 Vietnamese candidates will likely divide the votes among themselves. I still keep watching and decide later.

[Re: Wrong on many levels]

Actually:

http://www.vietnamvote.org/images/DSC02545.JPG

He was RIGHT in the middle of Lynn and Arnold, just not in the picture that they used.

Talk about blowing it out of proportion...

By the way, was Janet even THERE?

[Capitol Spokeshole]

Now wait a minute. Maybe it was an overzealous supporter of Trung holding up a cardboard cut-out of the candidate ;-)

[What the???]

Why on earth would they create a picture, when they had one with the Governator and Lynn?

Maybe better to call their campaign "dumb and dumber"..

[Repeat Offender]

Check out Trung's illegal immigration mailer. That photo of him at the border looks photo-shopped.

[aye aye aye]

I know this has already been said but with everyone crying foul because he wasn't "front and center" at the event there is another picture from www.thanksarnold.com where he IS front and center (right picture of the banner)between Lynn and Arnold.

Funny how this is the same site that had the video but no one noticed it...funny how this is supposedly worse than sending out a racist mailer in Vietnamese and releasing a bogus English translation www.theliberaloc.com/2007/01/29/tan-nguyen-in-a-dress/... I smell a desperate campaign

[Amateurs]

All of the Nguyen's are running amateurish campaigns.

It must suck to be their consultants when the candidates make stupid mistakes in the Vietnamese community and there is nothing they can do about it.

I'm glad I'm not Vietnamese. I'd hate to have either of these clowns as the public image of the Vietnamese community.

[Flowerszzz]

Who gives a crap.....quit fighting amongst yourselves Repub's about it in here and get yer butts out there and get someone other then Umberg elected!! You all are so busy in here arguing about some silly picture that in all reality is funny....WHO CARES!

[Where's the Grand Jury???]

I've been away for awhile, just catching up on the news, I am astounded! These are the choices in the first supe race?? Liars, racists, carpetbaggers???? Nguyens and Umberg. Great choices!!! No wonder they need all that money and IE support - they have no record and no plan, but worse they have no character.

Doesn't anyone out there care that as a matter of ethics and law these three are all just pathetic examples of the power hungry opportunist??? We need a grand jury investigation on Umberg's residency and the Nguyen's - there has to be a law they've broken - making false statements, something.

Where is the OCR or the LA Times??? The press has a responsibility here!! This stuff needs to be exposed, not just on a blog read by the informed and interested, but in a public forum that the average Joe Voter will read. There needs to be a demand for a Grand Jury investigation. We cannot allow this kind of electioneering, it is unethical!!! C'mon, Reeps, let's call for a GJ investigation!!!!

[Attorney]

Trung needs to hire one. He may have committed a crime.

[UtSay]

C'mon people!
Fact: Trung Nguyen was there at the event.

Can I say that for other candidates out there?

So, I failed to see any crime or ethic violation.

Instead of focusing on solutions to issues, experiences, integrity, or atleast intelligent discussions of the candidates; we are now resort to mocking & poking fun?

Is this the maturity level of blog site's readers deserve?

[doesnt matter]

I agree, grow up

[chuck]

it's very sad

Oh, braaavo! Just lovely!

You've set our credibility back for several centuries. Thank you, sooo much, Mr. Trung Nguyen!

How's about this: Both you and Janet fold-up your tents and take your happy behinds home and relegate yourselves to small-time community politics, where junk like this will go unchecked and you might find a few who will actually believe that you were Arnold's right-hand man at that event.

[Harry Krebs]

Trung Nguyen's stupidity seems to run in some campaigns that have no foundation. He should not only get out of this race but also get out of the Garden Grove Board of Education. We don't need people that are unethical to lead and teach our children. And don't blame a campaign worker for this photo. Take responsibility and leadership which is why he is not fit to be our supervisor

[GGReep]

This from the same Harry Krebs who insulted Janet Nguyen and the entire Vietnamese community by making fun of her accent and limited english skills. Harry Krebs was forced to apologize publicly to Janet and the Vietnamese community.

Harry, you have no right to criticize anyone's politics or political methods. You lost your election. Now disappear.

[Harry]

Why don't you, GGreep, get a real instead of pontificating. We all know who you are (ML) and only you will use stupidity for political reasons. Anybody who took that incident as an insult needs to learn english and study our culture. Get a life.

[We won!]

Trung Nguyen won! We won! That is the fact!

We are not stupid as someone thought. Everyone knew that Mr. Nguyen's opponents tried to derail the truth by put his head on someone's body! We won!