Picture A Little Clearer On Mysterious Anti-Bustamante Mailer

Today I resumed my attempt to find out who is behind Orange County Healthcare, Education and Neighborhood Leaders PAC, an independent expenditure committee that spent 12,745.04 against unsuccessful 1st Supervisor District candidate Carlos Bustamante.

When I last posted about this, I was tracking down one of the two listed donors, Mr. Charles Kim of the Garden Grove Galleria -- which gave $2,000. Mr. Kim returned my call today, and I asked him who solicited him to contribute to the IE committee.

"Nick Lecong," he replied.

Nick Lecong is Tam Lecong, the other donor (of $4,000) listed on the late IE report. Nick Lecong is also a Garden Grove Planning Commissioner -- a position he was appointed to by Janet Nguyen.  I'm not sure what he does for a living currently, but in June 2006 listed himself as an employee of the Asian American Chamber of Commerce.

As I mentioned earlier, one thing that seemed hinky about this IE was the report only showed $6,000 in contributions, while listing more than $12,000 in expenditures. What's more everything -- the formation of the IE committee, the expenditures, the contributions -- are dated January 30.

I spoke with the always helpful and pleasant Christina Avila at the OC Registrar of Voters, and concluded the discrepancy can be accounted for in two ways.

Either the $6,754.04 came from a collection of individual donors, none of whom had contributed a cumulative amount greater than $1,000 as of January 30 -- or else the late IE report is incorrect and the remaining contributions are omitted.

I could ask the committee treasurer, Kelly Lawler, but thus far she hasn't returned any of my numerous phone calls.

You know, it really shouldn't be this difficult to find out who is behind a political mailer.

Comments

[It make sense now]

Thanks for clearing this up Jubal. It's quite common for folks to give $99 to campaigns so that their names don't show up on reports. Some are shy, some are afraid to offend other candidates, and some are just cheap and the $99 limit is an easy excuse for not giving more. Looks like you figured it all out. Good work!

[Totem]

Wow, so Janet sent her minion Nick Lecong out to hit a fellow Republican who was supported by the establishment.

Now I understand why there is a universal hatred of Janet Nguyen.

[Proof is in the Pudding]

Janet was running to win...She ran the kind of campaign that winners run...Carlos was running to...well can someone please now explain to me why the heck Carlos was running?

[Viet Pac]

Who did the mailer for Viet Pac and who are the donors. No filings have been done.

[Go for it Jubal]

Jubal - Why don't you go after the VietPAC hit piece against Janet Nguyen, for which no filings were done? That mailer had far more impact on this race than the stupid anti-Bustamante mailer.

[Jubal]

Send me the mailer and ID number.

[Who cares?]

This is kind of interesting I guess if you have nothing else to do or read, but why would anyone spend time investigating a hit piece on a 4th place finisher? He wasn't even close and a poorly done last minute hit mailer did not cause him to have such a poor showing.

[One Who Knows]

"This is kind of interesting I guess if you have nothing else to do or read, but why would anyone spend time investigating a hit piece on a 4th place finisher? He wasn't even close and a poorly done last minute hit mailer did not cause him to have such a poor showing?"

Jubal...from the sounds of things, you have struck a nerve. Comments like these are reminiscent of the Nixon White House dismissing Watergate as "a third-rate burglary."

Nice work Jubal - this stuff is fascinating. Thanks

[Signs Are Right In Front Of You Jubal]

Maybe you should look to someone on your own Blogpen.

Actually, if you take into account the votes received for Kermit Marsh, Brett Franklin and Lupe Moreno (None of them had a chance and had no business being in the race) and then give the momentum from those voters who would have helped pass the word on Bustamante behalf and/or a number of them would have volunteered to help, then Bustamante is right on top of the pack - in spite of the strong Vietnamese showing.

Carlos ran a good campaign. There were too many obsticles to overcome by all the non-Vietamese candidates.

[And if the moon was made of cheese...]

Many of Marsh's and Franklin's votes were "white votes" and had they not been in the race most of those votes would have gone to Umberg and Rosen. Carlos was never in the race and no amount of post election spin by the suckers who gave him money will change that fact.

[GGMan]

...."Nick Lecong," he replied.

.....Nick Lecong is Tam Lecong, the other donor (of $4,000) listed on the late IE report. Nick Lecong is also a Garden Grove Planning Commissioner -- a position he was appointed to by Janet Nguyen. I'm not sure what he does for a living currently, but in June 2006 listed himself as an employee of the Asian American Chamber of Commerce.......

Asian American Chamber of Commerce (in Santa Ana) is non exiting. Nick just used this name to do some business in Viet Nam to benefit for Tony Lam and Nick.

Nick LeCong's living in Huntington Beach, but used Garden Grove's address. So Janet can appoint him as a planning commissioner and run for city council seat.

However, one GG councilman silently investigated Nick. He showed Nick his investigation report, Nick quited his planning commissioner job immediately and did not submit GG city council seat.

If Nick don't do it, he may go in jail.

Nick and Tony Lam are the master mind of all political dirty tricks in VN community. They do everything to make Janet look good and to be a winner at any price.

Alright, enough already.

Why don't you just ask Adam to come clean?

[Milk Man]

Nick Lecong lives in Huntington Beach, and he's a Planning Commissioner in Garden Grove?

Isn't that illegal? Let me guess who investigated Lecong - Bruce Broadwater.

I think Broadwater found out about the residency issue from Janet's Assembly financial report in which Lecong was a donor but was stupid enough to list his address in Huntington Beach instead of GG.

[Art Pedroza]

Who cares? Why aren't you dissecting the utter destruction of Carlos Bustamante instead? The guy burned through $300K - and made John Lewis and company look bad in the process. How could so many of you have been so wrong?

You can't say I did not warn you...

[re: GGMAN]

Mr. Diep,

Um I think Nick Lives in Garden Grove.

You love spinning don't you

[redperegrine]

The name Charles Kim rings a bell. I wonder if he wasn't the same guy who (along with the unenlightened voters) helped sadlle Fullerton with a virutally incoherent council member for 8 years.

As to the IE issue it seems like a pretty easy thing to figure out. Find someone who has worked with Betty to create IEs in the past, and was also involved in this campaign.

[Black Calling the Kettle Black]

Truong Diep - ask your boss about Mr. Lecong. He was his major donor and also hosted a Kick-off Fundraiser for his Assembly election, smoked cigar with Mr. Trannie at his home in GG

- also ask Mr. Photoshop and Mr. Lan Nguyen about his donation to their vn flag cause that they so famously claim it is theirs and using his office for the weekly meeting...

Should we go on....? How much more dirt should we dig up on the Trannie?

[No Mystery on Lecong]

Ask Mr. Lecong's many Latino politican friends such as Richard Altorrie, Xavier Ceberra, Jose Solorio, Mike Garcia....if you want to know more about him

[Council Watcher]

The biggest problem with the Bustamante campaign was the fact that he was associated with Whitacre. Whitacre is a liar, and the GOP and Kermit Marsh had to send out a letter advising people of that fact.Let's hope no other candidates utilize his services.

[Karl Rove]

Jubal,

The reality of all of this is the establishment was outsmarted. AGAIN. The OC GOP political machine got outpoliticked because they failed to recognize the current mentality and mindset of the 1st District voters. Pretty similar to what happened at the national level and the disastrous results of the last election. Bustamante was a non-starter from day one, yet all of the political "smart people" saw him as the golden child. Well fourth place ought to tell you something. No amount of justification now as to what mailer got paid by who is going to change the fact that the GOP smart boys blew it. If they weren't smart enough to figure out what was going on, or to anticipate what could occur, especially with two candidates that had a lot of money, then it is time for some new thinking and leadership at the county GOP.

You should all be thankful that at least a Republican did win, and not Umberg. Now is the time to HELP whoever the final victor is, whether it is Janet or Truong, not poke fingers at their campaigning, as if Bustamante was squeaky clean.

The important goal now is to RETAIN THE SEAT in 2008. You will have an incumbent Republican. What are you going to do? Put Bustamante up again?

Jubal, you, Scott Baugh, Mike Schroeder and all the rest really need to start thinking about how the GOP is operating in OC and do something to fix the problem instead of trying to justify why you failed.

[tip of the iceberg]

This undoubtedly illegal i.e. committee is not the only legal issue worth looking into. I have just reviewed all of Janet's campaign reports and not one cent was reported being spent on polling. Over the entirety of the campaign Janet's campaign team bragged about their polling to some and showed numbers to others. However polling is not listed as an expenditure.

Why are they hiding this expense? Maybe this polling was donated to the campaign. Yet it is not reported as an in-kind contribution either. In any event there is no polling that can be done for 1500$. So if polling was done and shared and not reported a whole host of campaign laws were violated

I hope the D.A.,the Grand Jury,the Attorney General and FPPC are paying attention. A big fat house of cards may be getting ready to fall.

[The Truth]

Janet establishing a "Voter Fraud Hotline" may be the most obvious example of someone who lives in a glass house trying to throw stones.

I feel for her though. She knows her career is over, she has nothing to lose.

Rumor has it that Janet is coordinating with the Democrats on this recount. We may see Janet's name on the ballot in '08 with a (D) next to it. Good luck getting re-elected to the City Council Janet.

"We may see Janet's name on the ballot in '08 with a (D) next to it. Good luck getting re-elected to the City Council Janet."

Funny, I heard the same rumor about Bustamante. Maybe that explains his asking Frank Barbaro for a meeting? Good luck getting re-elected to the City Council Carlos!

[Note for Jubal]

The mysterious VietPAC mailer hit on Janet was posted on your website on January 12. No ID number and no reporting.

[re tip of the iceberg]

Tip of the Iceberg your a fool the polling was paid for. It was prob paid after the filing to show more cash on hand!!!!