Subject: Janet Nguyen

• Less Than a Year Since She Was Appointed Sheriff, Sandra Hutchens Has Made Some Powerful Enemies

  March 26, 2009

• "This is America, Not Vietnam" and Other Pearls of Wisdom from Westminster's Idiot Mayor

  Dunno what they put in the boba in Garden Grove and Westminster, but something's gotta explain why its geriatric gabacho elected officials say the darndest things about Vietnamese. In September, GG councilmember Harry Krebs had to apologize after telling councilwoman Janet Nguyen he couldn't explain his position in Vietnamese. Now we have Westminster Mayor Margie Rice telling the Los Angeles Times that she doesn't support changing the name of tiny Moran Street to that of legendary newspaper publ

  January 26, 2006

• Another Nguyen, Another Problem

  The campaign of an OC Republican candidate named Nguyen has been caught distributing a clumsy bit of fraud. No, this is not another Tan Nguyen and the "Immigrants Can't Vote Letter" post. From this morning's Times: The campaign of an Orange County supervisorial candidate, whose slogan is "Honesty, Integrity and Leadership," has been caught doctoring a photo so that it places the politician close to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The photo into which Trung Nguyen was inserted appeared over the we

  January 30, 2007

• Nguyen Wins

  Garden Grove city councilmember Janet Nguyen is seems the winner of yesterday's special election in the Board of Supervisor's First District. The vote count currently on the Registrar of Voters website gives Nguyen a 52 vote margin of victory over second place finisher Trung Nguyen. The big story out of yesterday's election seems to be the emerging clout of Vietnamese-Americans as a voting bloc, since neither Nguyen had the official backing of their party. Is it too much to hope for that a ph

  February 7, 2007

• Going, Going, Gone to Court

  The question of which Nguyen won is about to be answered. Or maybe not. The Los Angeles Times reports that OC Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley has finished the recount of the February 6 special election, and determined that Janet Nguyen is the winner. Republican Nguyen's margin of victory over Republican Trung Nguyen is said to be seven votes, which brings the proceedings to a neatly symmetrical end, since the losing Nguyen (T.) was seven votes ahead of the winning Nguyen (J.) at the beginning

  February 27, 2007

• Update-a-palooza

  A variety of stories lurching forward this morning… It looks like the most special of all special elections is finally over, and Janet Nguyen is the new First District Supervisor, winning by a total of 3 votes.   Superior Court Judge Michael Brenner rejected Trung Nguyen's claim that the election's recount was performed in an illegal manner.  The winning Nguyen is scheduled to be sworn in tomorrow at the Board of Supes weekly meeting.  There are dark rumblings that th

  March 27, 2007

• So much for fiscal conservatism . . .

  Christian Berthelsen at the Times is calling it "Extreme Makeover: Orange County Government Edition." In his Sunday article, he details the $1.1 million tab four OC officials ran while renovating their offices. Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach bought an $8,990 desk for the reception foyer of his office and spent $10,300 on shelving in the supply room. Supervisor Patricia Bates bought a $3,375 conference table and a $1,200 executive high-back chair. Supervisor Janet Nguyen installed $1,3

  June 3, 2007

• Wednesday's Headlines & Surprises

  Build It & Hope They Come: The Register reports that Irvine has approved a 5-mile, $280 million street car/bus plan that will link the future Great Park to the Irvine Spectrum and a train station by 2012. City officials, untrustworthy in the past, claim that each day 5,000 people will abandon their cars to use the system. Larry Agran's political machine asserts that the daily cost for taxpayers will be $19,000. Any bets that number will significiantly rise when reality arrives? Gunfight at the

  July 11, 2007

• Dude, Here's Your Pot!

  The all-Republican Orange County Supervisors voted 4-1 today in favor of allowing county residents who suffer from a variety of ailments to smoke and possess medical marijuana without being harassed by cops. And yes, OC cops do harass medical cannabis smokers, folks: You read it here first in "Dude, Where's My Pot?" Or was it here? Or here? Or here? Now, Orange County residents who have doctors' notes under Proposition 215, the 1996 state law legalizing pot smoking for medical reasons, can o

  July 17, 2007

• Thursday's Headlines & Surprises: Darth Vader Chases Janet Nguyen

  October 11, 2007

• Janet Nguyen Begins Campaigning Early, Litters the 22 Freeway

  In a couple of months, Orange County Supervisor Janet Nguyen will seek reelection in the First Supervisorial District. The race will be brutal, as Nguyen will have to fend off Trung "Don't Call me Tan" Nguyen (whom she beat earlier this year in a special election by a scant three votes) and whomever the Democrats trot out to the abattoir. OC Blog reports Janet will kick off her fundraising efforts on Nov. 5, but she's already scored one of the most prestigious endorsements in Orange County--the

  October 24, 2007

• Wednesday's Headlines & Surprises: OCSD's Bubbling Cesspool

  L Word? The board of supervisors is exploring whether indicted Sheriff Michael S. Carona can legally name his temporary replacement while he takes the next two months off (with full pay!) to fight “baseless” charges by the FBI. Jo Ann Galisky, 47, played Al Haig yesterday. She told told reporters that she’s the boss now and (as part of the cesspool that Carona surrounded himself with at the Orange County Sheriff’s Department) she said she will continue to serve his “program” pleasur

  November 7, 2007

• Tuesday's Headlines. No Surprises: More war money for Costa Mesa

  Janet Nguyen to pay up: OC's newest supervisor recently admitted to collecting funds above the legal limit in the last election and trying to avoid disclosing them. Nguyen has agreed to pay $5,000 to settle state and county investigations into a legal-defense fun she improperly set up (and made $12,500 in donations with) -- improper because such funds aren't allowed for county candidates, reports Martin Wisckol at the Reg. It's raining war cash: Ceradyne Inc., which manufactures ceramic body a

  December 4, 2007

• Schroeder Law Enforcement Empire At Stake Today

  Mike Schroeder will jump out of bed this morning in Corona del Mar, neatly hang his Darth Vader pajamas in the closet, shower, kneel at his USC football altar and don an expensive, natty suit befitting Orange County’s leading Republican strategist-slash-chiropractic insurance company king. It’s a big day in Schroederdom. He’ll drive his jumbo-sized, black Hummer to the state court of appeal (COA) in Santa Ana in the hopes of teaching a onetime disciple a lesson: Don’t Mess with Mike. S

  December 18, 2007

• Nguyen vs. Nguyen: Janet Wins!

  Ok, so the timing sort of sucks for us, since we'd have liked to include the information in our story, but it's good news for Janet Nguyen: the California Court of Appeals ruled today, the same day our cover story hit the streets, that Janet did win her election, and therefore does get to stay in office. Last November, the Orange County Registrar ruled that Trung Nguyen, a Garden Grove school board member backed by State Assemblyman Van Thai Tran, the most powerful Vietnamese-American elected o

  January 17, 2008

• Ex-Sheriff's Dept. Officials Create Bold, New Firm!

  Over at the Orange County Register, ace reporter Peggy Lowe writes tonight on Orange County Sheriff's Department blog news that two of indicted ex-Sheriff Mike Carona's Yes Folks (YF) quit today: assistant sheriffs Jo Ann Galisky and Steve Bishop. Somehow the third and final major YFer embarrassment, Acting Sheriff Jack Anderson, remains . . . sitting atop the massive police agency, repeatedly uttering four words: "I am the sheriff' and waiting, nervously, for guidance from Carona/GOP operativ

  February 29, 2008

• (Sheriff) Jack in the Box

  If ever a man looked like a sheriff, it’s Jack Anderson. The mustachioed man is tall and husky and, if he wore a cowboy hat, would cast an impressive shadow sitting on a horse. Of course, the wild—ridiculously wild—west days at the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) should be over. Ex-Sheriff Mike Carona and his evil sidekicks Jo Ann Galisky and Steven Bishop have found their rightful places in society. Carona teeters on the brink of prison if convicted later this year in a bribe

  April 1, 2008

• Hoa Van Tran on Immigration

  Yesterday, I stumbled (literally: a Bloody Mary, bottle of soju from Ami Sushi, and a double Makers Mark were in my bloodstream) upon the Orange County Young Democrat mixer at Jason's Downtown in SanTana. The keynote speaker was Hoa Van Tran, the one Democrat running in the First Supervisorial District race on June 3rd against GOP gals Dina and Janet Nguyen (no relation). Tran gave a brief speech and took questions, including my own undoubtedly slurred query: given that Orange County's most prom

  April 11, 2008

• Another Win for Nguyen

  Despite facing numerous lawsuits and an incredibly nasty public relations campaign by her Republican opponents in the past several months, Janet Nguyen sailed through yesterday's election to seal her supervisorial seat. Nguyen easily beat Westminster city councilwoman Dina Nguyen and Hoa Tran, a rare Vietnamese-American Democrat most famous for employing gang members as campaign workers. Far more surprising than Nguyen's victory, however was who wasn't even on the ballot: Trung Nguyen, the fav

  June 4, 2008

• And The Sheriff is. . .

  Sandra Hutchens! The Orange County Board of Supervisors earlier this morning appointed the retired LA County Sheriff's Department division chief to replace Mike Carona as Orange County Sheriff. The vote was 3-2 in favor of Hutchens. Supervisors Chris Norby and Bill Campbell supported Santa Ana Police Chief Paul Walters. Patricia Bates, John Moorlach and Janet Nguyen voted for Hutchens. More new-sheriff stuff to come on this very blog. Stay tuned!

  June 10, 2008

• OC Fundie Funder Gives Money to Wacky Reeps, Homo-Haters--And Lou Correa?!

  The most influential Orange County man you've never heard of is undoubtedly Howard F. Ahmanson, Jr., heir to the Home Savings (remember that bank?) fortune. He rarely makes public appearances due to suffering from Tourette's Syndrome, but that hasn't stopped him from giving millions of dollars away to some of the craziest causes imaginable: creationism, anti-gay marriage, anti-gay clerics in the Episcopalian Church, and so many others that in its list of America's most influential evangelicals a

  June 19, 2008

• Supervisor Janet Nguyen's Ties To Vermin Happy Restaurants

  Something seemed fishy yesterday when the County Board of Supervisors voted to reject health department and grand jury recommendations for more user-friendly signs displayed in restaurant windows to warn the public of potential health safety violations (the board had already rejected the supremely helpful A-B-C grading system visible in the window of every eatery in LA). Instead, the board voted to make some very minor changes to the cryptic, small-print signs already displayed in restaurant win

  December 17, 2008

• Why is Dina Nguyen Ashamed of Her Birthplace?

  Went to a celebration last Friday in honor of LULAC's 80th anniversary at the Garden Grove Community Room next to their City Council chamber, and I grabbed a flier with pictures and short bios of councilmembers along with phone numbers for the city's various representatives. It was hilariously outdated--Dubya was listed as president, and it didn't mention that Andrew Do joined the council last November--and I thought there was also missing data. All the councilmember bios revealed their city of

  February 24, 2009

• See the "Supe Snoop" Footage for Yourself

  Surely by now you've heard about the latest scandal to rock the Orange County Sheriff's Department: "Supe Snoop." If you haven't heard about it, you owe it to yourself to read R. Scott Moxley's cover story on Sheriff Sandra Hutchens this week. The footage above that opens over the shoulder of county Supervisor Chris Norby is referenced in this paragraph:On Jan. 13, Hutchens sent more than 20 armed deputies to a Board of Supervisors public meeting, reasoning that protesters of her CCW policy po

  March 26, 2009

• Letters From OC Weekly Readers

  September 4, 2008

• Democratic Candidate Paul Lucas Says He's Still in Trouble for Playing Footsie With Republicans

  August 28, 2008

• [Moxley Confidential] Don Bren Plays Rough With Businesswoman, His Kids-But Courts Play Rough, Too

  June 5, 2008

• [Moxley Confidential] What Tied the Tongue of Mike Schroeder, Janet Nguyen's Biggest Nemesis?

  May 29, 2008

• Letters from OC Weekly readers

  February 14, 2008

• Letters

  'He will have had a greater positive impact in people's lives than some judgmental, morally superior journalist who can only throw barbs to build himself up at the expense of one who has passed away'

  January 31, 2008

• Letters

  'Sometimes, when I am stressed, I go and stand on the shoulder of a toll road and smell the fumes—I mean, fresh air'

  January 24, 2008

• Dammit, Janet!

  Why do Supervisor Janet Nguyen's former supporters in OC's Republican power structure hate her so much?

  January 17, 2008

• Red Scare in Little Saigon

  Le Vu's Viet Weekly newspaper endures OC's latest anti-communist witch-hunt
  

  August 16, 2007

• Diary of a Mad County

  Feb. 7-Feb. 13

  February 15, 2007

• This Hole-in-the-Wall Life

  March 8, 2007

• [Moxley Confidential] Sandra Hutchens' Party Poop

  April 23, 2009

• Losers Again

  June 30, 2005

• Little Big Saigon

  September 13, 2001

• Orange County Sheriff Was A Democrat

  Sandra Hutchens, Orange County's Republican sheriff, registered as a Democrat for as long as a decade in both Los Angeles and OC, according to records reviewed by the Weekly.In an interview for a March profile, Hutchens told me she is a Republican; holds conservative views, particularly on fiscal matters; felt George W. Bush had been an unfairly maligned president; and considered Ronald Reagan her political role model. Indeed, a glass plaque on her office desk inside the Orange County Sheriff's

  April 20, 2009