Janet Nguyen

[UPDATED with Video:] Gary DeLong, Republican Candidate for 47th Congressional District, Snatches Phone from Democratic Tracker at Long Beach Debate

[Update at end] ORIGINAL POST, OCT. 8, 2:30 P.M.: On Friday night, Republican congressional candidate Gary DeLong grabbed a cell phone from the hand of a purported Democratic tracker only moments after a two-hour debate at California State University Long Beach with Senator Alan ... More >>

[UPDATED with Board's Memories:] Chuck Smith--No, Not That Chuck Smith; We Mean the Former County Supervisor--Dies

See the update at the end of this post about county supervisors remembering Smith before adjourning today's Board meeting in his honor.ORIGINAL POST, OCT. 1, 2:18 P.M.: Charles V. "Chuck" Smith, who as an Orange County supervisor during the Weekly's toddler years became our face for good (advocating ... More >>

Orange County Election Results Trickle In But Todd Spitzer is Back on His Path to the White House

As we approach midnight, our Orange County Registrar of Voters claimed that in four hours he was only able to tabulate 2.7 percent of today's election votes and, because of that incompetence, I'm slightly pissed that I missed most of NBC's "Love in the Wild."Yet, I will go to sleep with a satisfied ... More >>

Rocco, Rocking the Vote, Rips Up Janet Nguyen Campaign Sign?

Steve Rocco, the perennial political candidate who previously served as a trustee of the Orange Unified School District, wants you to vote for him today in his race to unseat Janet Nguyen, the incumbent county supervisor from Orange County's first district. The beanie-and-sunglasses-wearing "re ... More >>

Why is Janet Nguyen So Scared of Gays?

Over the weekend, LGBT folks and their breeder pals celebrated Harvey Milk Day in downtown SanTana with a free fair that was--you know it!--fabulous! It was a positive end to a crappy week that saw various gay rights groups go before the Orange County Board of Supervisors last Monday and ask them to ... More >>

Thomas House Shelter Tonight Celebrates 25 Years of Success Helping Homeless Families

Thomas House Shelter, a Garden Grove facility that provides temporary housing to homeless families, opens its doors to everyone this evening to celebrate its next 25 years.The 25th anniversary "Open House" for the shelter, which boasts a 84 percent success rate at moving its clients from shelters to ... More >>

No Democrat Running Against Janet Nguyen in Supe Race, Further Showing Stupidity of OC Dem Leadership

You know, I've been so wrapped up in promoting my Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America, that I lost track of who was going to face off against Janet Nguyen in her reelection bid for the First Supervisorial District seat. I knew Rocco was going to face off against her, but what Democrat would ... More >>

Steve Rocco, Ex-Educator, Andy Kaufman Reincarnator and Ketchup Thief, Now Running For OC Supervisor!

​It'll take more than a lifetime of failed election bids (not including one wildly successful, from a comedic point of view, tenure as a school trustee), and repeated arrests for shoplifting to stop Steve Rocco. On March 8, one day after Janet Nguyen filed her own declaration of candidacy for a se ... More >>

William Denis Fitzgerald, Gadfly Suing Board of Supervisors for Limiting Speech, and His Weekly Past

​The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Southern California has filed a federal lawsuit in Santa Ana against the Orange County Board of Supervisors on behalf of an Anaheim gadfly who periodically turns up in OC Weekly.Based on the struggles of William Denis Fitzgerald to speak at public me ... More >>

Pundits Already Saying New Redistricting Will Hurt Loretta Sanchez--HA!

Sanchez: Always ready for battle​Man, it's always a hoot reading the premature obituaries written about Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (D-Took Two Dead Girls to Make Her Sponsor the DREAM Act) over the past 15 years, and the latest batch is already starting today with the release of draft maps show ... More >>

[UPDATE: More Stupidity from Supes, and Silliness from Local Press] What Does the Orange County Board of Supervisors Have Against Spanish and Latinos?

Nelson: Still dumb when it comes to Mexis...​UPDATE: Okay, so Janet Nguyen is REALLY stupid--I mean, stupider than what we already knew. Unlike the other supervisors, she knows exactly what Latino Health Access is about--she received an award from them a couple of years ago, according to sources w ... More >>

[UPDATED with Janet Nguyen M.I.A.:] Harvey Milk Day Idea Draws Crickets from OC Board of Supervisors

​UPDATE, MAY 10, 7:11 P.M.: Activists seeking an Orange County Board of Supervisors proclamation recognizing slain gay icon and San Francisco County Supervisor Harvey Milk's May 22 birthday received slightly more than the sound of crickets we predicted earlier today."It was great!" Linda May of th ... More >>

Sunday News Notes

Happy 10-10-10 to you.​Weekend news highlights from various media sources include:Fred Phelps thinks he knows whyYou can thank UC Irvine researchers for this good news: The future "Big One" earthquake along the San Andreas fault will be much worse and much sooner than previously expected, accordin ... More >>

Van Tran Accuses Loretta Sanchez of Trying to Start "Race War," But What About His Anti-Mexican/Anti-Gay Warriors?

Tran: A bit of a RAHOWA man himself...​To quote George Takei, "Oh my." Our little story about Loretta Sanchez railing against "Vietnamese" trying to take her congressional seat away from her and the Democrats has gone national, making the pages of the New York Times (with a proper citation for us ... More >>

Grand Jury Lauds County Departments for Eco-friendly Practices

​The Orange County Grand Jury in the past has issued reports critical of projects intended to improve our environment, including light rail, cleaning up Aliso Creek and, most recently, the Orange County Great Park.Today, the grand jury issued a report titled "Orange County Goes Green" that lauds t ... More >>

College District Board's Battle Cry: Send Lawyers, Hired Guns and Money

​The South Orange County Community College District (SOCCCD) board votes tonight on whether to pay a private lawyer $25,000 in taxpayer funds for helping negotiate what the district calls the "Mathur settlement." Why the district must settle anything with Raghu Mathur, who in January was fired/did ... More >>

Each Orange Countian Challenged to Reduce Waste By 10 Percent

​Picture enough garbage to fill up the entire Rose Bowl, once every 45 days, and you'll have an idea how much trash Orange Countians generate daily. Today, the county Board of Supervisors and OC Waste & Recycling challenged the 3 million people here to reduce by 10 percent the up to 15 million ... More >>

[Moxley Confidential] Sandra Hutchens' Party Poop

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 coun ... More >>

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 outda ... More >>

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 h ... More >>

Letters From OC Weekly Readers

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

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 P ... More >>

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 rar ... More >>

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

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 Distr ... More >>

(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. E ... More >>

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 embarrassme ... More >>

Letters from OC Weekly readers

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'

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'

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 of ... More >>

Dammit, Janet!

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

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’ ... More >>

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 ... More >>

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 reporte ... More >>

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 ... More >>

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

Red Scare in Little Saigon

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

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, ... More >>

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 ... More >>

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 ... More >>

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 th ... More >>

This Hole-in-the-Wall Life

Death by hog

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 Rep ... More >>

Diary of a Mad County

Feb. 7-Feb. 13

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 ... More >>

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, ... More >>

"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 ... More >>