Thread: CA-Former GOP Congress candidate indicted for 2006 mailer

Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Former GOP Congress candidate indicted for 2006 mailer
Tan Nguyen is accused of hindering investigation into mailer sent out by his campaign to Latinos
BY NORBERTO SANTANA JR.
The Orange County Register


SANTA ANA - A Federal grand jury has indicted former GOP Congressional candidate Tan Nguyen over a controversial 2006 mailer sent to Latino voters that warned immigrants against voting.

The letter, sent out in the waning days of Nguyen's congressional campaign against Democratic Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, was written in Spanish and triggered national headlines with many observers seeing it as the direct result of a long string of GOP candidates increasingly using anti-illegal immigration sentiment to get elected.

While former California Attorney General Bill Lockyer declined to prosecute Nguyen over allegations of voter intimidation, federal officials took aim at Nguyen for impeding their investigation.

The indictment alleges that Nguyen made misleading statements to state investigators and also accuses him of actions designed to keep information away from federal investigators.

Nguyen is expected to be arraigned in federal court on Oct. 14.

Federal officials did not respond to requests for comment.

James Riddet, an attorney representing Nguyen, said he was disappointed in the indictment and questioned the length of the investigation.

"We're looking forward to a trial and expect him to be fully exonerated. He is not guilty," Riddet said. "I'm disappointed that this has come about after all this time. There's no merit at all to the allegation in the indictment."

During the campaign, Nguyen at first denied knowledge of the mailer – which was sent out under the masthead of an anti-illegal immigration group called California Coalition for Immigration Reform. He then said an overzealous campaign volunteer had engineered the mailer. That campaign volunteer was later hired back when Nguyen issued another explanation of the mailer arguing that the word "emigrado"had simply been mistranslated to "immigrant."

Nguyen said the intent of his mailer was to warn illegal immigrants to avoid voting, noting that such allegations had been made in the past against campaigns supportive of Congresswoman Sanchez.

However, the mailer also raised memories of a 1988 episode where uniformed guards were stationed by the GOP in areas with high Latino turnout to benefit the State Assembly campaign of Curt Pringle.

"It's something I take very seriously," said State Senator Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana. "We lived through the poll guards in 1988. And in Orange County, there's been a history of suppressing voters."

Correa said he was happy to see federal action and saw an important lesson in the Nguyen affair.

"I'm hoping that politics and these elections come back to the basic core of democracy, informing voters instead of intimidating them."

State Assemblyman Jose Solorio – who lives in the 47th Congressional district and received one of Nguyen's letters – also supported the federal action.

"My first thoughts were, 'Holy smokes they're actually doing something,' " Solorio said.

Solorio – who authored legislation in the wake of the scandal that was vetoed – said the federal action was important and he saw irony in charges of misleading state and federal officials.

"If he's doing that in his communication to voters, he was probably having the same tendency with law enforcement officials," Solorio said.



http://www.ocregister.com/articles/nguy ... aign-state

Nguyen said the intent of his mailer was to warn illegal immigrants to avoid voting, noting that such allegations had been made in the past against campaigns supportive of Congresswoman Sanchez.

It's a lot more than allegations, hundreds and maybe thousands of non-citizens did vote. There never was a full investigation.

The letter, sent out in the waning days of Nguyen's congressional campaign against Democratic Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, was written in Spanish and triggered national headlines with many observers seeing it as the direct result of a long string of GOP candidates increasingly using anti-illegal immigration sentiment to get elected.

Never mind the long string of non-citizens voting to get Democrats elected, eh?

Former OC candidate pleads not guilty in probe
The Associated Press
Article Launched: 10/14/2008 12:53:19 PM PDT


SANTA ANA, Calif.—A former congressional candidate in Orange County has pleaded not guilty to obstruction of justice in the probe of a letter his campaign sent to Hispanic voters.
Tan Nguyen, a Vietnamese immigrant who unsuccessfully ran in the 47th Congressional District in Orange County in 2006, entered his plea Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana.

Nguyen is accused of misleading state investigators who were looking into a letter sent to 14,000 registered voters with Hispanic surnames before the election.

It said they could be deported for voting if they were in the country illegally or were an immigrant.

Nguyen later blamed a campaign volunteer.

He will pay $200 a month to be represented by a federal public defender. His trial is scheduled for Dec. 9.


http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_10718526

Just goes to show you how powerful the illegal invader lobby is here in CA! This guy was running against Loretta Sanchez for the 47th district. That district is overwhelmingly hispanic! Why on earth would he want to supress the vote of legal immigrants, who happen to be hispanic? He would have needed those votes to defeat Sanchez!


And this gem:

It's something I take very seriously," said State Senator Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana. "We lived through the poll guards in 1988. And in Orange County, there's been a history of suppressing voters."

Make no mistake about what this traitor is saying! By "suppressing voters" he means that his beloved illegal invaders have had to fight long and hard to be able to cast votes in Orange County and nobody is going to stand in their way!

It said they could be deported for voting if they were in the country illegally or were an immigrant.

This is true. How would this statement be "suppressing the vote"?

Originally Posted by miguelina

It said they could be deported for voting if they were in the country illegally or were an immigrant.

This is true. How would this statement be "suppressing the vote"?

Miguelina, they claimed that when he used the term "immigrant" in his mailer, that he was attempting to intimidate "legal immigrants" into not voting. This is sheer lunancy because he would have need those votes to defeat the queen of illegal invaders, Loretta Sanchez in that 47th district (Santa Ana is in that district).

Besides, he was not indicted on that! He's apparently being indicted for lying to investigators (obstruction of justice) regarding their investigation into this mailer ( as if an investigation was necessary to begin with). The whole thing is politically motivated

NoBueno I hear you but...IMMIGRANTS (legal and illegal) cannot vote. It's called a felony. One ceases to become an immigrant when one becomes a US citizen.

He would have been better off taking out a full page ad with the Federal Law Statue that prohibits non US-citizens from voting.

The whole suit is a political smear campaign and laughable.

Originally Posted by miguelina

NoBueno I hear you but...IMMIGRANTS (legal and illegal) cannot vote. It's called a felony. One ceases to become an immigrant when one becomes a US citizen.

He would have been better off taking out a full page ad with the Federal Law Statue that prohibits non US-citizens from voting.

The whole suit is a political smear campaign and laughable.

Legal immigrants who have attained US Citizenship can vote! They did not consider( nor care I suppose) the fact that one ceases to become an immigrant once they have attained US citizenship. This witch hunt was political and nothing was going to stand in their way. Not even the facts!

.

Ahhh I see what the problem is. I am looking at this as a former immigrant and I don't see it the way a non-immigrant would. Let me explain.

Every single former immigrant KNOWS he/she has the right to vote in ALL US elections. When we receive those citizenship papers, we are told of every unalienable right we have just earned. Voting is ONE of them. THIS is what we hold dear - the right to vote. The classes and swearing in ceremony also reiterate these facts. So unless a former immigrant lacks the most minimum intelligence, this mailer would not have scared them.

Sanchez, well aware of this, is fear-mongering. Once you have attained US citizenship, you are no longer considered an immigrant.