Tan Nguyen (R-LiarLiarPantsOnFire, Calif.)
Claims to fame: Orange County, California, Republican; two-time loser (2006, 2010) in failed attempts to unseat to Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA-47th); dirty trickster; liar; convicted felon; subject of one of the most excruciatingly embarrassing political videos ever
Moral apex #1: In 2006, Nguyen’s campaign mailed 14,000 letters, the goal of which appeared (to us, and to just about everybody else, except Tan) to be intimidation and suppression of Latino voters. Written in Spanish, The Letter, made to look like it came from an anti-immigration group called California Coalition for Immigration Reform, said:
You are being sent this letter because you were recently registered to vote. If you are a citizen of the United States, we ask that you participate in the democratic process of voting.You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time, and you will be deported for voting without having a right to do so.
At the same time, you are advised that the government of the United States is installing a new computer system to verify the names of all new registered voters that vote in the October and November elections. Anti-immigration organizations can ask for information from this new computer system.
Unlike Mexico, here there is no incentive to vote. There is not a voter registration card in the United States. Therefore, it is useless and dangerous to vote in any election if you are not a citizen of the United States.
Do not listen to any politician that tells you the opposite. They are only looking out for their own interests. They only want to win elections without any regard to what happens to you.
Sincerely,
Sergio Ramirez
Never mind that this statement is a lie incorrect — not all immigrants are prohibited from voting; immigrants who have become naturalized U.S. citizens are indeed eligible to vote.
And never mind that all 14,000 letters were sent to legally registered voters — whose names and mailing addresses came from official voter rolls. It appears the recipients were cherry-picked for their Hispanic-sounding names.
So, why would Nguyen want to suppress the Latino vote? We’ll get to that in a moment.
Moral apex #2: He lied about The Letter. First, he said he didn’t have anything to do with it. Then he said his office manager sent it out on her own, and he had fired her. Then he said she had sent The Letter in “error.” Then he said he’d rehired her, because there was nothing intimidating or otherwise improper about The Letter.
The Letter triggered an investigation by then-California Attorney General Bill Lockyer — voter intimidation is illegal, after all — while the Orange County Republican Party scrambled to distance itself from Nguyen in a big hurry, going so far as to demand Nguyen withdraw from the race. He didn’t.
Meanwhile, Nguyen went on the offense, claiming, among other wild stories, that:
• his right to free speech had been violated (it hadn’t);
• incumbent Loretta Sanchez “and her cronies duped the media into believing there was an ‘intimidation’ letter” (she hadn’t, and there was);
• Sanchez called in a chit with “her friend and political ally, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer,” triggering “raids on Tan’s home and offices, and his volunteers’ home…with M-16s drawn” (she didn’t, there were, and we don’t know about any “M-16s”);
• investigators were interfering with his campaign (they weren’t) and were “terrorizing” his family. (”You mean someone is picking on this poor guy and trying to intimidate him?” asked Ruben Navarrette, Jr., in Time magazine. “Don’t you just hate that? I know a lot of Latino voters who feel the same way.”)
Nguyen also demanded that local blogs, from the venerable OCWeekly to the then-brand-spanking-new LiberalOC, stop writing about him, going as far as to accuse Mike Lawson of vandalizing his campaign signs:
I ended up having a 20-minute conversation with Mr. Nguyen about his efforts in the 47th, and I thought that I had convinced him that I wasn’t the one responsible for the damaged signs. I am only documenting it.“I write a blog about local progressive politics,” I told him. “You’re a politician running for local office, and you’ve got this problem. I’m going to write about it. And since there’s an (R) next to you’re name, I’m going to poke a little fun too.”
Mr. Nguyen said that he has a lot of supporters that are “passionate” and he would “hate to see anyone get hurt.”
I laughed a little, because I knew that the next sentence out of my mouth was going to sound a lot like something from a John Grisham novel: “Are you threatening me?”
The conversation ended by Tan reminding me to stop vandalizing his signs. …
I’m still wondering what he meant by “I’d hate to see anyone get hurt.”
Next, Nguyen sent out another letter, this time claiming that he had been “cleared” by the AG. In a press release from Nathan Barankin, Bill Lockyer’s communications director, the only thing “clear” (aside from Barankin’s bone-dry humor) was that Nguyen was full of… baloney. Bold emphasis ours:
It has come to our attention that 47th congressional district candidate Tan Nguyen recently sent a mailer implying that he and his campaign have been exonerated because computers seized by agents from the California Attorney General’s office were recently returned. Given the amount of misinformation being distributed by mail and otherwise about the AG’s investigation into the threatening letter sent to lawfully registered Democratic Latino voters who were born outside of the United States in the 47th congressional district, I thought it would be helpful to publicly correct the record and state the facts to the extent I am permitted.First, the seven computers seized by the California Attorney General’s office during the execution of search warrants on October 21 have been returned. The computers were not “wrongly seized” (as Mr. Nguyen’s campaign mailer wrongly states): They were taken and examined pursuant to a court-approved search warrant obtained by our office only after a showing of probable cause that a crime had been committed. The computers were returned, as they routinely would be… Further, the AG wanted to return Mr. Nguyen’s campaign computers as quickly as possible to minimize any continuing impact on Mr. Nguyen’s lawful campaign activities.
Our agents and prosecutors continue to pursue the investigation aggressively, and that includes — among a number of activities needed to complete our investigation — reviewing the entire contents of each of the computers we seized.
Mr. Nguyen’s mailer also claims that the letter sent to Latino voters was “merely a warning that it is illegal for *non-citizens* to vote.” If that was true, our office would not have requested search warrants and no judge would have authorized the AG’s office to execute such warrants.
Finally, Mr. Nguyen’s mailer claims that “The whole thing (was) a ‘dirty trick’.” It’s unclear what the mailer means by the “whole thing”, but if it refers to the Latino voter intimidation letter, Attorney General Bill Lockyer agrees. If it refers to the AG’s investigation into the Latino voter intimidation letter, this mailer represents another effort to deceive the voters of Orange County. …
Ultimately — although it took two full years — Nguyen was finally indicted by a federal grand jury in October, 2008, for lying to federal investigators about The Letter.
Another two years — amid futile attempts by Nguyen to have the case thrown out, one mistrial, a new indictment, a claim of “vindictive prosecution” (blaming the “retaliatory hand of Rep. Loretta Sanchez”!*), and other pointless delays — would pass before Nguyen was, finally, on December 7, 2010, found guilty of obstruction of justice — a felony — while the jury was hung 9-3 on another charge of trying to get his office manager to take the blame for The Letter. (Nguyen was never charged with voter suppression.)
Of course, Nguyen is going to appeal. And why not? He’s facing up to 20 years in prison.
Meanwhile, prosecutors haven’t yet decided whether or not to try Nguyen a third time on the charge he tried to get his twentysomething staffer to take the blame for The Letter.
Moral apex #3: He’s a Vietnamese immigrant (a self-described “boat person”) — which is A-OK with us (we still think the U.S. should welcome refugees and asylum seekers, especially those whose countries we’ve destroyed), but which means he (and his parents) bypassed the usual nightmare of red tape involved in immigrating to the United States… and yet one of his biggest issues is “illegal immigration,” entrenched in mindless fearmongering about “terrorists” crossing “unattended borders.”
In other words, he got his, and every other hopeful immigrant — who would literally die for the opportunity Nguyen had — can, in Nguyen’s view, just get stuffed. (That’s a true Republican for you!)
Now you see why Nguyen would want to suppress the Latino vote? He was smart enough to realize Latinos wouldn’t generally take to his rabid xenophobia — and he really didn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of wooing Latino voters who were Democrats to begin with.
Memorable observation:
This guy is priceless. Trying to disenfranchise Latino voters. Immigrant bashing. Allegedly lying to members of his own party. Pawning off scandal on staffers. Blaming your troubles on an opponent. And, of course, blasting the press.— Ruben Navarrette, Jr.
“Message to Latinos: Don’t Vote“
Time
November 3, 2006
Oh yeah, we almost forgot: We mentioned an excruciatingly embarrassing political video, didn’t we…?
Suggested Bible reading for Mr. Nguyen:
Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously.— Psalm 119:29
* “What is it about Loretta that causes all her opponents to completely meltdown?” asks Claudio Gallegos. “Since 1998, this woman has been targeted (despite how the GOP tries to spin it) by the Republicans for defeat, each time something seems to happen to her Republican opponents that cause a meltdown of epic proportions.” Good question; first up on Gallegos’s list s one of our favorite Conservative Babylonians, the woman-hating, gay-obsessed, completely unhinged Bob Dornan.
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