Councilwoman Madison Nguyen didn’t receive an invitation to San Jose’s annual Vietnamese Spring Festival, which was held two weeks ago. It was the second time that Nguyen, the first Vietnamese-American elected to the San Jose City Council and one of the highest-ranking Vietnamese elected officials in the nation, was scratched from the list.
The public act of disrespect was not that surprising, given that one of the event’s main organizers was the powerful local landowner Son Nguyen.
Son Nguyen is the father of Linda Nguyen, who, in 2005, lost to Madison Nguyen in a nasty council campaign. Son Nguyen is also a real estate developer with a Story Road shopping plaza named—coincidentally or not—-Little Saigon.
Son Nguyen, who did not reply to interview requests for this story, is the president of NOR-CAL Development Group, which built the Little Saigon Plaza in Sacramento. He would not confirm that he owns another shopping center on Story Road in San Jose, also called the Little Saigon Plaza. But according to property records, San Jose’s Little Saigon Plaza is owned by H&D Investments Inc., which has the same street address as Son Nguyen’s NOR-CAL Development Group.
According to the Recall Committee, Son Nguyen is not taking a lead role in the campaign. But he has taken a strong anti-Madison stand. Son Nguyen leases airtime on KVVN-AM, where he has reportedly used his Vietnamese-language talk show to run pro-recall material on the air for free.
Is it possible that Madison Nguyen fought “Little Saigon” because that name would have contributed economically to Son Nguyen’s Little Saigon Plazas?
Councilwoman Nguyen (almost incredibly) insists that she didn’t even know about his Little Saigon Plaza until long after the council vote on the naming of the business district.
It’s also true that had she succeeded in naming the area Vietnam Town Business District, as she had initially proposed, it would have helped one of her political supporters.
Lap Tang, another developer who is building the Vietnam Town mall directly across from Son Nguyen’s Little Saigon Plaza, contributed money and effort to Madison Nguyen’s campaign for City Council. Some recall supporters believe that was the impetus behind her opposition to Little Saigon.
“He has a mall called Vietnam Town,” says Minh Steven Dovan, a local Vietnamese attorney and recall supporter. “For God’s sake, he is capitalizing on it,“I It’s true that “Little Saigon” has become the stamp for Vietnamese-American enclaves all over the nation, serving as the calling card of freedom for political refugees who escaped Communist Vietnam.
But beneath the surface, this name game, which has now boiled over into a recall election, might be nothing more than a tale of two shopping centers.
As the recall approaches, following more than a year of controversy, it is clear that this battle is about more than the name Little Saigon. It’s not quite about Democracy vs. Communism, nor is it a tribal squabble between the two Nguyen clans. It is, rather, about money and political power.
Power Families
In the Vietnamese community, it’s widely believed that the coziness of the Tang-Nguyen relationship underlay the Little Saigon battle. The recall committee frames its overall message: Nguyen represents rich developers, not her constituents.
Andre Charles, the political consultant running the recall campaign, openly accuses the councilwoman of political patronage.
Tang was trying to get his Vietnam Town mall built at the same time that she was a rising political star in the Vietnamese community. In 2005, Tang donated to Nguyen’s council campaigns. At the same time he was working to get the property rezoned for Vietnam Town.
“She is partially rewarding campaign supporters, specifically Lap Tang and his Vietnam Town development,” Charles says. “He is a huge supporter in terms of getting his extensive network of friends to support her verbally and with contributions.”
Nguyen acknowledges that she tapped Tang for support at the time. “He is one of the biggest land owners in that area,” she says. “If I don’t reach out to him, who am I going to reach out to?”
Point taken. But why isn’t Nguyen reaching out to him during her recall campaign? Campaign finance records show that Nguyen has raised more than $95,000, but Tang hasn’t contributed to her campaign. “I don’t talk to the guy anymore,” Nguyen says, slightly exasperated. “I talked to him because of the Vietnam Town project and then it turned into this huge controversy. There is no reason to talk to him anymore.”
Friends With Money
In December of 2007, a month after the City Council rejected the Little Saigon name, Lap Tang dined at a restaurant in the Grand Century Mall, his shopping center in the heart of the vibrant Vietnamese business district. It was about the time that the Little Saigon supporters had unraveled a string of email exchanges dating from April 2007 between Madison Nguyen and the city’s Redevelopment Agency director. The emails had become the smoking gun for them—the councilwoman, after conversations with Lap Tang, was plowing ahead with plans to name the area Vietnam Town Business District.
Tang, who had managed to stay far away from the Little Saigon battle, was now seen as the wizard behind the curtain, although that day, as he dined in his restaurant, chewing and talking at the same time, he made himself appear to be standing on the sidelines of this controversy.
His broken English was punctuated with nervous laughter as he brushed off what he deemed “silly rumors” about his being in cahoots with the councilwoman, as well as the story that he was using the name Vietnam Town to drum up money from Vietnam to help his foundering mall project.
It was no secret that Tang had hit some financial bumps on his Vietnam Town mall, which was scheduled to open in mid-2008. He was having problems securing a construction loan, and liens were filed. What Tang didn’t mention was that in August 2007, he had established Coldwell Bank Vietnam, where he is the president. His bio on the website brags about his hand in developing “the first officially recognized Vietnamese Business Districts in America.”
Tang had already been carving out an important place for himself in politics—hobnobbing with political lions like Hillary Clinton, on whose senatorial foreign policy council he served. But locally he stayed out of the limelight.
All along, Councilmember Nguyen has said she was only trying to follow through on a campaign pledge to designate a business district to mark the economic success of her community. Nothing more, nothing less.
“A lot this has to do with a certain segment of the community not understanding certain policies dealing with local government,” Nguyen says.
The Little Saigon supporters who are working tirelessly to run Madison Nguyen out of office have been relentlessly focused on the Nguyen-Tang connection. They have not made any attempt to file any charges (which would allow the councilwoman to legally defend herself) but rhetorically they’ve blown the deal up to the level of corruption.
“Madison Nguyen attempted to direct $100,000 to Mr. Lap Tang so he could essentially promote the Vietnam Town name,” says Andre Charles, “and that’s disconcerting.”
Nevertheless, Madison Nguyen has maintained the support of strong political allies who don’t believe she deserves to be recalled over the naming of a business district. Her supporters contend that none of the councilmember’s actions rise to the standard required to overturn an election and oust an official partway through her term. The last time a recall was used locally was in 1994, when voters recalled Councilwoman Kathy Cole for delivering a speech where she reportedly made anti-Asian facial gestures. That was the first time in three decades that a councilmember had been recalled.
Mayor Chuck Reed, who has tried to maintain good relations with the Vietnamese community, has been walking precincts on Nguyen’s behalf.
“Anyone who thinks she has not done a good job will have a chance to vote her out of office next year when she stands for re-election,” Reed says. “Recalling her in the middle of her term will divert the energy of the community away from efforts to solve problems in District 7 and cost the taxpayers a lot of money to replace her.”
A month before the election, members of the recall committee gathered on the steps of City Hall, prepping for one of the few public appearances the group has made during the campaign. A few blocks away, a beleaguered Madison Nguyen sat sipping her Starbucks drink, resigned to rehash the past. She said she still views the whole controversy as a community disagreement gone awry.
Maybe this little disagreement over Little Saigon, which caught international media attention, will cost Nguyen a political career so promising it once seemed possible that she would be the first Vietnamese-American big city mayor or representative in Congress. She’s firmly unapologetic, though, about having opposed the name Little Saigon.
“It’s a tough job,” she says simply. “What can I say?”
I find that the conspiracy theories lose some of their original meaning once you translate them into English.
Kidding aside, very good and interesting article.
I believe some of the info from this article was already out there. but madison nguyen supporters wants to make the issue about communism and other nonsense. the recall madison nguyen website already had the info regarding lap tang.
there was never any good reason for madison to support the names Vietnam Town or Saigon Business District, unless she had other ulterior motives. Little Saigon was the only name that had some semblence of support from the community, and most people didn’t really care one way or the other. But for madison to support the names Vietnam Town or Saigon Business District just shows her arrogance and stubborness. Hopefully I can say good riddance to her after next week.
Arrogance is at the heart of this matter. Madison Nguyen should be retained in her seat, because the people in charge of the recall campaign are guilty of political bullying.
Sorry, naming a business district is not a “tough job.” Unfortunately Madison’s mismanagement of the situation turned a very small issue into a huge controversy. Why did anybody at city hall including Madison really care if the area was named “Little Saigon” or “Vietnam Town?” This article is the first I have read that offers a possible explanation why Madison so stubbornly resisted “Little Saigon.”
During the spring and summer of 1967, I became active in anti-war movement in California. With Robert McAfee Brown and Rabbi Heschel, I contributed to a book :VIETNAM : A CRISIS OF CONSCIENCE, that sold more than 100,000 copies. Later, I joined the board of Clergy and Laity Concerned about Vietnam.
But these days, when I hear congressmen warn about “the lesson from Vietnam”, my conscience twinges. I have come to think that the anti-war movement was wrong – at least that I was wrong – about Vietnam. We misinterpreted the facts. We are now implicated in the immense miseries of the people of Vietnam, South and North.
What is the lesson of Vietnam? The lesson is that Marxist froces concentrate their most important effort on propaganda and disinformation within the U.S.A and Europe. The frontline was never on the battlefield; it was on the U.S. homefront.
In recent years, the aging leaders of North Vietnam have begun to boast publicly about how successfully they deceived us – not only Jane Fonda and others who honored Hanoi, but also all of us who tried hard to believe that Ho Chi Minh was really “the George Washington of Vietnam”…
…What hurts my conscience, though, is not the dire strategic threat to other innocent peoples, but rather the painful sufferings of the Vietnamese, North and South. Marxim is a harsh master. The Gulag has been extended beyond the U.S.S.R. to oppress an additional 58 million human beings.
Re-education camps keep scores of thousands in facilities often worse than the “tiger cages” Local spying and terror, indoctrination and suppression, have reached classic Marxist levels.
That is why, abandoning all they have attained for generations, more than 2 million Vietnamese have bought and bribed their way to risk death upon the treacherous seas.
…On every one of the boat people, I see my fingerprints.
I use this excerpt, from “Tyranny in Vietnam” by Michael Novak in 1984, to show how the propaganda and misinformation are spreading wildly in San Jose inside by Councilwoman Madison Nguyen’s supporters. This tactic worked in the U.S. during the Vietnam war but may not work this time in District 7. Why??? because Councilwoman Madison Nguyen’s constituents are the electors in this coming election; and the result of this election will speak louder and clearer than any of these propaganda and misinformation can speak.
I think the story captured a still image of Madison Nguyen’s political style.
Agree with her and campaign for her, she is most gracious, with the gifts and rewards flowing from her position of power. That is why those who are supporting her with the big checks and the campaign advocacy understood from day 1. Labor and Chambers have both made her their champion for their infinite issues at the Council dais. Big developers like Lap Tang, Henry Le could not resist opportunities to “buy” influence for their projects since Madison hung the “Vote for sale” sign in neon in front of her District 7 seat. See form 406 for yourself. Where are the ordinary voters support?
Where does that leave the ordinary folks of District 7?
Disagree with Madison, you are on her black list forever and will never be taken off. If you did not campaign for her and happens to support her opponent, like the poor chaps at American G.I. Forum and Son Nguyen, you are on her death watch list and she will use whatever resources available, and resources she has plenty of, to rain down on you like a ton of bricks (see http://littlesaigoninside.blogspot.com/ ). If you initially support or agree with her and later disagree with her decision, voila, you fall in the category above.
District 7 seat is there to serve the poor people of this unfortunate scandal plagued district. It should not be used for political vendetta, political gains or stepping stones to the next political plateau. Whether you are for or against the recall, you have to ask yourself the question: Why didn’t Madison Nguyen, when the opportunities are there, collaborate with all her constituents (whether they vote for her or not and whether they agree with her or not) instead of choosing to listen to a very exclusive wealthy few that doesn’t live in her district to make behind the door decisions that benefit no one but herself and her political career. Clearly her judgment are clouded and until she clears up all these collateral matters, there will always be question mark regarding where her loyalty lies, the voters of district 7 or the influence peddlers, whether she wins or not on March 3rd.
Great story, Ms. Sherbert.
OK, worst case scenario: Let’s assume the critics are right and Madison Nguyen was “in cahoots” with Lap Tang to build a shopping center on Story Road.
That would mean that she was also “in cahoots” with the idea of creating more jobs, creating a large Vietnamese business presence on Story Road, providing more retail in a neighborhood that needs it and adding to the city’s sale tax base.
This is a problem?
Hey SJ Revealed has posted a copy of the Recall folks new mail piece which has our pal Pat Waite on it with a quote in support. I thought you didn’t support this recall Pat? More Republican flip-flopping at its finest.
#9, in the worst case scenario you laid out, it means that an elected official would rather reward one deep pocket supporter than to serve the larger community.
and stop the b.s. about creating more jobs and retail area. if the business climate is right, everyone should have the same opportunity to open up their business on an equal footing. that means Lap Tang or any else should not have the advantage of having the city designate a name for an area that is the same as their retail development. the same principle should apply to the Little Saigon name too.
RDA, Council Member Nguyen, and the developer are currently working on the building of Vietnam Town. It will be right down the street from the Little Saigon shopping center. Too bad the media, which knew this project was in the making all along, didn’t bother to inform the public about it until now. I guess it is never too late for the truth to come out, regardless of the fact that it explains why the Little Saigon folks feel betrayed right?
(“She’s firmly unapologetic, though, about having opposed the name Little Saigon.
“It’s a tough job,” she says simply. “What can I say?”) No arrogance here, only devotion to her constituents right?
As far as I can tell, the issue has been about the naming of a shopping area. But we have people talking about the evils of Marxism, vendettas, blacklists and so on. Are there in fact any other issues than the shopping area?
As someone who had campaigned for madison in 2005, I can tell you of the long talk that madison had with many of us about the Little Saigon Plaza by Son Nguyen and what’s she planning to do to Son and his wife Lan Hai once she comes in office.
You have to remember that Son Nguyen was a major supporter of Madison when she ran for school board. They allowed her to lead their Rock to rock event. Gave her the first big check to run for school board.
Mr. Son Nguyen perceived that Madison had betrayed them and decided to put their daughter to run against her. Linda never wanted to run in the first place. but their parents want to teach madison a lesson.
This is the first plausible explanation I’ve heard for this controversy, although I have no personal knowledge of whether it is accurate or not. Why did we have to wait all this time before these issues came out? Is it because our local media have no Vietnamese-speaking reporters, or some other reason?
#3 wrote:“Sorry, naming a business district is not a “tough job.” Apparently it was far too tough a job, Steve, for Ms. Nguyen, Chuck, and the rest of the council.
#15-MC,
My apologies! I was distracted by a phone call when I wrote that post.
#16-MC,
Got it wrong again! UGH!
#14: “twazen’t me…I swear! (Go back and read the signature…)
#11. I am in full agreement with you. Let’s stop the b.s.
Speaking of b.s., why is the pro-recall campaign suddenly trying to tell us that the recall is NOT about the name “Little Saigon.” OF COURSE it is. Even your own post (#6) focuses on the naming issue.
Instead of the naming issue, the pro-recall people now say it’s really about crime, the economy and JOBS. Go read their campaign literature, Ken. So yes, my earlier observation about jobs and opportunity is valid.
Then there’s the the b.s. that suggests Nguyen could unilaterally make city deals without the support of the full council.Not true either.
And finally, the Little Saigon folks should stop the b.s claims that they haven’t engaged in red-baiting personal destruction politics.
By all means, let’s stop the b.s.
MC asks,
“Are there in fact any other issues than the shopping area?”
Are you serious?!
There are no issues anymore, Mr. MHz. This recall is really just about the color of your underwear and who you donate your tax deductible funds to.
Its all about the lesser evil, and creating jobs for political operatives.
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