Residents of District 7 will be the biggest losers if Madison Nguyen is recalled from office. Only one of its past three representatives, George Shirakawa, Jr., was able to serve out his term. Shirakawa’s father died in office. Terry Gregory’s term was cut short by a gift scandal. Now, if Nguyen loses her seat in a recall, District 7 residents will for the third time be penalized with a mid-term transition. As a diverse community with issues to solve and a larger development pipeline than other council districts, the area does not need to bring a new councilmember up to speed.
Beyond that, the arguments against Nguyen fail to rise to the level of calling for her removal from office, an extreme solution that should be reserved for corruption and malfeasance, as in the recent case of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
The election was prompted by a business district renaming controversy (Vietnam Town vs. Little Saigon). It was a policy issue and was resolved after much debate because we have a system that works. To penalize a council representative for taking a stand on a policy issue is an abuse of the recall process. Cities should want their elected representatives to show independence, propose initiatives and take stands.
Nguyen has been unfairly accused of being a communist. This is red-baiting, modern-day McCarthyism, plain and simple.
Nguyen’s father was a South Vietnamese military officer who concealed the flag of South Vietnam in his belongings when he fled the communist government with his family in a boat—a move that could have cost him and his family their lives had the flag been found.
The suggestion that Nguyen is a communist sympathizer insults the sacrifice of a family whose daughter’s groundbreaking election to office honors those who chose democracy over state-controlled societies.
At most, Madison Nguyen committed a political mistake, an error of judgment, in misreading community opinion on an emotional symbolic issue. That mistake, since corrected, does not rise to the level of a removal-from-office offense.
If her opponents want to replace her, they can wait until next year’s regular election and save taxpayers the cost of a special election.
Aside from the Saigon naming debacle, Nguyen has effectively championed her district and shown herself to be a capable councilmember. She enjoys the confidence of other council members, who oppose the recall, as do most of the publications that cover City Hall.
We’ll add our voice to the community of reason and encourage readers to vote against this ill-advised recall.
As you all know, I have been all over this issue from all sorts of perspectives on the Lantern. I do believe Madison Nguyen should retain her seat because the recall campaign organizers have shown poor judgement, arrogance, and a desire to declare this sear completely in possession of the Vietnamese-American community. This is why Madison should be retained. She is a council member from District 7, representing the interests of the entire district, and where the recall campaign has lost any respect that they had, is they insist the seat belongs to the Vietnamese American community.
Council Member Nguyen has not served the district well. She is arrogant, self serving, and frankly, a person who made her bones on the backs of people that she wanted to brand as rotten cops, and now she has little right to cry and moan about being branded by a community for her actions.
Jamie McLeod, another person completely out of touch with the electorate of her city, writes that Nguyen is a courageous figure. It always amazes me when people like Nguyen and McLeod who go through their political careers as self centered and aloof mullet heads think this makes them courageous.
However, it is hardly a surprise that political cockroaches like Victor Ajlouny would scurry from the floorboards of City Hall to become players in this soap opera. The recall backers are now using Ajlouny and this shows that they have no ethics because they were engaged in this recall for reform, and now they working with same political devils they claim to be fighting against.
They insist that there be a select appointment in the process, and this also defeats the purpose of the recall.
It is time this soap opera ends, and hopefully, Madison Nguyen has learned some lessons in this. People like McLeod and Nguyen show us how even in a democratic process, some self appointed elitists get through.
Dear editor,
Talk about blatant bias. You’ve attacked Cindy Chavez for less ethical failings regarding the Norcal and Grand Prix’s behind the scene activities. Yet you write the opinion that this is simply a policy issue….
I would have given you more kudos if you validate the no recall with, at the basic level, the same criticism as Chavez in 2006 then defended your position that recall is unwarranted. The problem with your editorial opinion is it gives Madison a pass on her lack of ethics and finds no fault in her governance.
This red baiting works both ways. You have found the way to use it in your editorial. Some in the Vietnamese American community, in searching for answers on why a Vietnamese American councilmember that came into office using the freedom and democracy calling card is rejecting the basic tenet and symbol of the community by her strong opposition to the wish of the community responded with the Communist sympathizer labeling. This is the minority view.
The rest of the Vietnamese American community don’t share your point of view and district voters on March 3rd will disprove your theory that an unethical lame duck councilmember serving no one but her special interests (Labor, Chamber of Commerce and big money donors) should remain status quo. The grassroot voters of district 7 by sheer virtue of their votes will send a loud message demanding change and accountability in our government.
YES ON RECALL
James Roven,
Pigs will be flying around City Hall the day Vic Ajlouny is helping the Vietnamese American community.
He is even more hated that Mayor Reed right now with his naive assumption the community is a bunch of subservient knucklehead that can be translated to votes if he and Reed give us a bone.
Behind the Vietnamese community of 100,000 San Josean are many well intentioned and highly educated members that see Reed and the Ajlouny machinery as the AK-47 assault rifle aiming directly at the same community that helped them into power. That is why he and Reed were pushing an unknown and unpopular Hon Lien to the community without input and strongly advised to Reed to ignore the community’s voice in this naming controversy that famously lead to the current standoff with Madison (she is only the small pawn in this political game). Talk about biting the hands that fed you.
Ajlouny doesn’t give a damn about us other than our 45,000 possible votes (100,000 Vietnamese * 45% turnout on average). He brings his republican cronies and his power brokers to the Vietnamese events and assumed and assumed that the Vietnamese community is his oyster. That is why he is recommending, against conventional wisdom for Reed and Madison Nguyen to stand down against the Vietnamese community even after his failed bid for Hon Lien and his advise to Reed that all this naming nuance will pass and Reed will emerge as a champion. In other word, Reed and Ajlouny did not foresee the backlash from all this shenenagan against the most loyal members of the community for Reed the last 9 years.
Reed disappointed so many of his Vietnamese “friends” that they will vote for a monkey at his 2010 re-election before they punch a ticket for what they perceived as a traitor. More importantly, they have the heightened hatred for the “Karl Rove” of the community and will literally spit on the ground Ajlouny walks on before even acknowledging that he used the community to get into power and now tried to divide and brand us as “extremist” along with all these racial epithets.
Ajlouny has made his bed and now he will lie along with Reed and Madison wherever their political fortunes and arrogance take them.
By the way, who is “The Editor” now at San Jose Inside? Is Tom McEnery still involved or has San Jose Inside been completely consumed by the Metro?
I personally think this entire thing is very sad, and wish that the Mayor, the Council, and Nguyen had just followed the policy the City already has when it comes to naming and signage in business districts. I find that by ignoring the naming survey done by the City, paid for by taxpayers, Madison did indeed try to force a name they did not want on them, and that is a betrayal of trust, and is cause for the community to be angry with her. I think the way community out reach meetings were conducted to be highly concerning and questionable. I find that the accusation of a Brown Act violation to be a serious one that should have been taken to the Civil Grand Jury for investigation, not the City Attorney. The City Attorney is being paid to protect the City at all costs.
Let us not forget, the video taped interview of former Council Member Williams, he was honest enough to admit having had a discussion with Nguyen on this matter, thus making it a quorum, and a possible Brown Act violation, and the subject of a not so nice column by Tom McEnery right here on SJI!
Also, there is the matter of Nguyen misleading the Mayor and Council into thinking she had the entire communities support on the name she wanted, and the introduction of a forged petition presented by Council Member Liccardo, a petition gathered by the owner of Lee’s Sandwiches. The petition was passed onto the Council so quickly for consideration that there was no way for the opposition to review it, and provide proof that the petition was fake before the vote. Had the City followed Sunshine Rules, then they could have saved themselves the embarrassment of voting on an issue based on a forged petition.
There are many other serious facts that need to be included into consideration before voting on this issue such as, why during her run for office did Madison promise the Vietnamese American community she’d name the business district Little Saigon, and then when she got into office changed her mind without notifying them? Another vital consideration is who her supporters are, and all the money that is coming in to defeat this recall. I must ask myself, why they are supporting her, and look at WHO is financing her No on recall campaign.
The media continues to ignore many of the facts relating to this issue by constantly reducing this to three things: the naming of Little Saigon, communism, and the Vietnamese community thinking they are the only ones in D7. I find that to be disturbing and quite frankly, a serious disservice to the voters of D7 and to our community as a whole. You can give us ALL the facts, we’re intelligent enough to make an informed choice!
D7 voters, look at the facts and vote your conscious! Your vote is YOUR voice and should not be influenced by special interest on either side! Good luck to both sides.
#3
Reed disappointed so many of his Vietnamese “friends” that they will vote for a monkey at his 2010 re-election before they punch a ticket for what they perceived as a traitor.
While you may have a valid point, the unfortunate fact is the behavior of the “Vietnamese community” over the Little Saigon issue has alienated so many other voters that it will be a long time before another Vietnamese is elected to the City Council.
Nobody wants to go through with this nonsense again over some other trivial, irrelevant issue.
None of this rises to the level of recall. If you don’t like your councilmember or the things they have done then vote them out of office at the next scheduled election. This exercise wastes precious dollars and will have done nothing to improve the quality of life in D7 or the City at-large.
The sad thing is that if Vic Ajlouny is playing both sides, then he gets to claim victory no matter what happens. It’s sad times for our city when the Mayor keeps that guy around.
At this point though I think the best thing D7 voters can do is vote to keep Madison in. Any issues her opponents may have about her can wait until 2010, considering she’s been charged with no wrongdoing. And come on, the 2010 city elections really aren’t that far away.
This post is not about Yes or No on the recall. It is, I hope, a bit of perspective that has gotten lost in the sound and fury of the current debate.
How did we get to this point?
30 years ago a stretch of Story Road was a slum, a “bad neighborhood” with depressed property values. About that time newly arrived Vietnamese immigrants began buying the property and opening businesses.
Through the years the infusion of Asian money helped to transform the neighborhood from a former slum into a vibrant, multi-cultural neighborhood with interesting shops, restaurants and other improvements. You can now walk down that part of Story Road and not worry about getting mugged.
Impressed with the transformation community leaders thought there should be recognition of this achievement. It was proposed that there be a Vietnamese Business District (that was the original CONCEPT, but not necessarily the name)that would promote the area and lure in people who perhaps still thought the area was not a good destination. Similar business districts exist elsewhere and they tend to bring positive change. This creates jobs, spreads wealth, and builds community.
So far, so good.
Then came time to give the district a name. City Hall got involved along with “activists” who had an ax to grind with the D7 Councilmember over petty issues related to the previous election. There was insistence by the activists, with no compromise possible, that the district be named Little Saigon, and ONLY Little Saigon.
That pissed a lot of people off. The problem is, the name Little Saigon carries political connotations, dating back to the war, that ran contrary to the original intent of the business district: to encourage business, not make a political statement.
Before we knew it the seemingly trivial issue of the name got bogged down with the history of the Vietnam war, global communism, D7 politics and daily front page Merc stories that focused on the sensational.
The Mercury News encouraged City Hall protests and hunger strikes with a series of inaccurate, inflammatory and biased articles. (Note: the reporter who wrote most of those stories is no longer with the Merc. Interesting that the Merc has never told it’s readers the circumstances of his departure.)
But we can’t just blame the newspaper.
In order to drum up support the some of the activists labeled their opponents “communist” (yes, you did!)and threatened to boycott businesses that did not support the Little Saigon name. Then there were the protests and hunger strike.
Some on the other side were equally bad, writing daily racist posts in the Mercury’s blog section. The Merc makes little or no effort to filter out this stuff which is unconscionable, and helped to create an even larger, more emotional, divide. (OK, I’m back to blaming the Merc. But damnit, they need to be held accountable for their various roles in this fiasco.)
Bloggers here, and on other sites, got into name-calling wars and the whole thing deteriorated into a cesspool of some of the ugliest politics this city will ever see.
So, as we approach the March recall it is indeed ironic that something that was intended as an honor for the Vietnamese community has instead backfired.
So much for honoring Vietnamese contributions!
The next time a business district wants to put up some banners, I hope they will not let City Hall, or allow “activists” to hijack their good intentions.
Just wondering what happened to that spoiled little baby who went on the hunger strike. Incredible that a man of that age could throw such a tantrum!
I think the only thing we can all agree on is there is no good guy here. Who has stepped forward to heal the community? No one. Quite the opposite—one side’s wounded pride instigated a Recall, and the other side said ‘Bring it On’ with a series of high-powered fund raisers.
In the end, as everyone knows, I hold a single voting issue: any Political Action Committee that actively labels American patriots as COMMUNIST has forfeited its right to exist.
VOTE NO ON RECALL
MC,
Your insight is conveyed explicitly – something I thought would never happen. Thank you very much for taking the time to write. I hope your commentary reaches everyone who wants to know the real truth.
J in Berryessa is correct when he or she says that the best thing to do is to retain Ms. Nguyen now that we have established that Ajlouny has been playing both sides.
“The next time a business district wants to put up some banners, I hope they will not let City Hall, or allow “activists” to hijack their good intentions.”
Hopefully, the next time the City will follow the policy for naming and signage instead of trying to railroad its residents into a name they DONOT want!
I agree with you MC, the Merc and almost all other medias inflamed, and turned this whole issue into one big nightmare for our entire City, and they still are. Our Mayor should have taken the reigns on this long before it ever got this far, and Madison calling protesters lazy, jobless troublemakers, and making the kind of arrogant statements she’s made in the press, didn’t help either. She and the Mayor should have worked with the community in an honest and fair way to resolve this long ago.
Either way, there will be no real winners here after the election. With law suites pending, Madison stating she is thinking of running again if she’s recalled, and the way the press has behaved, this is a no win situation across the board.
#13- James,
How do you know Vic is working on the recall side? What information can you provide proving that to be a fact? Everyone in politics is playing both sides of the fence here. No one in office is stupid enough to ignore the power of the Vietnamese American community’s vote nor their ability to fund raise.
#13, James, how has anybody established that Ajlouny is playing both sides? My sources say he is doing nothing to help the recall folks. And the recall folks are not big Reed fans these days, so in their minds, Victor is probably guilty by association.
#14 >> “No one in office is stupid enough to ignore the power of the Vietnamese American community’s vote nor their ability to fund raise.”
This is an excellent point but I’d like to restate it slightly. No one in office should neglect to notice how easy it has been to RAILROAD THE VIETNAMESE AMERICAN COMMUNITY’s SUPPORT into ridiculous and pointless activities by appealing to their emotions and pride.
District Seven’s Vietnamese population is a proud and vibrant people whose abilities, caring, and efforts can be properly channeled into a positive force. That positive force may not be Madison Nguyen, and it certainly is not Mr. Do, but we look forward to the day they find their correct voice.
Ajlouny is a word to be associated with garbage, fungus, blight, and disease.
please stop this local self interest nightmare! in a court of law, criminal law the crime does not fit the punishment.
socialism is at our doorsteps fellow AMERICANs, its a bigger threat to our FREEDOM than this red eye pinkie debate.
MOVE ON gents move on!
-fob
James,
Ajlouny couldn’t possible be involved with either side. He spent his last dime having an RFID chip implanted in your shoulder.
Not possible. The team from the Windy City got there first!
“Aside from the Saigon naming debacle, Nguyen has effectively championed her district and shown herself to be a capable councilmember.”
Huh??? That’s like saying aside from being incompentent, George W Bush was a pretty good president.
#4 – This editorial was republished from this week’s Metro. Sorry for not identifying it as such.
And yes, Tom McEnery is still writing for San Jose Inside.
21—yeah—his last missive was 1 month ago.
Maybe he’s keeping a low profile until after tomorrow’s council vote re his request for assistance with his “Public Market”.