Quietly absorbing the short end of the Little Saigon stick are the Vietnamese-American candidates who are running for a seat on the San Jose City Council in the June 3 primary. Things got even stickier for them as the Vietnamese community last week officially launched their campaign to recall Councilmember Madison Nguyen. Already, some of those candidates have been peppered with questions from non-Vietnamese voters about how they might handle such a Viet-centric issue if elected. Lan Nguyen, who is running for the District 8 council seat and is not related to Madison Nguyen, says he’s stayed far away from the Little Saigon issue and he has no plans to get near the recall effort. Instead, he’s trying to win voters over by taking stands on positions they care about right now, traffic and crime, to name a few. “Non-Vietnamese didn’t understand why this issue has become such a huge issue that took so much time and energy and focus,” Nguyen said. “Unless I can articulate my visions and that I will not be sidetracked [by issues like Little Saigon], they won’t trust their vote with me.” For the most part, the Vietnamese candidates say they don’t think the recall and the Little Saigon issue will earn them a bad rap among voters, especially since they are making a point to remain positionless on both issues. Minh Duong, also running for District 8, said he followed the Little Saigon issue, but declined to comment on the recall effort. Instead, he wanted to only talk about his positions on issues that concern everyone in his district—traffic and crime to name a few. “Let bygones be bygones,” Duong said of Little Saigon. “The voters do not care much about what’s happening in the Viet community, they care about District 8 issues.”
San Jose Inside
San Jose Inside (https://www.sanjoseinside.com)
It will be very difficult for any city council candidate, especially those of Vietnamese descent, to ignore the recall issue.
Dodging issues does not inspire voter confidence.
“Let bygones be bygones.” If only I could trust the Vietnamese community to do so. Clearly that is not what is happening in D7.
I personally don’t think the Vietnamese community is ready to participate in local politics until they understand the protocols involved and park their outlandish communist affiliation accusations at the door to the Council chambers.
It does not matter who is elected to the city council. If they are Vietnamese then the lunatic fringe in that community will soon be starting the same nonsense over some other irrelevant issue.
Yo.. I know I’m not voting for a Vietnamese candidate for a LONGGGGGGGGG time… maybe never… They ruined things for themselves.
I’m really shocked you guys are saying such things like this. You aren’t supposed to vote for someone based on their ethnic origin, you are supposed to vote for them based on their record, experience, education, and their hard work and ties in the community. Unbelievable!
Some of the vietnamese residents , not all , are drinking their own bathwater .
Remy Do
Kathleen, tell that to the Vietnamese community. I’m with #4.
#6- If we keep abusing the planet, over building, and overpopulating it with children, we’ll all be lucky if there is any bath water to drink! Dirty or clean!
Mark T., I guess I expected better of all of you. The way the world is going right now, we’re going to need to stick together and help one another regardless of our color…
Staying neutral seems like a good idea, I’m sure.
But I will not vote for any Viet candidate unless they break that neutrality and DENOUNCE the district 7 signage-and-recall rabid anti-invisible-Communist circus.
Someone has to denounce their dirty politics and phantom fears. Let it be a Viet, and let that Viet become the next city council member.