The Executive Director of the OC GOP, some guy named George, called Ryan and complained about this post. He asked Ryan to remove my reference to the OC GOP voter registration effort. No go! Ryan was NOT my source for that information. And no, it is not coming down. If the OC GOP wants to put a guy in charge of voter registration in central OC, who ran perhaps the most anti-Latino campaign I have ever seen (i.e. Trung Nguyen standing at the border to “stop” the Mexicans), that is his prerogative. But it is a dumb idea!

So what exactly is going on at Orange Juice? Apparently, these little chismes from Art Pedroza caused screaming, wailing, and gnashing of teeth over at the Orange County Republican Party:

Here’s a shocker – my sources are telling me that GOP Assemblyman Van Tran is trying to talk Democrat (and former state legislator) Joe Dunn into running against Supervisor Janet Nguyen in two years. Tran is apparently still quite bitter over Nguyen’s victory over his Trannie, Trung Nguyen. This sort of thing is not new for Tran – he has worked behind the scenes with other Democrats before, such as Bruce Broadwater and Mark Rosen.

Rosen by the way changed a prior vote and ended up backing Republican Steve Jones to replace Janet on the Garden Grove City Council. I wonder if Tran had anything to do with that? Jones is a developer – watch and see if he either has contributed to Tran and his cronies or will do so in the near future.

While we are on the subject of Trannies, Trung’s campaign manager, Saulo Londono, was apparently tabbed by the OC GOP to conduct voter registration in Central Orange County. They didn’t even bother to ask Janet how she felt about this. The sense was that Van Tran has been successful at this and so they went with the Trannies. I cannot see how this is going to work out. The Trannies will make this work for them and will not try to help the most prominent GOP elected official in the area, Janet Nguyen. (Yes, she is ostensibly in a non-partisan office, but you know that is true in name only).

So what’s going on with those lovely Republicans? And why do they hate bloggers? Well, follow me after the flip for more…

Ah, so the campaign manager who devised this marvelous anti-immigrant mailer for Trung is now taking over the OC Republicans’ “voter registration” efforts in Central County…
A region with communities full of LATINO AND VIETNAMESE IMMIGRANTS!! And what, they don’t expect any harsh words for this latest bone-headed move of theirs? If anything, they should be thanking Art Pedroza for pointing this out as a huge error. Since I’m not nearly as helpful and courteous as Art, I’d just prefer to LAUGH AT THEM for giving Latino voters yet ANOTHER REASON TO BE ANGRY AT THEM.

I guess they never learn. They didn’t learn from Tan Nguyen and his errors. They didn’t learn from all the immigrant-bashing of the Special Election. And now, this. But instead of blaming themselves for repeating the same mistakes of alienating minority voters in Central Orange County, they blame a blogger for calling them out on it!

I don’t know what else I can say about this, so I’ll leave it to another Orange Juice blogger, Claudio Gallegos, to sort this out:

Absolutely stunning. So George over at the GOP took it upon himself to order one of our Republican bloggers to censor us, the very nerve. For all their flag waving, America loving talk, they once again show their disdain for the very basic right of all Americans, FREEDOM. Instead of obsessing over the second amendment, the OC Republican Party should look more into that 1st Amendment, you know that pesky Amendment that gave Art the right to post what he did.

If Art wants to out various voter registration efforts, he has a right to. And NO REPUBLICAN, nor DEMOCRAT for that matter, has a right to try and censor what we post simply because there is something written that makes them mad. Apparently Republicans feel a need to silence Orange Juice.

Which brings me to my next point, how Democrats support free speech. Several times on this blog, there have been commenters and posters who have made Democratic ED Mike Levin or Chair Frank Barbaro their personal blogging punching bags. Never has Mike Levin nor Frank Barbaro called me to ask that I delete someone’s post or comment. I am sure they don’t like some stuff posted on here, but they believe in the value of one’s right to free speech. It seems the Orange County Republican Party has a problem with free speech. Shame on them, Orange Juice will never be silenced.

Jeez. Remind me to never, ever try to help the Orange County Republican Party. Obviously, they don’t appreciate folks to point out their huge mistakes.

Today at the Board of Supervisors meeting, the supes debated something that should be fairly noncontroversial — developing a policy so that sick people who use medical marijuana can be issued ID cards. Really, in a supposedly free society, is it that much to ask that people who can benefit from a little medical pot can use it without getting arrested? I stopped by the meeting for a short time, enough to hear the end of DA Tony Rackauckas’ lame-brained argument for ignoring Prop. 215. I also heard members of the public argue forcefully for allowing tragically sick people to get a little relief. […]

[The OC Board of Supervisors] voted 3-2 against Norby’s [original] proposal (Moorlach and Norby were on the losing end), but that Bill Campbell offered a compromise and that measure passed 4-1. Only Janet Nguyen voted “no.” [on both measures.] This is not a good sign if one has hopes of Nguyen being a supporter of limited and sensible government.

Steven Greenhut is pissed. The super hardcore libertarian-minded OC Register editorialist lambastes Supervisor Janet Nguyen on Orange Punch for voting against even considering issuing medical marijuana ID cards at yesterday’s Board meeting.

So is Janet Nguyen not a “true conservative”? Is she not libertarian-minded? Does she hate sick, dying patients? Or does she just have something else in mind? Follow me after the flip for more on this sordid tale of political posturing, heated controversy, and gravely ill people in the balance…

So what’s up with Janet? Well, we know what Greenhut thinks about it. However, Jubal/Matt Cunningham offers another view at Red County/OC Blog:

I’d give Janet’s vote a much more political reading. Barring a court decision unseating, Janet Nguyen is up for re-election in little more than a year. She only got 24.1% of the vote in an incredibly close and divisive campaign. She needs to more than double her vote share in order to avoid a November run-off. The impact of the Vietnamese vote — which was nuclear in the special election — will be much diluted in the June 2008 primary. The registration is split between Republicans and Democrats — and the latter have high hopes for re-capturing the seat. The more vulnerable she appears, the more challengers she may attract.

Consequently, Janet is going to view every vote through the prism of re-election and how it will affect her chances of securing it.

I think that’s the case with this vote: Janet voted no so she won’t get hit with “soft on drugs” mailers next year. Former Supervisor Cynthia Coad, got hit hard with such mail in the 1998 primary because when she was a community college trustee she had signed her name to some voluminous study that included (if I recall correctly) a recommendation to study decriminalizing marijuana. Coad made it into the November run-off, but it was close. That may have been on Janet Nguyen’s mind when she cast her votes today.

So who’s correct here? I say BOTH OF THEM!

Greenhut has a good point about Janet’s ideology. She probably doesn’t have much of one. She’s a fairly pragmatic person who always tries to “do the right thing”… But did she do the right thing in denying medicine to sick patients? Well, perhaps she thinks she is doing the right thing… TO WIN REELECTION NEXT YEAR!

Yep, Matt’s probably right that any possible opponents could have used a “Yes” vote to paint Janet as “pro-drug-abuse” and “soft on crime”. She now has to maintain a tricky balance of being conservative enough to hold onto most Republicans, moderate enough to swing some Democrats her way, “Vietnamese enough” to build a strong base in the Vietnamese-American community, and “Latino-friendly enough” to undo the damage from this year’s special election and begin wooing Latino voters to her side. I can see why she’d be wary of something that could bite back and hurt her among ANY of these voters.

But wait! Are we all just over analyzing Janet’s vote? Maybe Janet voted that way just because Janet wanted to vote that way. Maybe she just voted that way because she thought that Norby’s measure wasn’t the right thing to do at this time. Or at least, this is how Orange Juice blogger Art Pedroza sees it:

Did you try asking Janet why she voted this way? I did. She said that, as well all know, the federal government has not been playing along with the will of the voters on this issue, to say the least. That would be your boy Bush and his inept AG Gonzalez.

She also told me that a court in San Diego is considering a case that will establish a precedent in this area. It is wise in this case to wait and see what that court decides.

I did advise her to vote for it by the way, but Janet is her own person and she does try very hard to be fair and prudent on every issue.

Well, I know that Janet is one of the few Republicans that Art still likes. And perhaps he is seeing something that the rest of us are not. Maybe Janet voted that way just because she thought it was the best thing to do in such a difficult situation. But still, I doubt that this was the only thing on her mind. She’s certainly no saint. And she’s not a doctrinaire conservative. And she’s not a libertarian. And she’s not ready to help some very sick patients in need of treatment…
But one thing’s for certain. She’s running for reelection next year.

UPDATE: I just spoke to the media folks over at the CalChamber, who called in response to my phone call.  Apparently, the wires between them, the Capitol Morning Report, and umm…me, got crossed somehow.  I can now confirm that this was a mistake, and the CalChamber has not endorsed Ms. Nguyen over Van Tran.  Well, I guess that Janet will likely be running for re-election.  Too bad, that would have been fun.

Janet Nguyen is still fighting for her supervisorial seat, so I must say that I was quite shocked to get this little tidbit from the Capitol Morning Report in my inbox from a friend:

CalChamber reports endorsing Republican  Janet Nguyen for the AD 68 Primary Election. Nguyen is a Garden Grove City Council member and seeks to replace fellow Republican  Van Tran who is not termed out until 2010.

It looks like she has no intention of sticking around long in OC’s First District, and would rather pursue her fight with Van Tran. Now, I can’t say that I’m particularly opposed to that fight. It’s just, well, that was quick. It could be an interesting race, Janet Nguyen vs. Van Tran, a lot of interesting relationships there.  But, I’ll leave that to others to go into. 

OK, I just noticed this on Total Buzz… But I’m not really surprised:

Coming as a surprise to absolutely no one, the Consigliere Schroeder (see also: Darth Vader, Darth Schroeder, or any Godfather reference) says Trung Nguyen will appeal the judge’s decision this week that made Janet Nguyen the winner of the First District supes seat.

Mike told me that Team Trung is waiting for the transcripts from the trial in Judge Michael Brenner’s court and they will then file with the state court of appeals. Perhaps the higher court will agree with the “Schroederian view” of the state recount law and maybe Team Janet shouldn’t get too comfortable up on the Fifth Floor…

Please, court of appeals judges, PLEASE THROW OUT THIS SUIT! Team Janet got the recount that Team Trung didn’t even want, and then Team Trung got to cry its way to court to complain that the recount that they didn’t even want was “done wrong”. The judge listened to both sides’ arguments, and concluded that the County Registrar conducted the recount legally, and that Janet Nguyen truly was the rightful winner. Janet is now in, and Team Trung just needs to move on.

OK, sorry about my ranting. It’s just that I live here, and I am sick and tired of these GOP Machine scumbags whine and complain about “gaming the system” when they themselves have used some VERY ILLEGAL TACTICS to “game the system”. Unlike many of their possible victims, these GOP Machine scumbags got their day in court… And the judge ruled that there was no “gaming”. Team Trung need to let it go, and allow for Central Orange County to move on.

I hope they realize that soon, and that I can stop ranting about all this crap soon.

OK, I know that I shouldn’t be doing this…
But I just can’t help it! Total Buzz made me do it! ; )

Got a press release today saying that Assemblyman Van Tran, R-Garden Grove, will be in Santa Ana on Friday to promote the Earned Income Tax Credit — an income-tax benefit for the poor. Among those on hand will be Santa Ana Councilman Carlos Bustamante — who was among those running for supervisor this year against Tran’s candidate, Trung Nguyen — and the Legal Aid Society of Orange County, which is often finds Democrats more sympathetic to their causes. Former U.S. Treasurer and currently — take a breath — California State and Consumer Services Agency Secretary Rosario Marin will also be there.

Oh, great! So Lord Van Tran can now count the “Independent Democrat Republican” as his new best friend! And oh yes, how lovely that Rosario Marin will be coming to their aid.

For more on Van Tran, his new best friends, and what this all might mean, follow me after the flip…

Here’s some more from Martin Wisckol at Total Buzz:

More interesting to me was the new district representative for Tran who listed as the contact on the press release. Saulo Londono lead Lynn Daucher’s absentee ballot drive, which nearly led to an upset of Lou Correa in last year’s central county state Senate race. He then was campaign manager for Trung, and nearly pulled off an upset there after one of the most relentless and well-researched absentee voter drive I’ve seen. I’m not surprised Tran wants to keep Londono close at hand.

Hmmm… So one of the same guys who engineered Lynn Daucher’s near-win in SD 34 last year is now cozying up with Van Tran? I wonder why. Is he worried about something… Like possibly the next election, and the possibility that people might start to find out more about all the delicious dirt that’s been hidden in his closet? Well, I guess there’s nothing like currying favor from other politicos to solidify your standing in time for the next election.

Well, I guess at the very least, Trung Nguyen shouldn’t have to worry. Van Tran always knows how to help his proteges.

(Clearly, Andrew and I don’t agree on this one. I think that democracy is worth fighting for, even if you don’t like the people involved. To me, accuracy is more important than finality. – promoted by Brian Leubitz)

The board is complete. The healing process begins. The unity starts now.

– Ryan Gene on Orange Juice

Mr. Nguyen ran a good race, but he should put an end to any more legal action. The county should wish Ms. Nguyen the best as she becomes the first Vietnamese-American county supervisor.

– Today’s OC Register Editorial

Mr. Nguyen, the only way to save face now, if that is even possible, is to accept your defeat gracefully and fade off into the shadows of history.

– Chris Prevatt on The Liberal OC

Want to see how Orange County feels about this hard-fought election coming to an end? Well, follow me after the flip for more…

Here’s more of today’s Register editorial. Now keep in mind that I rarely ever agree with The Register’s editorial page. This is one of those rare occasions:

Mr. Nguyen’s attorneys argue that the recount was done improperly because the Registrar of Voters manually recounted the absentee ballots, but chose a quick download of the electronic ballots cast on Election Day. They called that gaming the system, but Judge Michael Brenner tossed out Mr. Nguyen’s claim that the recount was illegal, arguing that it was done in a logical manner and compliant. […]

Any time a race is won by a handful of votes, it’s a heartbreaker. Supporters of Mr. Nguyen argue that more voters intended to vote for him, but ultimately had their votes disqualified because they followed the campaign’s instructions and checked the last spot on the ballot. That spot actually was the place for write-in candidates. But the purpose of campaign law is not to find out who was the winner in some cosmic sense, but to follow a fair, deliberative, consistent and legal process to determine the winner. That appears to have been accomplished through a series of challenges and counterchallenges.

Mr. Nguyen ran a good race, but he should put an end to any more legal action. The county should wish Ms. Nguyen the best as she becomes the first Vietnamese-American county supervisor.

Here’s more of what Chris Prevatt has to say at The Liberal OC. Now remember that this is a progressive local blog, and that Chris (like me) backed Umberg for Supervisor:

Janet Nguyen was sworn in yesterday as the first Vietnamese-American elected Supervisor in Orange County and the youngest as well.  This election has been a roller coaster ride for both Janet and Trung Nguyen.  Both candidates have held the lead at different points in time.

Both candidates have also been accused of promoting anti-Latino sentiments, Trung Nguyen pretending to be a border guard, and Janet Nguyen calling on Vietnamese voters to vote for her with this comment “She also has votes from other ethnic communities, women, seniors, Republicans who do not like Mexicans”.

Now is the time for healing and repair.  Janet Nguyen needs to reach out to the Latino community and demonstrate that she is not the racist that her comment to the Vietnamese community portrays.

It is also time for Trung Nguyen to accept defeat at the hands of a woman.  Mr. Nguyen, the only way to save face now, if that is even possible, is to accept your defeat gracefully and fade off into the shadows of history.

And btw, here’s what Chris has to say about the whole Bush v. Gore comparison:

In Gore vs. Bush, Gore moved on once the court ruled. Also, I believe it was Bush who appealed to the Supreme Court. I see that as Bush not moving on rather than Gore.

As far as the determination of Legislative Counsel goes, ot [sic] has no legal weight. I also do not believe there would be any change if the VVPAT’s were to be reviewed. The 1 percent review showed no errors in the electronic tallies.

The only reason Darth Schroeder raised the issue was in effort to invalidate the reount [sic]. His objection had nothing to do with an accurate counting of the votes. Team Trung did not ask for the VVPAT’s to be audited. They just wanted the original tally to stand unchanged.

Team Trung needs to move on, challenge Janet in 2008 if they want, but give the recount a rest.

Here’s more of what Ryan Gene has to say at Orange Juice. Sure, he’s a Republican… But he’s a good guy who sometimes makes some very good points:

“Wow, what a journey!” Those were the first words spoken by newly seated Supervisor Janet Nguyen, as she addressed a standing room only forum this morning. Janet’s inaugural speech also spread thanks to her loving family, her friends, supporters, and mentors former-Supervisors Bill Steiner and Cynthia Coad.

She also addressed the sizable Vietnamese observers in the room in Vietnamese, which drew applause.

The real spotlight today though, at least that I felt, was the talk of unity.

A sentiment shared this morning by Janet, and pretty much everyone in attendance including Chris Norby, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, and state senator Lou Correa, both of whom gave notable speeches on the topic. Lou left right after the swearing-in ceremony to fly back up to Sacramento and present some bills in the Senate. […]

Other notable electeds in attendance were Santa Ana councilmembers Carlos Bustamante and Michele Martinez, Garden Grove mayor Bill Dalton, Orange councilman Jon Dimitru, Westminster mayor Margie Rice, SAUSD trustee Rob Richardson, and county treasurer Chriss Street. […]

Now that she’s in, Janet will quickly begin to put her staff together and hit the ground running. I can see from the OC Gov. website that her name is now listed among the other four supervisors.

The board is complete. The healing process begins. The unity starts now.

So what do I think? Well, I think that this thing needs to come to an end. Trung Nguyen, Mike Schroeder, and Van Tran need to let it go. Central OC is already suffering from not having anyone to serve us at the county level for so long, so why should we delay any longer?

Now I wasn’t all that happy last month when Umberg lost, but I moved on. It’s time for Schroeder and Tran to do the same. They have exercised their legal right to challenge the election, and that legal process has now been exhausted. The court has ruled that Janet won fair and square, and now Janet’s new colleagues agree. It’s time for everyone to move on.

Janet won. Janet’s in. It’s time to move on.

Who cares what the democrat lawyers who work for Fabian Nunez and Don Perata think? It has no force of law. The campaign is over. Schroeder needs to stand down. He is only hurting the GOP’s chances of keeping this seat next year.

So why is “Been Around” on OC Blog angry at the “democrat lawyers”? Well, it looks like those “democrat lawyers who work for Fabian Nunez and Don Perata” have just contradicted Judge Brenner’s ruling in favor of Janet Nguyen by opining that the County Registrar was required to use a voter verified paper trail (VVPAT) in conducting the full recount. So have these “democrat lawyers” now given new life to Trung’s insane effort to overturn the election results? Follow me after the flip for more…

So is Team Trung now getting giddy all over again? Well, judge for yourself. Here’s some of what Trung Nguyen’s campaign had to say about the surprise opinion, courtesy of OC Blog:

The day after a Superior Court judge ruled that a full recount was conducted in the February 2, 2007, special election for Orange County First District Supervisor’s race, the Legislative Counsel for California Legislature released its 4-page legal analysis and finding that “a county registrar is required to use a voter verified paper trail (VVPAT), and not an electronic record, in conducting any full recount of an election in this state at which votes were cast on direct recording electronic voting system.”  (Legislative Counsel Finding #0710444) 

“The Trung Nguyen campaign filed its election contest stating that a full recount was not conducted by the Orange County Registrar.  Janet Nguyen gamed the system for tactical reasons” stated Michael J. Schroeder, attorney for the Trung Nguyen campaign and former GOP Chairman.  “We believe an appeals court will likely 1)agree with this legal finding; 2)overturn the trial court’s decision; 3)rule that a full recount was not completed; 4)find that the recount was null and void; and 5)uphold the first certified winner Trung Nguyen. 

“This legal finding by the very body that wrote the applicable Elections Code sections completely validates and supports all of the litigation positions taken by the Trung Nguyen campaign,” stated Schroeder.

“The law does not allow someone to game a recount so that the counting methods switch back and forth depending on whether the votes are favorable to them or not.  This is what happened here,”  stated Schroeder.

Oh yeah, so you don’t believe them? See the opinion for yourself…

“We conclude that a county registrar is required to use a voter verified paper audit trail, and not an electronic record, in conducting any full recount of an election in this state at which votes were cast on a direct recording electronic voting system.”

And here’s some more insight from Peggy Lowe at Total Buzz:

Brenner admitted yesterday that two sections of the law conflict eachother, but he also said he didn’t want to do what Schroeder had asked of him, which is rewrite the statute. Brenner did agree with Schroeder that there is a need to “harmonize” the two conflicting sections of the law.

You’ll also notice that the opinion says that “where uncertainly exists, consideration should be given to the consequences that will flow from a particular interpretation.” This is what Schroeder mentioned many times during his closing arguements yesterday, saying if the judge didn’t side with Team Trung’s interpretation, a kind of political Pandora’s Box would be open and chaos would ensue.

So what does this all mean? It means that the air of uncertainty has just crossed “The Orange Curtain” again. Now perhaps Janet Nguyen has an extra leg up now that she’s the duly elected Supervisor for the First District…
But the sense of closure that was gained yesterday may, all of a sudden, slip away once more if Team Trung gains some new traction in their appeal process. We all knew that Trung and his political sugar daddies were planning to whine their way to the next court, desperately searching for another chance to undo the election…

But do they now have a legitimate chance of turning our world upside down once again? Hell, many more people here in Orange County might get angry at the “democrat lawyers” if this were to happen…

(Just 588 days until Janet’s next election, when a Democrat will take back the (non-partisan) seat.- Brian

OK, here’s what everyone else is saying… Ryan Gene has a lot so say about Janet and her new job at Orange Juice. And Total Buzz has more on Janet and the GOPers who may want to be her friends again. Stay tuned for more! : ) – promoted by atdleft)

Today, something happened. What we’ve all been waiting for finally happened. Janet Nguyen was FINALLY sworn in as County Supervisor. THANK GAWD I FINALLY HAVE A SUPERVISOR!! But how long will this last? Will she really be able to follow through on her promise to “unite the district” and “represent everyone”?

Follow me after the flip for more…

After all the counting and recounting…
After all the legal battles…
And after all the campaigning, before AND after the election…
It finally came down to this.

Or, as Janet Nguyen said herself:

“It has been a short election, but a very, very, very long Election Day.”

Bill Steiner, the former County Supervisor who is a longtime mentor of Janet, swore her in today. He praised her as a great student when she first took his political science class, and he commented on her track record as a political staffer, and then as a Garden Grove Councilmember. Oh yes, and he responded to an earlier tirade about Janet “not representing everyone” by talking about how she will work hard to represent everyone in the district.

After the swearing-in, Janet addressed the crowd. She thanked her family, her consultants, and her supporters. She still seemed amazed that “only in America can a 30 year-old Vietnamese-American woman be elected” as an Orange County Supervisor. And yes, she pledged to unite the district and represent everyone in the community.

Lou Correa, the man who once sat where Janet sits now, then addressed the crowd, and talked about the reality of representing such a diverse swing district that is OC’s First Supervisorial District.

“Central Orange County is a marketplace of ideas… Every race has been tight. Every race has been debated. I think that’s a good thing. Neither the Democratic Party or the Republican Party can anoint someone.”

After the ceremony ended, I stepped outside to talk with some friends. And just before he left to return to Sacramento, I spoke with Lou… And with Tammy Tran, the political AND policy genius who now works in his district office. While I was speaking with them, I remembered how they have done such a great job at reaching out to the Vietnamese-American community here, as well as everyone else in the district. I guess this strong outreach and these strong ties to the community here in OC are the true strengths of Lou Correa and his political team. But anyways, as I was thinking about this, it dawned on me… That may be what Janet Nguyen might try to repeat.

One of Janet’s GOP supporters suggested that she hire one of Lou’s old aides to help her with her new job. He also said that he expects Janet to hire additional Latino staffers, and to aggressively win some goodwill in Latino-heavy Santa Ana…
So can this be the key to Janet’s success?

She’s now “part of the county family”, but how much of a mark will she make in this hall? I guess we will have to wait and see.

(Hooray, more video from yesterday! Jubal/Matt Cunningham now has VIDEO of the Judge’s decision, along with VIDEO of Janet Nguyen’s press conference, over at OC Blog. : ) – promoted by atdleft)

Ah, finally! No need to revise the agenda…
Janet Nguyen really will be sworn in today as the newest OC Supervisor. The wait is over… It’s just too bad that the drama may not be over quite yet. (From OC Register)

Janet Nguyen will be sworn in tomorrow at the weekly Board of Supervisors meeting. Trung Nguyen ducked the many reporters at the courthouse, but his lawyer, Michael Schroeder, said he expected to file an appeal of the judge’s decision.

“The judge’s ruling was not a surprise,” Schroeder said. “We have to take a look at the judge’s ruling but I anticipate we will file an appeal.”

Janet Nguyen, 30, now becomes the first Asian-American and the youngest ever to sit on the board. She told reporters she was excited, honored and relieved.

“I’m ready – I’ve been ready – to represent the people of the First District,” she said.

Trung Nguyen refused to concede the election and didn’t congratulate Janet Nguyen, who left the courthouse and promptly walked over to the county Hall of Administration. There, she was congratulated by Supervisors John Moorlach, Chris Norby and Pat Bates.

“She’ll be voting tomorrow,” Norby said.

Ah, if only Darth Schroeder, Lord Van Tran, and their loyal lackey Trung can just GIVE IT UP, and LET JANET SERVE FOR GAWD SAKE!! But whatever, they’ll likely lose again with the appeal. I’m just relieved that this whole damn thing is coming to a close, whether they like it or not.

This just in from the OC Republican Party:

Republican Councilwoman Janet Nguyen of Garden Grove won the February 6th – Special Election for the 1st Supervisorial District Vacancy. The seat was previously held by Democrat Lou Correa.

Nguyen will join Republicans John Moorlach, Bill Campbell, Chris Norby and Pat Bates on the Board of Supervisors thus creating an all-Republican governing board not seen in Orange County since 2004. Nguyen also becomes the first elected Vietnamese-American Supervisor in Orange County history.

“On behalf of the Republican Party of Orange County, I would like to congratulate Supervisor-Elect Nguyen in her hard-fought victory,” said County GOP Chairman Scott Baugh. “I commend the hard work of all Republican candidates that worked night and day to increase Republican registration and turnout.”

“Our member communication efforts during this special election played a critical role in the effort to elect a Republican Supervisor. This Supervisorial win will help continue our positive trend in Central Orange County,” said Chairman Baugh.

OK, so I guess now that Trung’s done, the GOPers are getting back into good terms with Janet. I guess we’ll see if all those nasty wounds will begin to heal.