(Also see OC Blog and The Liberal OC)

Why is Orange County Supervisor Janet Nguyen evading the law? This is a question that all of us are asking. This is a question that bloggers on the left, right, and center are all asking. This is a question that Janet Nguyen is forcing us to ask so long as she refuses to file a report on those secret campaign contributions that violated Orange County’s campaign finance law. And so long as Janet Nguyen does not file this report, we will all be counting the days that she has not filed.

Even though Martin Wisckol began reporting on this matter at The OC Register’s Total Buzz blog, Janet Nguyen has not taken notice, and she has not reported. Even though Mike Lawson has begun counting the days that Janet Nguyen has evaded county law at The Liberal OC, Janet Nguyen has not taken notice, and she has not reported. Even though Matt Cunningham has spoken out about this at OC Blog, Janet Nguyen has not taken notice, and she has not reported. Oh yes, and even though we at Calitics have turned our eyes to Orange County for this, Janet Nguyen has not taken notice, and she has not reported. So what will it take for Janet Nguyen to report these contributions? How many more days must we count?

Why won’t Janet Nguyen come clean? Why won’t she report these contributions, and report of her returning this money? Who were the donors who gave to her legal defense fund? When did these donors give? And just how much did these donors give? So long as Janet Nguyen does not obey the law and report these contributions, she only invites us all to ask these questions, and she invites us to count the days that she has not reported.

What excuse does Janet Nguyen have? Why can’t she fill out the paperwork about the three donors to her legal defense fund? Why can’t she follow county law? As she is now a county lawmaker, she should be setting a good example. She needs to file a report. And until she reports, we will be counting the days.

So if Janet Nguyen can’t even follow one county ordinance on campaign contributions, then how can we trust her with this and other laws? This is why left, right, and center all agree that Janet Nguyen needs to come clean. We have waited 53 days, and Janet Nguyen still has not complied with the law. And until she complies, we will be counting the days.

H/T to Mike Lawson at The Liberal OC for the fantastic graphic!

Orange County Supervisor Janet Nguyen has had 52 days to comply with county campaign finance law. Actually, she was supposed to give the Registrar of Voters a report of her returning the illegal donations to her campaign during the recount within 72 HOURS AFTER THESE DONATIONS WERE RETURNED. However, she hasn’t complied with county law.

So why won’t Janet comply with the law? Isn’t a lawmaker supposed to actually obey the law? Is that too much to ask?

Follow me after the flip for more…

Doesn’t Janet Nguyen realize that this isn’t helping her reelection effort? And I don’t think this is helping her beloved Republican Party, either. No wonder why Jubal/Matt Cunningham is saying something at OC Blog, and he’s not the only one speaking up:

I was talking to some keen observers of county politics this morning, and much of the conversation turned on Supervisor Janet Nguyen’s on-going refusal to comply with TIN CUP requirements that she report the name of the three donors who gave too much to her illegal legal defense fund — as well as the excess amount and date of donation.

There was a general consensus that the drip-drip of bad publicity stemming from this strange refusal to come clean only hurts her politically. Most 1st District voters are still unfamiliar with her, but ever since the adulatory “first Vietnamese/youngest supervisor” media immediately after being seated, her press hasn’t been good.

Yep, this is only hurting Janet. It’s hurting her credibility. How are we supposed to trust her as a lawmaker if she can’t even obey the law herself? If she were your County Supervisor, would you trust her?

Mike Lawson said it so well at The Liberal OC yesterday:

County Supervisor Janet Nguyen was soliciting money to cover her legal costs after the February 6th special. The problem was that Nguyen was accepting donations above the campaign contribution limit—which is a violation of campaign finance law. […]

Everyone is blogging about the money, and it looks like nobody is going to be forgetting this story any time soon. How long will we wait, Janet?

So how long must we wait? How long must we wait before our County Supervisor actually obeys the law that she’s supposed to respect? With every day that Janet Nguyen evades the law, she loses that much more of our trust.

[Orange] County Supervisor Janet Nguyen is 50 days late so far in complying with a county oridinace [sic] on campaign donations. Some time after the Feb. 6 election, she accepted three contributions in excess of the county’s $1,500 limit and put them into a legal trust fund set up by her lawyer. Turns out county code prohibits such trust funds, so the money was moved out of there and the excess donations, they say, were returned.

And once again, Janet’s silence on her funny money hit Total Buzz. Hmmm, so what’s happening with Janet Nguyen? And why won’t she report what exactly happened with her missing funny money?

Follow me after the flip for more…

OK, so how did this all begin? Well, it started when The LA Times reported this:

Newly elected Orange County Supervisor Janet Nguyen solicited secret donations above the campaign contribution limit in an effort to quickly pay down her legal debts, an apparent violation of campaign finance law, according to interviews and an e-mail obtained by The Times.

The solicitations came as Nguyen was seeking money to cover her legal costs defending a hair-thin victory in the Feb. 6 special supervisorial election. Among those approached were public employee unions and trade groups representing business interests that regularly come before the Board of Supervisors.

Donors were asked to make checks out to a client trust fund of her campaign attorney, Phillip Greer, and to mail the checks to her Garden Grove campaign address.

In an interview Thursday, Nguyen admitted that she sought the contributions but said she did so on the advice of her lawyers, under the belief that it was legal because politicians at the local, state and federal level are allowed to maintain legal defense funds. She said she had selected the people to whom the requests were sent based on personal contacts.

Well, I guess Janet wasn’t paying attention to what was legal at the county level. Here in Orange County, we have a little something called TIN CUP. And clearly, Janet and her campaign team had an idea as to what was allowed and what wasn’t under TIN CUP since they had to ensure early in the campaign that money transferred from Janet’s Assembly account could be transferred into her Supervisorial account. So why did she still violate TIN CUP during the recount?

And oh yes, why hasn’t Janet reported this to the Registrar of Voters? Not only is Janet Nguyen required to return the money, but she must also report it. Well, Janet said that she returned the money, but how do we really know if she hasn’t filed the proper paperwork? No wonder why Martin Wisckol has become so curious over at Total Buzz.

County code says that you have to return such overages within seven days — and then file paperwork with the county Registrar of Voters within 72 hours, documenting how much was returned and to whom.

It’s now been more than two months since the money was allegedly returned. Each day I grow increasingly curious about who those generous donors were and just how much they tried to give Nguyen. Is there some reason she doesn’t want the public to know who they are?

Yes, is there a reason? Why hasn’t Janet filed the paperwork? If she really returned the money, then why won’t she report it? And oh yes, just who was giving her this money? And why did they want to give her all this money?

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I agree with Jubal/Matt Cunningham on this:

But her refusal to comply with a simple provision of TIN CUP is difficult to understand. It’s not a complicated task — all she has to do is fill out some paperwork about three donors to her illegal legal defense fund whose donations exceeded TIN CUP contribution limits. […]

Let’s leave aside the implausibility of Janet’s claim to know there are three donors who gave more than the $1,600 limit, but she doesn’t know who they are, although she does know the excess donations were refunded.

What excuse does she have for refusing to comply with a county ordinance for going on two months now? Janet’s a county supervisor, after all — and flouting county ordinances doesn’t look good.

Yes, what exactly is her excuse? She’s our sitting County Supervisor now. She should be setting an example by following county law. And if she can’t even follow one county ordinance on campaign contributions, then why should we trust her with this and other laws?

If Janet Nguyen wants to all this speculation about her legally questionable contributions, then she needs to report them to the Registrar of Voters. After all, she is the only person perpetuating this scandal by not being forthcoming. So can Janet please just report? There’s something about Janet and her campaign account, and it would be so much nicer for everyone if she can just obey the law and report what she got.

New desk for reception foyer of Supervisor John Moorlach's office: $8,990, New conference table for Supervisor Pat Bates' office: $3,375, Track lighting with dimmer switch for Supervisor Janet Nguyen's office: $1,300, 90 high-end, “high-concept” Herman Miller office chairs for Treasurer Chriss Street: almost $50,000, 52-inch wall-mounted flat-screen television for EACH NEW SUPERVISOR'S personal office: $4,000 (each) (Street's flat-screen TV cost $7,800).  Seeing complete hypocrisy from all these supposed “fiscally conservative” Republicans featured in the Orange County edition of The Los Angeles Times yesterday: PRICELESS!

Follow me after the flip to see just how much taxpayer money our “fiscal conservatives” in Orange County are wasting on their “extreme makeover”…

So what the heck is going on here?

You might call it “Extreme Makeover: Orange County Government Edition.” As one of their first orders of business, Orange County's four newly elected officeholders — the treasurer and the three new members of the Board of Supervisors — are collectively spending just over $1.1 million to spruce up their offices in the months since they were sworn in, according to documents reviewed by The Times.

The spending is hardly noticeable in a budget totaling more than $5 billion. But the renovations for the four officeholders are occurring in a county known for its anti-tax attitudes, dim view of government spending and Republicans who boast fiscally conservative credentials.

OK, so our new Supervisors and County Treasurer are spending some money renovating their offices. What's the big deal here? Well, should it be costing us taxpayers $1.1 million? And do they really need “high-concept office chairs” and wall-mounted flat-screen TVs? Is that really the best way to spend our money?

And aren't there better ways to spend this money?

It also comes as officials weigh funding cuts in their coming budget sessions for services such as drug counseling for court defendants and payments to doctors who provide emergency medical services.

Oh yes, so I guess the poor people who live in this county don't matter. Let the drug addicts fall back into crack. Let the poor people die in the waiting room as hospitals can't afford to care for the sick and injured. No, what really matters is $200,000 to get rid of that retro 1960s Palm Springs look in poor Johnny Moorlach's office!

Moorlach, whose tab was the highest among the supervisors at $198,525.84, said he felt it was unfair to ask office staff to work in the existing environment. “When I got here, I thought I had moved into an old home in Palm Springs in the 1960s,” he said. “It even went beyond my conservative pale. I said, 'Wait a minute, this has got to be upgraded.'

“If I'm asking professionals to work for me on a $6-billion budget,” Moorlach said, “it doesn't make sense to ask them to sit on an antique furniture that wouldn't even sell at a garage sale.”

No, we can't have that! We can't have Mr. Moorlach's highly-paid staffers cringing in disgust at all that “antique furniture that wouldn't even sell at a garage sale”. But if that nearly $200,000 is money being taken away from essential services to the working poor in Orange County, that's no big deal. Who needs poor people, anyway?

And oh yes, look at the guy who collects our taxes. Isn't he doing a great job spending over half a million of our tax dollars? Isn't he?

Roughly half of the total spent — $578,550.82 — was for the treasurer-tax collector's office, which is undergoing a massive renovation aimed at changing the working environment for all of its nearly 100 employees. […]

Asked if the changes were needed to carry out the work of the treasurer's office, Street said: “We had $7 billion in cash being managed here, and you couldn't see what people were doing…. There is no way you can even have $100 million managed by people sitting in closed rooms. That's taxpayer funds. It's grossly inappropriate.”

Yes, having these people work in such a closed floor plan is grossly inappropriate! Yes, open up those walls! Redesign it like your old digs at that bond-trading firm. Wall Street always knows best when it comes to designing efficient yet tasteful office space.

But wait. Hold on a moment. Is this the best way to spend our tax dollars? Is the best way to spend our money when we have thousands upon thousands of people who struggle to survive?

What about emergency medical services? What about keeping people off drugs? What about the needs of the people in this county? The county is facing some awfully tough budget choices, as County Supervisors consider all these cuts to county services. If times are really this tough, is it really that appropriate to spend county money, OUR TAX MONEY, on unnecessary high-end furniture?

Even though I'm happy that Lou Correa is now my State Senator, I often miss seeing him on our County Board of Supervisors. Among all those “fiscal conservatives”, he seemed to be the only one who was actually interested in putting our tax dollars to work for us.

One former supervisor, state Sen. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana), was surprised at the price tag for renovations to the office he vacated six months ago. When he was there, he said, he asked that a ripped section of carpet be replaced and covered the cracked glass on a desktop with a book.

“A public office belongs to the taxpayers, not to the elected,” he said. “I don't think I need a 52-inch wall-mounted TV to do my job.”

In fact, Correa said, he had a regular 36-inch television in his office; he bought it himself and took it with him when he left.

Cheese louise, why does it always have to be the Democrat to bring some fiscal responsibility to government? And what happens when we don't have any? I guess we're left with a bunch of “fiscally conservative” Republicans wasting money on high-end desks and flat-screen TVs.

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…