Dina Nguyen is running for the Garden Grove City Council – and she was endorsed by the OC GOP Endorsement Committee last week. However, information has come my way indicating that she is not what she appears to be.
Nguyen was nominated to the Garden Grove Planning Commission by Council Member Mark Rosen, a Democrat, in February of this year. However, the nomination failed when Council Members Bill Dalton, Janet Nguyen and Harry Krebs, all Republicans, voted against it.
Apparently Dina was also a Democrat, but she changed her registration to Republican, in March of this year. Also, she wrote a check to Assemblyman Van Tran in January of this year, and she was noted as a resident of Westminster – which is a problem if she is now trying to get onto the Garden Grove City Council.
I have also been told that certain forces in Garden Grove are trying to get Dina elected so that she can vote against a new Wal Mart that is supposed to open up in Garden Grove. If that is indeed the case, it would mark her as a sell-out to the unions, and sure enough she hired pro-union squish Ken Maddox, a former Assemblyman, as her consultant, according to Red County/OC Blog.
I tried to find Dina’s campaign site, to no avail. However I did find her posing with State Senator Tom Harman. The League of Women Voters’ Smart Voter site notes that Dina is a commissioner, attorney and businesswoman. I don’t know what commission she sits on, as the City of Garden Grove does not list commissioners on their website.
I have a feeling that Dina is going to have a hard time getting her endorsement approved at Monday’s OC GOP Central Committee meeting.
Art,
Name your source for the info on Dina Nguyen.
Ken,
Sorry for the late reply. I am in the Bay area today on business and I just now checked into my hotel and got online.
My sources does not want to be named.
I understand all of this has been debated elsewhere today – perhaps you will be able to bring some evidence to the contrary to Central Committee tonight. Be sure to say hi to my alternate, Thomas Gordon.
The one question that needs to be answered, amongst many, is why Mark Rosen is such a big fan of Dina. Nothing against Mark, but a little pajarito tells me that he is hoping to combine forces with Bruce Broadwater and Dina to stop the proposed Wal Mart in Garden Grove. I have not run this by Mark yet – but perhaps he can elaborate when he reads this.
I am opposed to giving land away to Wal Mart via eminent domain, but this store, in Garden Grove, is not utilizing land grants. There is no good reason to oppose it, that I am aware of.
Perhaps Dina will let the Committee know where she really stands on this. And maybe someone can ask her how she feels about PLAs?
Art,
Thanks for the invitation. I don’t think your pajaritos (or is it a pajarita?) are giving you good information.
Both Van Tran and I met Dina long before our city council involvement, when she was a courtroom clerk at the Westminster courthouse. She has worked politically with Van over the years. While at the courthouse, she worked her way through law school. She is very capable. After I got on the council, I appointed her to an ad hoc cultural arts commission and then to the Neighborhood Improvement Commission. Harry Krebs reappointed her to that commission. When I nominated her for the Planning Commission, Mark Leyes seconded her and then voted for her. It is true that Bill Dalton and Harry Krebs did not like the way I had “disposed” of my prior appointee. However, I do not think that was why Janet Nguyen voted against her. (See reference to Van Tran above.) Janet Nguyen was more than happy to vote for my subsequent nominee, a Democrat. As for Wal-Mart, I have no idea where Dina stands on the issue.
Mark Rosen
(Garden Grove City Council)
Mark,
Thanks for setting the record straight! It is pretty funny that Dalton and Krebs would be upset that you attempted to cast aside a lefty commissioner. I would have thought that would have pleased them.
I do think that Dina herself needs to let us know for sure where she stands re the Wal Mart issue.
At any rate, Dina was in fact endorsed tonight by the OC GOP – so now it will be up to your fellow voters in Garden Grove to decide whether they want her on the council or not. I suspect she will end up edging out Krebs…