The O.C. Register came to the defense of O.C. Supervisor Janet Nguyen in an editorial today. Here are a few excerpts from the O.C. Register editorial:
After Supervisor Janet Nguyen agreed to pay $5,000 in fines for illegal donations to her legal-defense fund after her three-vote election victory in February, her opponents came out swinging.
Attorney Mike Schroeder, who represents losing candidate Trung Nguyen, told the news media that “This was an organized attempt to circumvent the law that they repeatedly lied about until they got caught.” He was surprised by the low fine amount. Yet the Fair Political Practices Commission, which must still approve the settlement deal when it meets later this month, argued in its report, “In this case, the investigation did not produce sufficient evidence to support a finding that the violations were deliberate. In addition, all of the fundraising occurred after the election and no campaign statements were filed incorrectly as a result of this activity. The money was returned promptly when the mistake became apparent.”
The author of the county’s campaign-finance law, Shirley Grindle, was shocked that Ms. Nguyen faced any fines at all. In response, she filed a complaint this week with the state attorney general and the county district attorney against Trung Nguyen for similar violations of the campaign law. “Trung Nguyen’s treasurer was notified by me that these contributions were illegal and appropriate refunds were made in a timely fashion,” she argued. “Normally I would never file a complaint on someone who cooperated in returning illegal contributions, but having seen that the AG’s office decided to fine Supervisor Janet Nguyen over very similar and inadvertent violations that she remedied, it would be unfair to not treat Trung Nguyen with the same consideration.”
Mike Schroeder is such a hypocrite! He defends Trung Nguyen, and disgraced O.C. Sheriff Mike Carona, after they rack up thousands of dollars in FPPC fines – but he continues to attack Supervisor Janet Nguyen. Can’t the OC GOP Central Committee censor this S.O.B.?
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