Quang Pham speaks out on the GOP’s 47th District Primary

Businessman and former U.S. Marine Quang Pham has written a blog post about the candidates for the Republican Party nomination in the 47th Congressional District, over at his blog.  You may recall that Pham suspended his own campaign for that district and ultimately did not file to run.  You can read his press release about the suspestion of his campaign by clicking here

Here are a few excerpts from Pham’s new post about the remaining GOP candidates in the 47th C.D. primary:

Well, I have heard from many people since I suspended my campaign last week.  And my decision was the right one.

Tan Nguyen, who has been indicted for sending controversial/illegal mailers to Latino voters in 2006, showed up at the OC Registrar’s Office hours before the deadline for making the June 8 primary ballot, and turned in the required number of signatures.  His trial date is May 3.  Nguyen officially made the ballot to face Assemblyman Van Tran, himself the subject of a DUI interference incident and per diem scheme to enrich himself with $137,000 of taxpayer money, and Katherine H. Smith, a trustee on the Anaheim Union High School District which is in the 47th CD.  Smith ran for statewide office in 2002,  forced California Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell into a runoff, and got 1,177,783 votes in the general election including 115,088 in Orange County.  She finished in second place based on her ballot statement and hardly campaigned.

The party hacks never predicted this scenario last year when Tran was feted by GOP leaders in OC and Washington.  They did not want Tran to have to “wage an expensive primary,” preferring to help him save his money to face Loretta Sanchez who already has more than $1 million of cash on hand as of 12/31/09.  Tran, who is referred to as the “Vietnamese Godfather,” will have to spend money now.

Click here to read the rest of this post.

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