OC Blog

Nguyen V. Nguyen Round Two: It'll Be Trung v. Janet And The Registrar Of Voters

Busy day.

This came over the transom from Janet Nguyen consultant Dave Gilliard this morning:

The Court of Appeal today rejected Schroeder/Trung's motion to disqualify the registrar of voters from participating in the appeal hearing and granted Janet Nguyen’s motion to take judicial notice of various pieces of legislative history, including the Governor's signing statement which confirms the interpretation made by Janet’s attorney of the state statute.

Martin Wisckol has more over at Total Buzz. I presume that means we'll see Leon Page back in action for the ROV.

So they're getting the band back together. You can see video the cast of characters from the previous run of Nguyen V. Nguyen this past spring here, here, here and here.

Grindle Filed Complaint Against Trung

As reported today by Total Buzz, Shirley Grindle, the self-proclaimed watchdog of campaign finances filed a complaint with the California Attorney General and the Orange County D.A. against Trung Nguyen based on her rationale of "fairness." 

I want to get this straight: Janet opened an illegal bank account, asked donors with business before the County of Orange to give "anonymously", and over the contribution limits to that account.  When she told that such an account was illegal, waited at least 50 days to refund the money, after the OCBlogsphere intensified their pressure.

On the other hand, Trung inadvertently accepted checks from candidate-controlled committees, none of which were over the limits, and refunded the money within seven days, which is in accordance to the law.

While I am confident that nothing will come of this complaint, I fail to see the connection nor do I see the "fairness Shirley Grindle is looking for.

Janet Nguyen Will Pay $5,000 In Fines For TIN CUP Violations

Supervisor Janet Nguyen and her campaign committee have reached an agreement with the Attorney General and the California Fair Political Practices Commission, whereby she'll stipulate to seven counts of violating the county TIN CUP campaign finance ordinance. The violations stem from her illegal legal defense fund set up during the post-special election recount.

As part of the stipulation, her campaign we'll pay $5,000 in fines which will go into the county general fund. Maybe they can be earmarked for her outreach office?

Here's the stipulation and the accompanying exhibit. The FPPC will take this up at its December 13, 2007 meeting, and presumably OK it.

I think one can pretty much guarantee this will end up in a number of negative mailers against Janet during the primary campaign. This was a needless self-inflicted wound.

UPDATE (5:50 p.m.): This statement from Janet Nguyen consultant Dave Gilliard just came over the transom:

“We are very gratified that the FPPC concluded that there was no evidence of any intentional violations and that all campaign reports were filed properly.  It is time for Mike Schroeder to end this personal vendetta and quest to destroy the career of Republican officeholder.”

Nguyen v. Nguyen: Oral Argument Scheduled

Unfortunately Mike Carona will not be the only person sitting in a critical trial with political ramification this holiday season.  Yes, oral argument in the appeal case between the two Nguyens is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, December 18, 2007 at 9:00 AM at the court house located on 925 N. Spurgeon Street in Santa Ana.  I cannot wait...

Nguyen v. Nguyen: Appellate Court Rejected Janet's Motion to Strike

The motion to strike filed by Janet Nguyen and joined by the Registrar of Voters was denied by the Appellate Court yesterday.  We can now expect to hear oral arguments in early December and get a ruling around Christmas:

The motion to strike the appellant's appendix is DENIED. The alternative application for extension of time is GRANTED. Pursuant thereto, the time for both respondents to file their respondent's brief and any respondent's appendix is hereby extended to Friday November 9, 2007. The reply brief will be due 20 days thereafter, i.e., Thursday November 29, 2007. The case shall be scheduled for the December oral argument calendar; notice of date and time will be given by the clerk. The court anticipates no further extensions, except for good cause. The requests for judicial notice contained in the appellant's appendix are all hereby DENIED WITHOUT PREJUDICE for appellants to file them in a proper form. Appellants shall have only until Friday, October 19, 2007, to file renewed motions for judicial notice. The request for sanctions made by respondent Janet Nguyen against appellants is DENIED. SILLS, P. J. * Before Sills, P.J., Aronson, J. and Fybel, J.

This could be a disappointing holiday season for either Janet or Trung.

Legal Complaint Filed Against Janet for Issuing Bounced Checks

Martin Wisckol over at Total Buzz just posted another update on the legal drama between the two Nguyens:

Today, a complaint was filed with Attorney General Jerry Brown (who, ironically, Schroeder attempted unsuccessfully to have removed from office). It wants Nguyen prosecuted for perjury on the grounds that she lied when she said she returned a stack of illegal contributions. The basis of that lie: She signed a campaign disclosure saying they had been returned, but the complaint says that the checks bounced.

(Janet solicted funds for a legal defense account managed by her attorney, Phil Greer. Weeks after it became public that such an account was illegal, Greer and Janet announced they were returning the money.)

According to reliable sources, the donor community is intensifying its pressure on the GOP leadership to secure a peace deal between Trung Nguyen and Janet Nguyen.  Obviously, there is no progress yet on that front as the Dark Lord is still relentless in his legal attacks.

UPDATE (9:31 PM): There are copies of the bounced checks floating around and the California Attorney General should have a stack of it on his desk, according to a reliable source.

Nguyen v. Nguyen: Registrar of Voters Joined Janet in Court Extension

Today the Registrar of Voter filed this motion in the Appellate Court to extend their and Janet's response time to Trung Nguyen's opening brief.

Resp Orange County Registrar of Voter's to resp Janet Nguyen's application for ext of ime to file RB.  Filed by the Registrar of Voter on October 3, 2007.

Nguyen v. Nguyen: Janet Filed Motion to Strike

On September 28, five days before Janet Nguyen's brief was due in court in response to Trung Nguyen's opening brief, her attorney filed a motion to strike.  This of course will drag the process out even further as the Appellate Court will now have to deliberate on Janet's latest legal maneuver.

By respondent Janet Nguyen to strike aplt's appendix and request for sanctions (or in the alternative, application to extend time).  Motion filed on September 28, 2007.

Had Janet file a response on or before October 4 as expected, we could read the court's finding by mid November, according to a reliable legal source.

Nguyen V. Nguyen Update: Opening Brief Filed

I see there's been a new filing in the Nguyen v. Nguyen court case (yes, it is still going on).

Today, the"appellant's appendix and opening brief" was filed. I don't know exactly what that means, but I have some calls out to find out.

UPDATE (1:42 p.m.): I just got off the phone with Steve Baric, whose been working on Team Trung with Mike Schroeder. Steve said the opening brief is pretty much the same stuff that was in the writ filing.

What's new is they've included research from the Secretary of State's voting machine investigation (which led Debra Bowen, rightly or wrongly, to de-certify the voting machines), specifically her researchers' contention that the only  way to determine if the machine's have been monkeyed with -- and the results altered -- is via the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail.

Team Janet now has 30 days to respond, and then Team Trung has 10 days to reply to that response -- and then the oral arguments begin.

New Report Raises More Questions About Anti-Bustmante IE Committee

Back in February, I wrote a few posts (here, here and here) trying resolve the mystery surrounding an independent expenditure committee -- Orange County Healthcare, Education and Neighborhood Leaders PAC -- that sent out this mailer attacking Santa Ana Councilman Carlos Bustamante in the final days of the 1st Supervisor District special election.

I put the issue in my mental tickle file until the latest campaign reports became available and I could try to answer some unanswered questions.

But first some back story: