Janet Nguyen
Encyclopedia
Janet Q. Nguyen is the County Supervisor
from the First District of Orange County, California
. She won her seat following a historic special election where two Vietnamese-American
candidates received half of the total votes cast in a field of 10, separated from each other by only 7 votes. She was sworn in on March 27, 2007, after a lengthy court battle. She won a full, four-year term in 2008 in another historic election when all three major candidates were Vietnamese Americans.
She is the youngest person to be elected to the board of supervisors, the first woman to be elected from the First District, and the first Vietnamese-American county supervisor in the United States
. Prior to her election to the Board of Supervisors, she served as a city council member for the City of Garden Grove
.
. Her family joined millions of others in becoming boat people
when she was five, coming to California
in 1981. They first lived in San Bernardino
, but settled in Garden Grove
in early 1990s. She attended the University of California, Irvine
, at first to become a doctor
but later majored in political science
after she was inspired by then-Supervisor Bill Steiner
. She is married to Tom Bonikowski.
to the California State Senate
in the 2006 election left his supervisorial seat vacant. Ten candidates filed for the seat in the February 6, 2007 special election, including three Vietnamese Americans, who were all Republicans. While the 1st District Supervisorial seat is officially non-partisan, the leading candidate was California State Assembly
man Tom Umberg
(who had just left office two months before), a Democrat who had the full support of the labor unions. While the Republican Party did not officially endorse a candidate, most party leaders were backing Carlos Bustamante.
With three Vietnamese-American candidates, the large Vietnamese-American community who comprise a quarter of registered voters in the First District was galvanized. Janet Nguyen's main opponent, Garden Grove Unified School District
Trustee Trung Nguyen, had the support of State Assemblyman Van Tran
. Issues that the candidates discussed included illegal immigration to the United States
, one that county supervisors do not have the authority to affect.
The debate was more heated within the Vietnamese-American community, with accusations flying back and forth between the two Nguyen camps. Trung Nguyen was insulted as a "fob
" and his campaign photoshopped Trung Nguyen in a photo next to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger while Janet Nguyen was criticized for not being fluent in Vietnamese
. Pundits speculated that the three Vietnamese-American candidates would split the Vietnamese-American vote, allowing Umberg to easily win the election.
With high absentee voter turnout among the Vietnamese-American community, it became clear on election night that Janet Nguyen and Trung Nguyen were leading. Umberg and Bustamante were in third and fourth place, respectively, and quickly conceded defeat. At the end of the night, Janet Nguyen was leading by 52 votes. When all the votes were counted on the following day, however, Trung Nguyen was leading by seven votes. Janet Nguyen requested a recount, and the final result was 10,919 votes for Janet Nguyen and 10,912 votes for Trung Nguyen. Janet Nguyen was certified the winner.
However, Trung Nguyen's lawyers filed lawsuit challenging the recount, alleging that the Registrar of Voters improperly voided votes for him and awarded votes to Janet Nguyen in the recount. The Board of Supervisors postpone inaugurating Janet Nguyen pending the lawsuit. On March 26, she was named the winner, winning by just 3 votes. She was sworn into office on March 27, 2007.
After losing the lawsuit in the Orange County Superior Court, Trung Nguyen's lawyers filed an appeal to the California District Court of Appeals. The District Court of Appeals ruled against Trung Nguyen and upheld the Superior Court's decision. Refusing to stop there, Trung Nguyen's lawyers filed an appeal to the California Supreme Court. The California Supreme Court denied to hear the appeal.
, regular elections for Orange County Supervisor are decided by majority vote. Should no candidate capture a majority of the vote, then the top two candidates advance to a run-off election
.
In light of the closeness of her initial election in 2007, it was widely expected that Janet Nguyen would be forced into a November 2008 run-off election. However, Janet Nguyen won 56.6% of the vote in the June 2008 election, avoiding a November run-off. Garden Grove Councilmember Dina Nguyen, a fellow Republican who received the strong support of Assemblyman Van Tran and his machine (including former candidate, Trung Nguyen), won only 27.7% of the vote while Democratic activist Hoa Van Tran won 15.7% of the vote.
It turned out that Nguyen had a reason to vote against the ratings. "Her husband and chief of staff are co-owners of a sandwich shop in Stanton and she reports income from her husband's food-related job on her public disclosure," according to the O.C. Register. http://www.ocregister.com/articles/restaurant-nguyen-health-2259808-system-county
Nguyen's husband, Tom Bonikowski, and Chief of Staff, Andrew Do, co-own a Lee's Sandwiches franchise, according to the Bolsavik blog. http://bolsavik.com/?p=452
County board of supervisors
The Board of Supervisors is the body that supervises the operation of county government in all counties in Arizona, California, Iowa, Mississippi, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Sussex County, New Jersey as well as a handful of counties in New York...
from the First District of Orange County, California
Orange County, California
Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...
. She won her seat following a historic special election where two Vietnamese-American
Vietnamese American
A Vietnamese American is an American of Vietnamese descent. They make up about half of all overseas Vietnamese and are the fourth-largest Asian American group....
candidates received half of the total votes cast in a field of 10, separated from each other by only 7 votes. She was sworn in on March 27, 2007, after a lengthy court battle. She won a full, four-year term in 2008 in another historic election when all three major candidates were Vietnamese Americans.
She is the youngest person to be elected to the board of supervisors, the first woman to be elected from the First District, and the first Vietnamese-American county supervisor in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Prior to her election to the Board of Supervisors, she served as a city council member for the City of Garden Grove
Garden Grove, California
Garden Grove is a city located in northern Orange County, California. The population was 170,883 at the 2010 census. State Route 22, also known as the Garden Grove Freeway, passes through the city running east-west. The city is known outside the Southern California area for being the home of Robert H...
.
Personal life
Nguyen was born in Saigon, VietnamVietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. Her family joined millions of others in becoming boat people
Boat people
Boat people is a term that usually refers to refugees, illegal immigrants or asylum seekers who emigrate in numbers in boats that are sometimes old and crudely made...
when she was five, coming to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in 1981. They first lived in San Bernardino
San Bernardino, California
San Bernardino is a city located in the Riverside-San Bernardino metropolitan area , and serves as the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States...
, but settled in Garden Grove
Garden Grove, California
Garden Grove is a city located in northern Orange County, California. The population was 170,883 at the 2010 census. State Route 22, also known as the Garden Grove Freeway, passes through the city running east-west. The city is known outside the Southern California area for being the home of Robert H...
in early 1990s. She attended the University of California, Irvine
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine , founded in 1965, is one of the ten campuses of the University of California, located in Irvine, California, USA...
, at first to become a doctor
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
but later majored in political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
after she was inspired by then-Supervisor Bill Steiner
William G. Steiner
William G. Steiner is a children's advocate and nationally recognized expert on child abuse and neglect, a former chairman of the Orange County, California board of supervisors, founder of both the Orangewood Children's Home, located in Orange, California and the Good Samaritan Boy's Home, in...
. She is married to Tom Bonikowski.
Special Election 2007
The election of Supervisor Lou CorreaLou Correa
Jose Luis Correa is a California Democratic Party Legislator. He is serving his second term as a member of the California State Senate, representing the 34th Senate District...
to the California State Senate
California State Senate
The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature. There are 40 state senators. The state legislature meets in the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The Lieutenant Governor is the ex officio President of the Senate and may break a tied vote...
in the 2006 election left his supervisorial seat vacant. Ten candidates filed for the seat in the February 6, 2007 special election, including three Vietnamese Americans, who were all Republicans. While the 1st District Supervisorial seat is officially non-partisan, the leading candidate was California State Assembly
California State Assembly
The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. There are 80 members in the Assembly, representing an approximately equal number of constituents, with each district having a population of at least 420,000...
man Tom Umberg
Tom Umberg
Thomas John Umberg is a U.S. politician, who was a Democrat in the California State Assembly, representing the 69th District.-Military service and family:...
(who had just left office two months before), a Democrat who had the full support of the labor unions. While the Republican Party did not officially endorse a candidate, most party leaders were backing Carlos Bustamante.
With three Vietnamese-American candidates, the large Vietnamese-American community who comprise a quarter of registered voters in the First District was galvanized. Janet Nguyen's main opponent, Garden Grove Unified School District
Garden Grove Unified School District
The Garden Grove Unified School District is the third largest school district in Orange County, and the twelfth largest in the State of California...
Trustee Trung Nguyen, had the support of State Assemblyman Van Tran
Van Tran
Van Thai Tran , born October 19, 1964) is an attorney and politician in California, formerly serving as a Republican member of the California State Assembly, representing portions of Orange County. Tran and Texas State Representative Hubert Vo were the highest-ranking Vietnamese American elected...
. Issues that the candidates discussed included illegal immigration to the United States
Illegal immigration to the United States
An illegal immigrant in the United States is an alien who has entered the United States without government permission or stayed beyond the termination date of a visa....
, one that county supervisors do not have the authority to affect.
The debate was more heated within the Vietnamese-American community, with accusations flying back and forth between the two Nguyen camps. Trung Nguyen was insulted as a "fob
Fresh off the boat
The phrases Fresh off the boat , Off the boat , or just simply Boat; are terminologies used to describe immigrants that have arrived from a foreign nation and have not yet assimilated into the host nation's culture, language, and behavior. Within some ethnic Asian circles in the United States, the...
" and his campaign photoshopped Trung Nguyen in a photo next to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger while Janet Nguyen was criticized for not being fluent in Vietnamese
Vietnamese language
Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...
. Pundits speculated that the three Vietnamese-American candidates would split the Vietnamese-American vote, allowing Umberg to easily win the election.
With high absentee voter turnout among the Vietnamese-American community, it became clear on election night that Janet Nguyen and Trung Nguyen were leading. Umberg and Bustamante were in third and fourth place, respectively, and quickly conceded defeat. At the end of the night, Janet Nguyen was leading by 52 votes. When all the votes were counted on the following day, however, Trung Nguyen was leading by seven votes. Janet Nguyen requested a recount, and the final result was 10,919 votes for Janet Nguyen and 10,912 votes for Trung Nguyen. Janet Nguyen was certified the winner.
However, Trung Nguyen's lawyers filed lawsuit challenging the recount, alleging that the Registrar of Voters improperly voided votes for him and awarded votes to Janet Nguyen in the recount. The Board of Supervisors postpone inaugurating Janet Nguyen pending the lawsuit. On March 26, she was named the winner, winning by just 3 votes. She was sworn into office on March 27, 2007.
After losing the lawsuit in the Orange County Superior Court, Trung Nguyen's lawyers filed an appeal to the California District Court of Appeals. The District Court of Appeals ruled against Trung Nguyen and upheld the Superior Court's decision. Refusing to stop there, Trung Nguyen's lawyers filed an appeal to the California Supreme Court. The California Supreme Court denied to hear the appeal.
2008 election
While special elections for Orange County Supervisor are decided by plurality votePlurality voting system
The plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies...
, regular elections for Orange County Supervisor are decided by majority vote. Should no candidate capture a majority of the vote, then the top two candidates advance to a run-off election
Two-round system
The two-round system is a voting system used to elect a single winner where the voter casts a single vote for their chosen candidate...
.
In light of the closeness of her initial election in 2007, it was widely expected that Janet Nguyen would be forced into a November 2008 run-off election. However, Janet Nguyen won 56.6% of the vote in the June 2008 election, avoiding a November run-off. Garden Grove Councilmember Dina Nguyen, a fellow Republican who received the strong support of Assemblyman Van Tran and his machine (including former candidate, Trung Nguyen), won only 27.7% of the vote while Democratic activist Hoa Van Tran won 15.7% of the vote.
A controversial vote
The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted against proposed restaurant rating systems in December 2008. "Supervisor Janet Nguyen opposed any change to the system, saying restaurant owners already face "hundreds of regulations," according to the Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ocrestaurants17-2008dec17,0,2378995.storyIt turned out that Nguyen had a reason to vote against the ratings. "Her husband and chief of staff are co-owners of a sandwich shop in Stanton and she reports income from her husband's food-related job on her public disclosure," according to the O.C. Register. http://www.ocregister.com/articles/restaurant-nguyen-health-2259808-system-county
Nguyen's husband, Tom Bonikowski, and Chief of Staff, Andrew Do, co-own a Lee's Sandwiches franchise, according to the Bolsavik blog. http://bolsavik.com/?p=452
Electoral history
- 2007 Orange County Board of Supervisors, 1st District
- Janet Nguyen (R), 10,919 - 24.1%
- Trung Nguyen (R), 10,912 - 24.1%
- Tom UmbergTom UmbergThomas John Umberg is a U.S. politician, who was a Democrat in the California State Assembly, representing the 69th District.-Military service and family:...
(D), 9,725 - 21.4% - Carlos Bustamante (R), 7,460 - 16.5%
- Mark Rosen (D), 2,181 - 4.8%
- Brett Elliott Franklin (R), 1,739 - 3.8%
- Kermit Marsh (R), 1,335 - 2.9%
- Larry Phan (R), 417 - 0.9%
- Lupe Moreno (R), 383 - 0.8%
- Benny Diaz (D), 273 - 0.6%
- 2008 Orange County Board of Supervisors, 1st District
- Janet Nguyen (R), 21,350 - 56.6%
- Dina Nguyen (R), 10,465 - 27.7%
- Hoa Van Tran (D), 5,928 - 15.7%