The campaign-related activities themselves were, as you point out, needless self-inflicted wounds. Settling with the FPPC (and simultaneously with Jerry Brown's office), however, was a wise move.

For a mere $5,000, not only will the Supervisor no longer have to worry about any criminal complaints stemming from last year's election, this settlement probably moots the pending civil actions as well.

Good job to Janet and her advisors on this one.

It doesn't matter a great deal about the amount of fines etc.; she will get hit over and over regarding her admission to violating the law. Good move under the circumstances for sure, however the circumstances are political nightmares.

I have to agree. It the amount is secondary and most voters won't think about that when they are being hit with "Violated the law when in office".

Janet:
How about cash not report. The rumor in Little Saigon said someone will come out to testify about this matter.

Janet, hurry, don't delay to report and clear this matter, FPPC will come after soon.

Now I guess Janet has to spend her campaign funds to pay off her fines. She needs to have "Support Janet's Fines and Tickets Night" When will asian voters start waking up? Find and elect someone with good moral character!

Spin, Spin, Spin.

Despite Janet's spokesperson's comments to the contrary, (Update at 5:50 PM) the FPPC did NOT conclude that there was NO evidence of any intentional violations.

What Exhibit 1 says is:

"In this case, the investigation did not produce SUFFICIENT evidence to support a finding that the violations were deliberate."

Also, the Commission did NOT say that ALL her campaign reports were filed properly. What they said was:

"In addition, all of the fundraising occurred after the election and no campaign statements were filed incorrectly AS A RESULT OF THIS ACTIVITY."

Notwithstanding this little stretch of truth, the underlying request that Mike Schroeder drop his legal efforts over violations of the Political Reform Act is probably valid.

This stipulation, of course, has no bearing on the appeal of the election contest. It only applies to alleged Political Reform Act violations.

To Janet Nguyen and her cohorts,

Your greed and unhealthy ambition just had a head-on collision with your inexperience and ineptitude that resulted in your 5K FPPC fine. It will take at least 10 times that amount to explain this one when the campaign rolls around.

Perhaps Art Perdroza and Viet Luong, Janet's lackeys, can split the difference and pay for her FPPC fine.

Janet deserves a much bigger fine. She hired professionals but still did things the wrong way. I hope she only serves one term.

Janet Nguyen and her supporters only have themselves to blame for this one. Don't try to blame Mike Schroeder for your illegal activities. Your arrogance brought this problem on yourself.

“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."

Boy Mr Gilliard are you in for a surprise. Just wait for the bomb to drop that Im holding.

Let me rephrase that beofre janet gets in a tizzy and sends the FBI to investigate OC Blog. I meant to say that I have evidence that will contradict the above statement.

Translation, Unreported cash; Mis-appropriated funds, and un-refunded funds for her Illegal defense fund.

cra is right. However,instead of waiting for next election, let's RECALL Janet now. She is the word "embarrassment" it self for our community. Recall Janet and also get rid of her rat kissers. Our OC republican party must move quickly to replace Janet before it's too late. Generally speaking, protecting our elected republican office holders makes sense for me but in this Janet's case, she is "ever growing liability" for our OC Republican Party. Remove Janet at once!

Complaint filed against Trung Nguyen
December 4th, 2007 - From Total Buzz

posted by mwisckol
Campaign watchdog Shirley Grindle (photo) has today filed a complaint against supervisorial candidate Trung Nguyen. The move is in direct response to Supervisor Janet Nguyen being fined $5,000 for campaign violations (yesterday’s story here).

Grindle was upset to hear about Janet’s fine, since the supervisor had already acknowledged that she’d made an inadvertant mistake and had returned donations in question. In Grindle’s complaint, she says that if Janet is being punished, so should Trung — even though Trung also has corrected his error.

The twist in the story here is that Janet may have sought the fine and resolution that it brought, because it means Trung can’t file a costly civil suit against her.

– Martin Wisckol

Grindle’s complaint has to do with five contributions Trung received in his campaign for the February supervisor election that Janet narrowly won. Those five came from campaign committees of other office holders, and county law prohibits such contributions. Here’s an excerpt from her complaint.

“Trung Nguyen’s treasurer was notified by me that these contributions were illegal and appropriate refunds were made in a timely fashion. 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.”

The complaint that Janet has reached a tentative settlement on with the state Fair Political Practices Commission — likely to be approved — had been pending since earlier this year. And while any FPPC resolution within less than a year is unusual, enough time had passed since the complaint filing — 90 days — that Trung could have filed a civil suit against her.

Trung has volunteer legal counsel, while Janet is paying for hers and many believe the ongoing legal assaults by Team Trung is an attempt to empty her campaign coffers into defense lawyers’ pockets. A civil suit would have likely been more costly to Janet than the $5,000 fine.

Over the summer, I spoke with Janet about the possibility — suggested to me by elections lawyer Dana Reed — that she ask the FPPC to expedite her case. Reed had told me that the FPPC generally moves more quickly when the defendent expresses an eagerness for a settlement — and that such a resolution would remove Trung’s ability to file a civil suit.

I left messages yesterday with Janet, her lawyer Phil Greer, and her chief of staff, trying to find out if she had in fact worked to expedite the case. None have returned my call — just her consultant, Dave Gilliard, who said he didn’t know if she had pursued the FPPC deal.

– Martin Wisckol

Stumble it!