Who Is Phu Do Nguyen?
Posted by: Jubal | 05/01/2008 4:21 PM
A key figure in Hoa Van Tran's supervisor campaign is Phu Do Nguyen. But just who is he?Well, for starters, he's Hoa's boss at the law firm of Do Phu & Anh Tuan.
This long-time attorney is also treasurer for Hoa Van Tran's campaign -- although I hope he gives his paying cases greater attention to detail than he brings to campaign disclosure reports.
He's also the landlord for Hoa Van Tran campaign headquarters. Phu's Catinat Plaza LP rents the office space to Hoa's campaign for $2,000. Interestingly, Hoa hadn't paid the rent as of March 17, because the $2,000 was listed as an unpaid bill.
Phu Do Nguyen is also a financial benefactor of Hoa Van Tran's campaign. His law firm gave Hoa the maximum $1,600 contribution...AND he maxed out as an individual donor, ofr a total of $3,200.
Now, if Phu is the majority owner in his law firm -- he's listed as "founding senior partner" -- and/or makes the decisions about where the firms contributions go (as seems likely), then his contributions violate TIN CUP. Which is an interesting accomplishment for the campaign treasurer.
Stay tuned...it just gets hinkier.
CATEGORY:
1st Supe District Watch
Mr. Ayer registered as a Republican to be electable in an interim election with no incumbents. He did...
Phu is a founding partner, but the other one is the managing partner. And the other one (Tuan Nguyen) hasn't donated personally. So, it's iffy on the TIN CUP issue.
What's funkier is that Phu Nguyen is also an officer of SBTN-TV, a Vietnamese-language DirecTV station. So SBTN has been running Hoa Tran ads practically continuously.
Which may or may not help. A vast majority of SBTN subscribers live outside the district....
bolsavik - I do not believe it iffy on Tincup....if he is the majority shareholder of the firm he can not give $1600 from both the firm and personal funds period. If he is NOT the majority shareholder BUT makes decisions on where donations go then he can not give from the firm and personally either. Either way - looks like a refund is due.
Nothing like a visit to clear things up.
I posted my interview with Hoa Tran's campaign here:
http://bolsavik.wordpress.com/2008/05/02/hoa-tran-campaign-nothing-illegal-wrong-or-inappropriate-happened/
Looks like Jubal's count can keep going for a while.