Orange County Supervisor Janet Nguyen could face a recall election if a fellow Republican who ran against her in a state Senate primary in June can collect 22,000 valid signatures in the next six months.
Long Pham, who received 14.5 percent of the votes cast in the June primary for state Senate District 34, put Nguyen on notice at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting that he will seek to have her removed from office.
Nguyen was the top vote-getter in the primary with 51.5 percent of the vote, and former Assemblyman Jose Solorio, a Democrat who is the president of the Rancho Santiago Community College District board, came in second with 34 percent.
Nguyen’s chief of staff, Christy Delp, referred questions to Nguyen’s state Senate campaign.
“Pham showed up at the (Board of Supervisors) meeting, made a fool of himself and never did serve papers on Janet,” said Nguyen campaign spokesman Dave Gilliard. “He is working with Janet’s opponent Jose Solorio and it was nothing but a cheap political trick and has absolutely no merit.”
Solorio did not respond to a request for comment.
Pham told City News Service he followed the instructions on the proper way to serve notice of intent for a recall election.
Pham addressed the supervisors Tuesday during the part of the meeting reserved for public comments, identifying himself as a Fountain Valley resident and former member of the Orange County Board of Education.
“I am here this afternoon to thank the board for all the good things you did and to serve Supervisor Nguyen with a notice of intention to recall,” he said.
Pam told CNS that when told his time was up, he handed a copy of the notice to the board’s clerk and announced the time of service.
Orange County Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley confirmed that his office received the notice-of-intent to recall document on Tuesday. Pham submitted the required 20 signatures for the notice of intent.
Kelley said he expects it will take 15 to 20 days to approve the petition. Pham will then have six months to collect 22,000 valid signatures to back a recall election, which could be held seven months to a year from now, Kelley said.
It will all be moot, however, if Nguyen is elected to the state Senate.
“It seems that Dave Gilliard wants to find a way not to have Janet answering my notice of intention to circulate recall petitions with the hope that the recall will never happen,” Pham said in an email to CNS. “I believe that I have properly served the notice to Janet. The (Registrar of Voters) had accepted my proof of service as I filed with them 30 minutes after I served (the supervisor). The recall will continue with or without Janet’s response. Dave will have to prove that I never served Janet at the (Board of Supervisors) meeting … but the official video will not support what he claims.”
Pham said he was pursuing the recall because he believes “the supervisor has betrayed the trust of her constituents.”
Pham accused Nguyen of corruption and “pay to play” by appointing donors to county commissions.
He listed a series of other grievances, as well.
“At the reception for the U.S. ambassador to Vietnam in Westminster on June 1, 2013, she has prevented leaders and activists of the Vietnamese American community from publicly displaying the former Republic of Vietnam’s flag, going against the wishes of the community,” Pham said.
He also alleged Nguyen’s staff “physically prevented” some people from attending a news conference in April. Nguyen’s chief of staff, he alleged, “used profane language against community members and prevented them from speaking on the issues of concern at a press conference in Westminster on (Sept. 20), causing extreme irritation to the community.”
Pham also cited Nguyen’s rocky tenure on the CalOptima board, which drew critical state and federal audits that led to a suspension in the county agency’s enrollment of and marketing to Medicare beneficiaries. CalOptima provides healthcare for the county’s poor and some senior citizens.
— City News Service