Posted on 10/24/2006 7:17:41 PM PDT by freedomdefender
A Republican congressional candidate whose campaign was linked to an intimidating letter sent to Hispanic voters said Tuesday he would not quit the race if he is charged with a crime.
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"If you're innocent and somebody charges you, would you give up? No, you've got to fight," said Tan Nguyen, who is seeking to unseat five-term Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez (news, bio, voting record) in California's 47th Congressional District.
"Innocent people can be persecuted," he told The Associated Press.
The state Department of Justice has opened a voting rights investigation into the letter sent to certain Democratic voters in Orange County.
The letter, written in Spanish, warned: "You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time."
Immigrants who have become naturalized U.S. citizens are eligible to vote.
Nguyen, a Vietnamese immigrant who has made illegal immigration a centerpiece of his campaign, was interviewed at his campaign office. It was open for the first time since being raided last week by investigators who seized computers, political signs and other items.
Nguyen said he purchased a database of 14,000 Hispanic voters from a Burbank company called Political Data Inc. so he could send Spanish-language fliers to voters. He said his campaign sent four fliers using the database before his office manager forwarded the names to an outside party.
Nguyen refused to identify the office manager or the third party who he said mailed the letters.
He said last week that he believed an employee in his office might have used his campaign's voter database to send the letter without his knowledge.
He reiterated that he did not authorize or approve the intimidating letter and said neither he nor any of his three paid campaign staff members wrote or funded the mailing.
"It has to be clear: I didn't authorize it, I didn't approve it, we didn't send it out from the campaign. People who are saying that it's coming from the campaign is a fat lie," he said.
Asked whether any campaign volunteers were responsible for the mailing, Nguyen referred questions to his attorney.
William Braniff, his campaign attorney, said a volunteer drafted an English version of the letter and e-mailed it to a volunteer who translated it into Spanish. The office manager forwarded the database of Hispanic voters to a volunteer, said Braniff, who declined to give the name of the office manager.
Nathan Barankin, spokesman for the state Department of Justice, had no immediate comment on Nguyen's account. Sanchez's campaign has said it would not comment until after the investigation is complete.
At which point,officially, you are no longer considered an immigrant, but a citizen!
Thanks to all the pandering politicians, who feel obligated to say "I am an immigrant", the language and rules have become totally distorted by the media.
Do you really think that Nguyen, who was an immigrant himself, would be saying that citizens can't vote? Anyone receiving the letter, and stupid enough to think that, shouldn't be voting!
Think about it as a poor translation from Spanish to English ~
That is the bigger issue. It wasn't sent under his name. It was reportedly sent on forged letterhead of a group unaffiliated with Nguyen by the yet-to-be-discovered "Sergio Ramirez."
On KFI he ADMITS knowing who wrote the letter but declined to name the person claiming he'd wait for the investigation.
emigrado refers to immigrants who are legal but not citizens; inmigrante refers to immigrants without distinction to legal status.
The concept of immigrant was introduced into this situation by the MSM. It was not a mistake (substituting inmigado for emigrado). It was a calculated falsehood which was very effective. Even well intended conservatives are repeating the myth:
The letter, written in Spanish, warned: "You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time."
What was especially revealing was the reaction of the local Republican Party and the Republican governor who both publicly wounded Tan's campaign without first getting his side of the story or checking the facts. Their actions were simply unconscionable. I was embarrassed to be a registered Republican.
It was a miscue, but one that has been overlooked in the other direction. How many times have Democratic operatives signed up and told NON-citizens, to register and vote? It is easily provable, I have seen the fliers put out by them. The Republicans need to quit pussyfootin around, and play hard ball. Quit apologizing, the letter I read, says that "only citizens can legally vote" illegals and immigrants cannot and will be prosecuted. I interpret that to mean, citizens can vote, non-citizens cannot. What is the meaning of the word is?
good analysis, unbelievable, it has to take 46 posts, after countless threads on this topic to finally unravel the truth as Amerigo mag says here;
"The concept of immigrant was introduced into this situation by the MSM. It was not a mistake (substituting inmigado for emigrado). It was a calculated falsehood which was very effective. Even well intended conservatives are repeating the myth"
Correct. Did you see my #26?
He knows a lot of things now that he didn't know at the time. At his press conference, his lawyer said they had conducted their own investigation into the matter. At the time the letter was sent, I don't think he was aware of the letter or the database being given to whoever this third-party is.
The MSM and those with a political ax to grind have said emigrado refers to .
The Ladycalif account has had access to fairly reliable reports including the original English text, reports of what the translator intended when he modified the original English and the definition of inmigrado, an emigrant, which does have a political component in that emigrants usually act without government permission or knowledge.
Nowhere in these 3 versions did the word immigrant appear or was it apparently intended.
Why does the Ladycalif account continue spreading this politically motivated myth? How does it benefit this forum?
the definition of inmigrado, emigrado, an emigrant,
Check my post comparing the quotes included in La Opinion.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1724073/posts?page=18#18
Gotta love this guy. If only there were more Republicans who refused to "apologize" for everything the scumbag socialist, dinosaur newsrooms want them to "apologize" for.
I heard Nguyen interviewed live a couple of hours ago on the Brian Sussman show on KSFO in San Francisco. Nguyen said that his letter used the word "emigrado" or "immigrado" or something like that (I can't pick up correct spelling from a radio interview!!). He said that they did careful research into the usage of the word, and found that this is the word the Spanish-speaking community uses to mean a NON-CITIZEN Immigrant (ie. a Greencard holder). He said that this word is so well understood to mean "non-citizen immigrant" that when the U.S. Border Partol picks up people sneaking into the U.S. from Mexico, they ask them if they are U.S. Citizens or "Immigrado". As I said, Nguyen said that this word is commonly known in the Hispanic Community to mean a non-citizen who is in the U.S. legally.
It seems that his democrat opponent, Sanchez, saw to it that this word was deliberately mis-translated into English, and fed to the U.S. newsmedia as meaning "a U.S. Citizen", and then falsely accused Nguyen of threatening U.S. Citizens with jail should they vote. The ever-willing news media was more than happy to pick up the Sanchez version of the story and run with it. Hence, what we seem to have is a clever smear campaign by Nguyen's democrat opponent, who is exploiting the average American's lack of knowledge of the Mexican version of Spanish.
If all of this is true, then shame on the California Republican Party, and Governor Schwartzenegger (spelling??) for not coming to Nguyen's defense. I think the California Republican Party has been infested with democrat rats. Save us, Tom McClintoc!!
The host of the show, Brian Susman, also pointed out that the last time Sanchez ran, that there were strong rumuors that a lot of illegal aliens voted for her (she won). Sanchez sounds like she is a left-wing liberal slime to the core. This story should be about her, and her corrupt/illegal politics, not Nguyen. Sanchez should be locked in a jail cell. But no, the MSM are nothing but a bunch of unpaid thugs and hacks for the democrats. The MSM is violating our Constitutional right to a free press. They should be legally rebuked.
I heard Tran on Al Rantel tonight, tho. He was shifty and would not answer the most straight-forward questions, most specifically the one I wanted to hear him answer: "Weren't you just a Democrat last election? Why did you change parties? Why doesn't the Republican Party support you? Why are you fighting Dana Roherbacher for the Republican place, when he is such a strong candidate?"
I think this guy is a liberal plant.
Didn't Ronald Reagan start as a Democrat?
No, Hedgecock is very good. This is exactly what he did on Al Rantel tonight. First, he refused to answer the questions, falling back instead on 'You don't know how hard it has been for my family this week' and other answers that were TOTALLY off track.
Then, one caller insisted that he answer his question -- "Weren't you just a Democrat last year?" and he said, "Well, Ronald Reagan was once a Democrat. Do you hold that against him too?" Real snotty. The caller had identified himself as a conservative too. Then, when Al Rantel pushed him to really answer the question, he said he had to go. And hung up.
Made me more suspicious than ever that he was a liberal plant. Just a hunch, mind you. And I agree that what was in his letter was only quoting the law. However, something very fishy here. I hope Hedgecock looks into it further.
calcowgirl's posts are much more through than mine.
The real threat to the Democrat process is that there is NO screening of voters and every time a non citizen votes, it cancels out the vote of a citizen
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