Posted on 03/04/2009 2:48:55 PM PST by nickcarraway
In a hard-fought display of political tenacity, San Jose Councilwoman Madison Nguyen on Tuesday triumphed against a fervent recall effort — born from outrage over a shopping district's name — that pitted her against many in the Vietnamese community who first elected her three years ago.
The stunning result was all but certain soon after the polls closed at 8 p.m., when the results of more than 9,500 votes cast in the weeks before Election Day were released. With all precincts counted a few hours later, and fewer than 1,200 late and provisional ballots left to tally today, voters had favored Nguyen by a wide 55 percent to 45 percent.
With their decision, voters in Nguyen's District 7 have put a firm Video: Recall Fails end to the "Little Saigon" saga — a bruising fight that caused a rift within the city's large Vietnamese community, alienated other residents and came to dominate local politics for months.
"I am just overwhelmed with joy," Nguyen said amid a crush of supporters celebrating at the San Jose Police Officers' Association hall.
Andre Charles, spokesman for the recall effort, said backers were "somber" as precinct results began trickling in.
"When one considers the tremendous natural advantages that Madison Nguyen had from the get-go — she's a sitting councilwoman, she had all the political establishment behind her, every organization of note, a more than 2-to-1 fundraising lead — when you consider all of that, particularly for people who haven't been involved in local politics before, they should be very proud of what they accomplished."
Nguyen, 34, was facing the city's first recall attempt since Kathy Cole was removed in 1994 after making racially insensitive comments. Four other council members, in a single vote in 1964, avoided an ouster.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
This is a giant, “Take that, boat people!”
In soCal, the next generation has moved out of the Little Saigon sphere of influence. It's like second generation Italians leaving Little Italy.
The second generation is not living or dying on who is currently running Viet Nam. They are educated and businesslike and they will wield political power above their numbers in the cities in which they have communities.
You can’t Nguyen them all.
I'm glad they weren't wasting public time, money, and effort on a frivolous issue.
We are in Nguyen’s district and were inundated with campaign materials from both sides and recall Nguyen signs are in many of the yards in our neighborhood. Judging from her positions and supporters, she is a liberal Democrat and on that basis I wasn’t about to vote for her. On the other hand what I could tell about the recall movement the cause was fairly trivial so I decided to sit it out. It seemed like a Vietnamese ethnic community issue and I would let them sort it out.
The calls I was getting from her campaign was nearly enough to change my mind though... and vote against her. Challenge them on any talking points and they were out of their depth. Liberal Dems seem incapable of seeing any problem with excessive government spending in a financial crisis even on a local level.
She is a pretty girl... I find Vietnamese are generally better looking than other ethnic groups around here.
How much were they offering? ;)
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