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.
>>1) Defendant admits prior knowledge of the original letter.
Well, flippity floppity.
That was one short political career.
Another used-car salesman is born.
BTW, did you hear, "W" has now used his Constitutional Penumbric powers and moved the election to "Wednesday".
Don't be late!
Not sure what relevance your comment is ~ certainly in an area where massive vote fraud through the use of unlawful voters has taken place in the past it's certainly realistic to warn people about breaking the law again.
I'm especially grateful to the alleged LA police officer who is said to have paid $4K out of his own pocket to distribute the letter.
It is high time that the political leadership in this country started intimidating aliens who are voting.
1) The letter, as sent, didn't intimidate citizens. Citizens were excluded in the first sentence.
2) The letter, as sent, didn't have a problem with translation. The translation problem arose when the MSM conveniently mistranslated emigrado as immigrant. The largest Spanish language daily in LA even changed the word emigrado to inmigrado in their editorial about the matter.
3) The contents of the letter were reasonably accurate, including the computer system reference, and as time marches on, it becomes increasingly obvious that distributing the letter wasn't illegal.
4) The candidate's campaign, legally the candidate himself, dramatically asserts he didn't compose, translate or distribute the letter and to date, no one has refuted that claim through the hundreds of willing and anxious publishers that are available.
In fact, California needs more congressional representation with respect for our civil codes and our sovereignty than it currently enjoys. California needs to send similar letters to newly registered voters, with Hispanic surnames who were born outside the US during each election cycle and needs to begin prosecuting and deporting the offenders. Those voting illegally need to be repeatedly intimidated
According to statistical probability the recipients of the letter at the center of this controversy were 1) naturalized citizens, 2) resident aliens, 3) illegal aliens, 4) non resident aliens and 5) the child of at least one US citizen. In a prior congressional race in this district the margin of victory was less than 1000 votes while 700 votes were documented to have been illegally cast by aliens. 700 would represent about 5% of those who received the letter and 5% is no where near the suspected level of illegally registered alien voters in that category.
Yawn.
Did he fire a member of his staff because of the letter?
Flip Flop Flip Flop Flip Flop.
Thank you for applying.Unfortunately our liar quota has been filled for the coming term.Loretta says used minivans are especially popular in Santa Ana this year. She suggests that you might want to work out the kinks in your Espanola before applying at a used-car dealership there, however.
According to the LA Times, somebody named Nguyen, but not Tan Nguyen, is suspected of sending out the letter. It's possible that nobody is lying - it's possible that the mail house guy heard from a "Nguyen" and thought it was Tan Nguyen, but it was a different guy with the same last name.
As to why he took her back, he says he reconsidered the whole thing and the letter, even though he didn't know about it, was and is no big deal. Some newspapers are calling the whole thing a "flap" - which implies that they, too, don't see this letter as a federal offense. Only very dumb people - or the professionally offended - would get "intimidated" by a letter that starts out welcoming all citizens to vote.
You bet he did. And the gang's spokesman called it a hate crime.
A pattern is obvious, From Baugh at the local level, to Sundheim at the state level, to OC's NM spokesman in Sac, the pattern is familiar. Given the opportunity, the Austrian, the Minister of Information and Baugh would support an alien's right to vote, if there were substantial evidence that they would vote Republican.
The hyper pandering of these big tenters has taken the CaGOP far afield from Reagan's Republican Party of just 30 years ago. The platform and the truth have been cast overboard to lighten the load in a desperate effort for partisan prevail.
It is time to unburden both the CaGOP and the state of the weight of the Wilsonegger Gang. It is time to send out more letters about an emigrado.
Wouldn't you say?
The media's (and even some freepers') reaction to this letter makes me sad.
A guy wants to win, in America, and wants to curtail cheating. He gets beat up over letting people know something is illegal - and may be reviewed (a change from past practice). Good grief, this is like a public service announcement.
If my newspaper, tv channel, the politician who came to my door, and my friends told me to register and vote, and the people at the DMV were only too happy to register me without question . . . I think I would appreciate someone warning me that it was MY responsibility to make sure I was eligible to vote. Failure to follow the rules would lead to ME getting in trouble. Not the tv channel, the newspaper, the politician, or my friends.
This story is a beautiful example of the socialist gameplan. The plan is such that Paco's defense for voting illegally would be "I didn't know I wasn't eligible to vote." Knowing how we bend over every which way to help the downtrodden and linguistically challenged amongst us, Paco's defense would be a good one. So, literally, NO ONE is really going to pay any price for his illegal vote. What disincentive is there to sign EVERYONE up to vote and have them vote? Very, very little.
The only mitigant is how much did Paco know. Which is where all the fine print on the registration form, etc. comes in. And letters like the one that started this story.
I'll never forget my law school class on immigration law. 20 students. 15 or so of international origin. (Great teacher by the way!) One day we discussed voting. Many in the class were surprised to find they, as visa-carriers, weren't allowed to vote. Why were they surprised? (Remember, these are law students at Georgetown) Most had been asked if they wanted to register to vote at the DMV and went ahead and signed up. Their question to the professor? "Why would the DMV have allowed us to register to vote if we weren't legally eligible?"
The aspect of a rebutable presumption is, indeed, key to these issues. Not in the courtroom, but as a weapon to arm the uneducated against sophisticated, politcally motivated manipulation.
That very ploy had been used before in this particular congressional district by none other than William Jefferson Clinton.
Yawn. Whatever.
Time to break out the jelly 'cause this guy is Toast.
>>It is time to send out more letters about an emigrado.
>>Wouldn't you say?
And what, exactly would this accomplish?
I would, however, love to see some letters to CEO's saying they'd be put in jail if they continued to hire illegal aliens.
Amen! Let the deliveries begin.
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