UPDATE: Attorney General: GOP Campaign Linked to Intimidating Letter

[Shakespeare]

MODS PLEASE NOTE: Updated story identifies the republican campaign responsible for this.

Note: ABC 7 News in Los Angeles has identified--and confirmed with the candidate himself--Than Nguyen, republican candidate, as the source of the letter. As soon as ABC posts an updated story with Than's name, I'll update the post.

SANTA ANA, October 19, 2006 - State investigators have linked a Republican campaign to letters sent to thousands of Orange County Hispanics warning them they could go to jail or be deported if they vote next month, a spokesman for the attorney general said.

"We have identified where we believe the mailing list was obtained," said Nathan Barankin, spokesman for Attorney General Bill Lockyer.

He declined to identify the specific campaign, citing the ongoing investigation. The Los Angeles Times and The Orange County Register both reported Thursday that the investigation appeared to be focused on the campaign of Tan D. Nguyen, a Republican who immigrated to the U.S. from Vietnam as a child and is now challenging Democratic U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez. Nguyen's Web site says he opposes illegal immigration.

The letter, written in Spanish, tells recipients: "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."

In fact, immigrants who are naturalized U.S. citizens can legally vote.


http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=local&id=4675028

[Taverner]

1. This seems so out of the playbook of KKKarl Rove

It's not even funny

[Alexander]

2. Is it too late for Angelides to capitalize on this?

[fooj]

3. It's NEVER too late.

Only 7 points between them and I don't even believe those #'s. I LIVE in California. I know how much we dislike Arnold here.

[Sequoia]

6. Except for the dumb newspapers that endorse him

like the SF Chronicle for one. TRAITORS!!! I can't stand seeing Arnie's shiny forehead and beady shifty eyes.

[hedgehog]

4. A Republican named Tan D. Nguyen was trying to intimidate

immigrants? Their hubris never ceases to amaze me.

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. Where do they find these sickos?

I guess they come in all flavors.

[Renew Deal]

7. Talk about missing the point of running for office in America.

:shrug:

[kestrel91316]

11. A LOT of immigrants are, surprisingly, RW nuts. In this case, I

suspect Mr. Nguyen was run out of Vietnam because he was part of the RW regime supported by the US. He came to the US because he knew he was toast if he stayed.

Also, a lot of immigrants, once they make money in their little mom and pop shops, buy into the RW pro-business thing. A pity, really.

[The Count]

13. Not so surprisingly. Just like pimps hang around bus stops, GOP-ers

hang around citizenship ceremonies at the court house. Besides having the whole MSM helping them, they paint themselves as somehow the incarnation of America while Dems are painted as whatever those immigrants left behind (communits, dictators - you name it)

[pscot]

8. I'm beginning to believe that Republicans

belong to a more primitive sub-species of homo sapiens. Could it be that if you don't believe in evolution, you don't evolve? Maybe Lamark was onto something.

[Supersedeas]

9. More Rovian tactics from sea to shining sea - Robinson in NC; Nguyen in CA

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. Can someone please explain to me how an illegal alien can get

a voter registration card? On an application, you have to state if you're a U.S. citizen and you're suppose to have a social security number. So, is there any indication that illegal immigrants are actually trying to come out of hiding to vote in a place where they have to show i.d.?

[Shakespeare]

12. Doesn't matter. The purpose of the letter is to intimidate.

There are lots and lots and LOTS of naturalized citizens here in Southern CA, where this race is. It's a nasty, racist attempt to suppress the (legitimate) hispanic vote. I hope Loretta Sanchez kicks his sorry racist ass on election day.

[dailykoff]

14. I'd be very surprised if Nguyen isn't just a frontman

ready to fall on his sword if the shit hits the fan, which it has.

I don't know him, but I know that Sanchez outfoxed Robert Dornan, a rabid winger in a formerly rabid wingnut district, about 10 years ago, and the big boys -- not Than Nguyen -- have been hot on her case ever since.

[Shakespeare]

15. I agree 100 percent.

This has the unmistakable whiff of Rove/Norquist. Norquist has already had his hand in way too many California elections over the last two years (including putting a large chunk of his personal cash into the effort), so this is certainly in keeping with that.

[dailykoff]

16. Yes it does.

It sounds a lot like Ahnold's astonishing ouster of Gray Davis, in fact. I guess some guys just get lucky. :)