This is a commentary article by Trinh Do, the author of the book:   "Saigon to San Diego, A Memoir"  He is also a well known writer for many Vietnamese-American newspapers and magazines throughout the US.
 
 
 
Which candidate deserves the support of Vietnamese American voters for the district 4 council member election??
On March 6, 2007, voters in San Jose district 4 will participate in an off year election to select the city councilmember to fill the position vacated by newly elected mayor Chuck Reed.  District 4 has an 55% Asian-American registered voters, with Vietnamese-Americans registering the highest percentage at 18%.  There are eight candidates vying for this position, including two Vietnamese-American candidates, Bryan Cong Do and Hon Lien.  The leading non Vietnamese-American candidates are Kansen Chu, a Chinese-American, and Manuel Herrara, a Hispanic American.  Kansen Chu has strong support of the Chinese American community, which accounts for 8% of registered voters.  Major support for candidate Manuel Herrera comes from the Mexican-American community, which has a 15% registered voters in the district.  With a diverse voters population and 8 running candidates, it is difficult for any candidate to garner the 50% plus 1 votes needed to win the election outright in this round.  The most likely outcome is that the top two vote-getters will emerge to participate in the run-off election in June.
This election is the second time within two years that the Vietnamese-American community has a great opportunity to elect one of their own to the San Jose City council.  In an off year election, voter turnout is typically low.  Thus, if all registered Vietnamese American voters actually vote and cast their support for  a single candidate, then this candidate will have a very good chance to become one of the two finalists for the run-off election.  Since there are two Vietnamese candidates for this seat, the Vietnamese-American votes will be divided, and the chances for both are greatly reduced.  This article will focus on comparing the qualifications and commitment of the two Vietnamese-American candidates, Bryan Công Đỗ and Hon Liên, and pointing out which candidate deserves the votes and support of the Vietnamese American voters in district 4 of San Jose.
1. Political Viewpoint:
Vying for support from a Vietnamese-American community with a very strong anti-communist bend, Bryan Công Đỗ has a very strong advantage due to his clear political stance regarding the communist government of Vietnam .  Bryan Công Đỗ was one of the most vocal activists lobbying for the yellow flag with three red stripes (the flag of the former Republic of Vietnam) to be the official flag of the Vietnamese communities in San Jose and the Bay Area.  He is widely know by Vietnamese American voters for his effort in these activities.  He has spent countless hours working behind the scene with many San Jose city councilmembers, particularly current mayor Chuck Reed and councilman Dave Cortese, to get San Jose to recognize the Yellow flag as the representative of the Vietnamese community here. When asked for his viewpoint regarding the issue of freedom, democracy, and human rights in Vietnam , Bryan unequivocally stated “My personal opinion on this matter is very simple.  One, I won’t negotiate with the communist.   Two, all trade and business relationships with Vietnam need to be linked to the condition of improving Vietnam ’s human right record.”  As such, he receives very strong support of several Vietnamese community organizations in San Jose and the Bay Area.
Candidate Hon Liên is a Vietnamese-Chinese-American, born in the Vietnam city of Bạc Liêu and came to the US in 1979.  Information from her own website (http://www.honlienforcouncil.com/) indicates that since 2002, she was the founder, co-owner and executive director of the L&D enterprise in Vietnam .  The company produces and exports food products to the European markets.  Besides her business activities in Vietnam , Hon Liên also has close relationship with the Vietnamese Consulate in San Francisco .  She only started to be visible in the Vietnamese community in San Jose when she entered the Berryessa School district race in November 2006 and lost.
Because of her business operations in Vietnam and her close relationship with the Vietnamese Consulate, Hon Liên is not well-liked nor supported by the majority of Vietnamese Americans in San Jose .  Since her company is a joint-venture with a Vietnam state-owned company, she must regularly work with the Vietnam government’s bureaucratic machinery to get operating licenses and other permits.  As such, Hon Liên has a big conflict of interest problem if she were to become a representative for the Vietnamese community in the San Jose city council.  She cannot vocally demand for human rights, freedom, or democracy in Vietnam , one thing that most Vietnamese voters expect from their representative, without fearing reprisals from the Vietnamese government against her business.  Her own message, posted on her website, is ambiguous when it comes to her viewpoint on Vietnam .  When referring to Vietnam , Hon Liên makes a half-hearted and illogical statement “Thinking about the tyranny the people in Vietnam and other nations face every day, I am even more determined to fight for our freedoms here in America ”.  This statement raises a big question: “Why the solution to the tyranny people face daily in Vietnam is to fight for our freedom here in America , one of the most free and least tyrannical countries in the world?”  The statement indicates that candidate Hon Liên either lacks basic intelligence or deliberately avoids the issues of human rights and democracy in Vietnam .
2. Record, Ability, and Commitment to Serve the Community
Record of Community Service:
Bryan Công Đỗ is a familiar face in the San Jose Vietnamese community’s for the past 6 years.  Present in most of the community’s various activities, he has a long list of achievements in serving the community, starting with his actions to demand for justice when Ms. Trần Thị Bích Câu was shot and killed by the San Jose police.  For this effort, he was given the Human Relations Award by the Santa Clara County .  He is also one of the most vigorous activists fighting for the Yellow flag to represent the Vietnamese communities in the Bay Area and for SCR 17.  Bryan was given a recognition certificate from the California State Assembly, signed by Assemblyman Trần Thái Văn, for his activism in the cities of San Jose and San Francisco .  Two years ago, Bryan was the campaign manager for the successful election campaign of now East Side Union High School District Board member and Vice President Lan Nguyen.  Together with councilmember Madison Nguyễn, Bryan Đỗ was invited to join the committee to select the new police chief for San Jose , as well as another committee to choose Vietnamese cultural symbols to be displayed at the San Jose City Hall .  As a member of the San Jose City Library commission, he has supported several cultural exhibitions and other activities to introduce Vietnamese culture to the general public at the many branches of the San Jose library system.  Bryan has also provided assistance to several Vietnamese American small businessmen in complying with governmental regulations.  In addition, he also helped low-income Vietnamese to file complaints with the city, when their applications for rent assistance were denied without valid reasons.  Often seen as activities organized by community non-profit or charitable organizations such as Friends of Huế, ICAN (International Children Assistance Network), Lương Tâm Công Giáo (Catholics’ Conscience), and the Children’s Discovery Museum, Bryan has spent many hours to help these organizations raise funds as well as getting support from the city.
Candidate Hon Liên, on the other hand, is little known until she was endorsed by Mayor Chuck Reed.  The mayor’s endorsement for Hon Liên was based on the advice of his political consultant Vic Aljouny.  In a letter to Mayor Chuck Reed, several Vietnamese community leaders have protested his decision to support a candidate who has not participated in the Vietnamese communities’ activities nor provided assistance in any way for the past several years.  Worse yet, this candicate has close relationship with the Communist Vietnam Consulate in San Francisco and has participated in its various galas and celebrations.  In the list of community activities listed on her own website, the only item that has remote connection to the Vietnamese American community in San Jose is Hon Liên’s claim that she has contributed to AGAPE, a charity organization in Sweden , to provide wheelchairs for hospitals in Vietnam .  Even this activity raises a big question mark for San Jose Vietnamese-Americans.  “There are many Vietnamese-American charity and non-profit organizations in the Bay Area working to help people in Vietnam .  Yet, why Hon Liên never contributes to these organizations but choose to contribute to an organization in another continent, one that few, if any Vietnamese Americans have heard of?”
Ability to serve the community
In more than 6 years working with various organizations and groups in the Vietnamese-American community, Bryan Công Đỗ has shown a deep understanding of issues faced by Vietnamese-Americans.  He also demonstrated the ability to serve the community by effectively working with the city government to get these issues addressed equitably.  Examples of this ability include his work to help Vietnamese American small businessmen on city regulations and his assistance to file complaints to the city government on behalf of low-income Vietnamese families, when their applications for rent assistance were unjustly denied.   Bryan has also spent a great deal of time to build the communication channels between the Vietnamese community in San Jose and the various city agencies and elected officials.  In 2004, he successfully managed the election campaign for the now Vice President of the East Side Union School Board Lan Nguyen.  Note that Lan Nguyen was advised by Vic Aljouny (the political consultant who convinced Mayor Chuck Reed to support Hon Liên instead of Bryan Công Đỗ) to not run for the school board seat.  Vic Aljouny asserted that Lan could not possibly win the race since he didn’t raise as much money as other candidates.  Yet, Bryan Công Đỗ has proved that what was “not possible” has been accomplished.  In addition, Tom Means, city councilman of Mountain View and a former professor of Bryan at San Jose State University , observed that “Bryan Công Đỗ is one of the rare candidates that really understands economics.”
Hon Liên’s ability, as emphasized on her website, is based on her business achievements as owner and manager of her family’s supermarkets and seafood distributor.  With the title “An American Success Story”, her biography was set up as if it was a role model for others.  Hon Liên and her family opened a number of Asian supermarkets in the Bay Area since the early 1990’s.  All of these supermarkets have closed.  Her last supermarket, Golden Phoenix Supermarket in Mountain View , closed within two years of operations. Though this supermarket has closed for more than a year, currently there are a few lawsuits against it in the Santa Clara County Superior Court.  The only obvious thing about Hon Liên is that she and her family are very wealthy.  Another company she owns, Sunnyvale Seafood Corporation, received warning from the FDA for failing to provide proper, hygienic storage for seafood.  These “successful” business achievements raise the question whether her story is really “An American success story”?
On the political front, Hon Liên entered her first race for the School board member seat in the Berryessa school district in November 2006.   There were 4 candidates running for 3 available seats.  Hon Liên came in last among the 4 candidates and was the only one to lose the race.  She is a big question mark for voters, either because they didn’t know much about her nor didn’t trust her.  If voters didn’t trust Hon Liên for a school board member seat, then how can they trust her as a city councilmember, a position with much more power, responsiblities, and challenges?
Commitment to serve the community:
With more than 6 years of enthusiastic service to the Vietnamese community, from helping people with no voice such as the family of Ms. Trần Thị Bích Câu as well as providing assistance to many Vietnamese community organizations, the commitment to serve the community by Bryan Công Đỗ is clearly seen and recognized by most Vietnamese-Americans in San Jose and the Bay Area.
On the other hand, the enthusiasm and commitment to serve the community by candidate Hon Liên is a big question mark.  If one bases on past record to predict future actions by a candidate, then is there any guarantee that a candidate that has done nothing for her own community in the past ten plus years will keep her campaign promises?  After losing her race for the Berryessa school district board member in November 2006, Hon Liên was frustrated and no longer interested in politics.  She entered the race for the District 4 council member seat this time because of the prodding by Vic Aljouny, the political consultant to Mayor Chuck Reed.  Aljouny promised to get Reed’s support for Hon Liên’s candidacy.  For Reed, his support for Hon Liên is a cold political calculation.  The calculation does not take into account the wishes and opinions of the Vietnamese American community, whose support and votes proved crucial in his election as the Mayor of San Jose.  Though Chuck Reed won his Mayor election, he anticipates to run into much resistance in trying to reform City Hall.  He needs a pliant ally on the city council to support his agenda.  If a weak, dependent candidate with little political skills like Hon Liên wins the District 4 race, then this candidate is much more likely to follow his agenda.
Conclusion
Based on the criteria of political view point, record, ability, commitment, and the enthusiasm to serve the Vietnamese American community, candidate Bryan Công Đỗ is truly deserving the votes of Vietnamese voters in district 4 for city councilmember.  In this election, he will face big financial challenges as well as the potential vote split by Vietnamese voters.  If Vietnamese voters in district 4 clearly assess and vote for the deserving candidate, with the record, ability, and commitment to truly serve their interests, then the Vietnamese community in San Jose will have seized another rare opportunity to strengthen their voices in the city council with two Vietnamese American council members.