Longtime OJ friend Navy Lieutenant Commander Jay Chen, who ran against Michelle Steel in ’22, has endorsed fellow veteran Derek Tran in this year’s race for the same seat. Derek will first have to beat Party favorite Kim Bernice Nguyen-Penaloza (and some other Democrat lady who’s a social media star) in the upcoming primary.
Of course the most important thing is: Who can beat the odious, race-baiting MAGA Republican Steel, and help regain our Democratic Majority in Congress? More and more people are thinking that is Derek.
Kim has the support of the County and State Party, and Derek is a later entry, but his fundraising has been leapfrogging over Kim’s, and his endorsements and background are impressive. And Kim is part of a conservative Democratic clique in this county, strongly supported by police and sheriff unions – which tends to make us favor Derek.
We are still waiting to do our Derek Tran interview. Here’s the latest press release:
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Lt. Commander Jay Chen Endorses Derek Tran In CA-45
Former Democratic Nominee Against Michelle Steel Backs Tran
Garden Grove, CA — Today, Workers’ Rights Advocate, U.S. Army Veteran, Consumer Rights Attorney, City Commissioner, and Small Business Owner Derek Tran, who is running in California’s 45th Congressional District, announced the endorsement of Mt. San Antonio College Trustee and the 2022 Democratic nominee in CA-45, Lt. Commander Jay Chen. In 2022 Lt. Commander Chen came within 4 points of defeating Michelle Steel, despite being outspent 3 to 1. The DCCC has listed CA-45 as a “District in Play” for the 2024 cycle.
“I’m proud to announce my strong endorsement of Derek Tran for Congress,” said Lt. Commander Chen. “As someone who has fought Michelle Steel and her underhanded attacks, I know that Democrats need to coalesce around the strongest candidate who isn’t afraid to punch back. Derek is that person: as a son of Vietnamese refugees, a workers’ rights advocate, a veteran, and a father, I trust Derek to finally defeat Steel and to have our backs in Congress.”
Chen’s endorsement comes on the heels of strong poll numbers for Tran, over $500,000 raised in just three months, and a series of high-profile endorsements which include; VoteVets, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, Chair of the California House Democratic Delegation, Rep. Mark Takano, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and Rep. Judy Chu, Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. A full endorsement list can be seen here.
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California’s 45th is a Congressional District representing portions of Orange and Los Angeles Counties in Southern California. A majority-minority district, the District has the second largest AAPI population (36.97%) of any Congressional District, and the largest Vietnamese community in the country. President Biden won the current district lines by +6 points and it has a +6 point Democratic registration advantage. It includes all or part of the Cities of Garden Grove, Westminster, Cerritos, Buena Park, Placentia, Hawaiian Gardens, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Artesia, Los Alamitos, La Palma, Brea, Lakewood, and Fullerton, as well as the unincorporated community of Rossmoor. The DCCC has listed it as a “District In Play.”
Use of Derek Tran’s military rank, job titles, and photographs in uniform does not imply endorsement by the Dept. of Defense or U.S. Army.
The Steels greet Trump in LA
I have one concern to be addressed first.
Is Tran also married to a conservative police union-thrall on a major city’s council?
Because that would be bad. I’m inclined to listen to Jay.
To the uninitiated: Greg is wryly referring to Kim’s marriage to Santa Ana Councilman David Penaloza. Personally I have a lot of problems with things she’s done that have nothing to do with her husband. But I’d rather just focus now on Derek’s good points.
Hi Orange Juice Blog, please give my email address to Mr. Jay Chen. The Attorney General’s Office would like to talk to him about a guy known for having used his charity “antiracist” event to stir up racial animus against Mr Chen for political purposes.
The guy (finally) under serious investigation is a douche blowhard who said a lot of dumb things, but those are best left in history. He mostly did some horrendous stuff to a very vulnerable person (who is now trying to regain their privacy).
Us supporters of the guy’s victim have been pushing for investigation of the guy’s nonprofit scams and fake Go Fund Me pages and finally got a serious reply from the California Attorney General. One of the events the Attorney General is scrutinizing is the “What Accent” event held supposedly in combination with KAFOC, but KAFOC said it was not an official event of theirs. They said individual KAFOC members showed up on their own behalf.
So that leaves the racist blowhard, since his nonprofit hosted and orchestrated the event.
It’s important to recognize that whether or not the event hurt Jay Chen’s campaign is irrelevant. There was enough evidence found that the guy under investigation intended for it to be political, specifically to benefit the Korean-American opponent. Since last fall, his nonprofit filings have been closely scrutinized, and he claimed he doesn’t engage in activities to influence politics, but we all know this is false. If we can get Jay Chen’s cooperation, that would be fantastic !
The guy under investigation has opened and closed 5, yes FIVE nonprofits in 27 months! His latest nonprofit is a “Foundation” named after his own self (without Esquire.) Everyone associated with his nonprofits is now bailing right and left, except his loyal spouse.
The guy’s victim met with Doug Chaffee’s Chief of Staff the week before Christmas to confront him about some things and lets just say that the Fourth Supervisor is now having a bad month. The guy’s victim hired a CPA who wrote a letter with a professional assessment about the guy’s multiple nonprofits and all the “irregularities”. Apparently that was the final nail in the coffin, even for Supervisor Chaffee (who was blissfully unfazed by all the other gross stuff this creep said and did)
Besides engaging in state and federal fraud, this guy has proven himself to be sociopathic, not because of the dumb stuff he “joked” about doing, but because of what he did in revenge to the person he saw as the source of all his problems when the “joke” came out and it wasn’t so funny any more. So any statements Mr Chen would like to give to the Attorney General would probably help nail this guy. You can bet the guy’s victim would definitely appreciate it !!
It’s called “Justice by Proxy,” meaning even though this criminal will sadly not be held accountable for making his victim’s life hell, the walls are finally closing in on “Esquire”.
Here is an email received from the Attorney General this morning.
On Tuesday, January 9th, 2024 at 9:46 AM, Complaints wrote:
Hello,
We have received your complaint. Can you please (redacted)
Thank you,
Complaints Team
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This communication with its contents may contain confidential and/or legally privileged information. It is solely for the use of the intended recipient(s). Unauthorized interception, review, use or disclosure is prohibited and may violate applicable laws including the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender and destroy all copies of the communication.
Sounds like a James Mai inquiry. Is this the progressive Democrat Jenny Lynn? I’ll try to hook you up with Jay.
Uh-oh.
I would be shocked if this is Jenny Lynn. Another obvious possibility wouldn’t shock me.
That confidentiality notice isn’t from us. I can’t tell whether it is from “Complaints Department” or from “Jennifer Lynn,” but if it’s the latter she’s violating it. Luckily that’s not our problem!
Will Kim Nguyen have resources to send ANY mail? Net gain last quarter was only $12K.
Politico calls her California’s “Biggest Underachiever”
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/california-playbook/2024/02/01/whos-winning-and-losing-californias-money-game-00139000
Thanks — that article was very much worth reading!