GOP congressional candidate Van Tran in trouble with the Federal Election Commission

Was Van Tran asleep when he filled out his last campaign finance report?

Ruh-roh!  Assemblyman Van Tran just can’t stay out of trouble.  He is a longshot candidate for Congress.  He first has to get past businessman Quang Pham in the GOP primary – if he does so he will challenge incumbent Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez in the general election, in 2010.

However, Tran has been given until Oct. 20 to explain to the Federal Election Commission why he may have received prohibited contributions, to wit:

Schedule A of your report discloses one or more contributions that attached). 2 U.S.C. § 441b(a) prohibits the receipt of contributions from corporations and labor organizations unless made from separate segregated funds established by the corporations and labor organizations.

But wait, there’s more:

Schedule A of your report discloses one or more contributions that appear to exceed the limits set forth in the Act (see attached). You should examine all of your contributions to check for additional excessive
contributions.

And still more:

Commission Regulations require that a committee discloses the identification of all individuals who contribute in excess of $200 in an election cycle. (11 CFR § 104.3(a)(4)(i)) Identification for an individual is defined as the full name (initials are not acceptable), complete mailing address, occupation, and name of employer. (11 CFR § 100.12) Your report discloses contributions from individuals for which the identification is not complete.

Click here to read the entire document outlining Tran’s many apparent campaign finance indiscretions.

The most powerful argument against Sanchez is that she has been investigated by the House Ethics Committee.  For that charge to stick, the GOP will need a clean candidate to run against her.  It is painfully apparent that Tran is not that man…

Don’t forget that Tran was forced to pull out of a campaign for the State Senate a few years ago when his wife was indicted for fraud.  And Tran was a prominent backer of disgraced former O.C. Sheriff Mike Carona.  Tran had to give back his gun and reserve badge after Carona got replaced by Sheriff Sandra Hutchens.