Van Tran for Congress

“Deficit of Hope” Tour Makes Fundraising Stop in Southern California

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 16, 2010
Contact: George Andrews - (714) 794-8523

Obama/Sanchez Agenda questioned as California’s Unemployment balloons to 12.3%

(Santa Ana, CA) – President Barack Obama will make a fundraising stop in Southern California this evening to help vulnerable 14-year incumbent Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) at a Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee fundraiser.

Recently, a Gallup poll found that the Democrat controlled Congress has a 75% disapproval rating.

“With a 75% disapproval rating, it isn’t surprising that the Obama/Pelosi/Sanchez agenda is on life support,” said Assemblyman Van Tran. “Celebrity headlined fundraisers cannot erase the fact that over 2.5 million jobs have been lost nationally over the past 18 months. We need genuine reform to save America from the reckless agenda in Washington”

Facts about Sanchez’s Failed Economic Agenda:

• California’s unemployment rate has risen to 12.3% (CA Employment Development Department)
• $862 billion stimulus package has not addressed the core problems plaguing our economy
• Our deficit last year was a record $1.42 trillion dollars due to irresponsible spending habits, leaving debt to future generations

LA Times: Another long Air Force One trip for Obama to celebrate what California is good for

After a couple of brief stops in Cheeseland, President Obama flies his large plane all the way out to California today…

The Democrat is returning to the economically tarnished Golden State because it so famously is his party’s faithful financial fountain regardless of Obama’s box-office popularity or the national unemployment rate (9.5%). The president recently blamed the Republican congressional minority for blocking more economic assistance legislation by the overwhelming Democratic majorities in both houses.

In LA Obama tonight will rake in some more cash for the Democratic Congressional….

…Campaign Committee. With many fellow Democrats jamming the exits to avoid appearing to campaign with the unpopular president, Obama is doing what he does well, talking for money to party committee faithful. He hasn’t been seen in Beverly Hills since his $4-million collection for the Democratic National Committee back in May 2009.

The president will also raise money in Milwaukee earlier in the day and then up in Washington state before the next family vacation.

To honor the president’s latest California trip, this morning the Republican National Committee will shortly be issuing the following self-serving statement:

“President Barack Obama has made a habit of coming to California, shaking the money tree and then dashing out of town, before he has to explain to Californians why his $862-billion stimulus failed to ‘create or save’ the 400,000 jobs that he promised.

“With an unemployment rate of 12.2%, Californians will only have to wait 78 days, before they can go to the ballot box and fire Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer and Loretta Sanchez for supporting this administration’s failed economic policies.”

With her Washington job complete and 131,000 lost jobs added to the 14+million unemployed in July, the chairwoman of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers, Christina Romer, is returning to Berkeley soon…

Click HERE for the full LA Times article.

One Week of Being Home and Sanchez Has Already Gone Into Hiding?

August 6,2010 (202) 479-7070

As the Dems’ “Run for Cover Summer” Unravels, Loretta Sanchez Refuses to Hold Town Halls with Her Constituents

Washington- One week into August and it is clear that Loretta Sanchez has dedicated the recess period to avoiding the public at every possible turn. Instead of engaging with her constituents face-to-face and owning up to the unpopular, job-killing policies of the Obama-Pelosi agenda, Sanchez has decided to simply ignore the California families who put her in elected office.

“After 18 months of ignoring her constituents and maintaining her unflinching support for the Democrats’ failed agenda, Loretta Sanchez has plenty of reason to hide this recess,” said NRCC Communications Director Ken Spain. “Unfortunately for Sanchez, laying low isn’t part of her job description. With the elections less than 100 days away, will Loretta Sanchez attempt to own up to her partisan voting record and engage her constituents face-to-face this August, or will she cowardly go into hiding and avoid talking about her party’s reckless agenda?”

Is Sanchez going into hiding in order to avoid the disastrous town hall meetings that made last year’s August recess period so memorable?

“A year ago, in August 2009, Democrats returned home to their districts and probably started to lose control of Washington.

“Overheated, confrontational town hall meetings, as seen in grainy cell phone videos on YouTube, dominated news coverage, gave public voice to the tea party movement and drove moderate Republicans from the health reform debate.”

“As lawmakers head home for the summer this year, it’s not the fate of the health care bill that is at stake for Democrats, it is their majority in Congress.” (Z. Byron Wolf, “Meet the People: Lawmakers Head Home and Prepare for the 2010 Campaign Season,” ABC News, 08/03/2010)

By avoiding confrontation with her constituents at all costs, Sanchez has shown an utter lack of respect for California families. As the Democrats’ so-called ‘Recovery Summer’ continues to fall apart at the seams, voters across the country are left asking: “Where are the Dems?”

Visit the nrcc.org for the latest on Democrat town halls.

Human Events: California’s 47th U.S. House District - Tran vs. Sanchez

By John Gizzi
Political Editor of HUMAN EVENTS.
08/01/2010

“I felt as though I was on Schindler’s List,” recalled Van Tran, bringing to life the memory that never dims of trying to leave Saigon in 1975 as the invaders from Communist North Vietnam marched in for the takeover.

Like the Jews in Europe for whom being on the list in the movie meant a chance at survival, being on a list of names held by the U.S. Army and the soon-to-be-closed American embassy in Saigon meant a chance for a possibly bright future for many South Vietnamese who wanted to flee.

Ten-year-old Van’s name was on the list, as were the names of his parents. Jetting out of Saigon on a military transport plane, they arrived in the Philippines and, like so many of their fellow countrymen, settled in a part of California’s Orange County that would soon become known as “Little Saigon.”

For the Trans, life was good in their adopted home. Van’s father continued the teaching career he had pursued in South Vietnam and his mother became the first dentist in the Vietnamese community. As young Van went through school, his passion for politics grew. As he says, “I was one of the Reagan youth.”

…Whether the issue is TARP money for bailouts, stimulus money, “cash for clunkers,” or tax dollars for Planned Parenthood, Sanchez will be voting the Obama-Pelosi line without hesitation.

“Van is a man of destiny,” California GOP National Committeeman Shawn Steel said of Tran back when he first won a legislative seat. “He’ll be the first Vietnamese-American congressman!” Steel was proven wrong when Louisiana Republican Joseph Cao achieved that distinction in ’08. But Steel can still be right that Van is a man of destiny if conservatives help Van Tran take that next important step to Washington in his already exciting life.

For the full article visit: http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=38351

Orange County Register: Tea Party Express Endorses Tran for Sanchez Seat

For the full article visit: http://totalbuzz.ocregister.com/2010/07/30/tea-party-endorses-tran-for-sanchez-seat/38559/

Sanchez Challenged On Vietnam Credentials

Politico.com
By: Kasie Hunt
July 28, 2010

“…There’s a big debate in the community whether she’s effective or not — whether she’s doing it for lip service or for votes, because the big question is, after 14 years in the House, what substantial and tangible results can she show in terms of advancing Vietnamese democracy and human rights,” Tran told POLITICO in an interview Tuesday. “Show us your accomplishments — what bills, what legislation, what political prisoners?”

Tran is a popular, term-limited state assemblyman whose political power rests squarely with the rapidly growing Vietnamese American community centered in Little Saigon, a neighborhood of Vietnamese shops, grocery stores and restaurants spanning the Orange County cities of Westminster and Garden Grove.

His constituency has more than doubled in the years since Sanchez was first elected to the House in 1996: Then, Vietnamese Americans accounted for less than 10 percent of the electorate. Now, they comprise almost 25 percent of the district’s voters.

National Republicans were watching — Vietnamese Americans in the district tend to vote GOP — and they pushed Tran hard to get into the race. California Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who heads the National Republican Congressional Committee’s recruitment efforts this cycle, can’t stop talking about Tran’s potential.

Sanchez has taken careful notice. Aside from her work in Congress, she appears each year at Little Saigon’s Tet festival wearing traditional Vietnamese garb, and she has traveled to Vietnam…

…But visiting the country is actually controversial within the Vietnamese community.

…Tran is closely followed by the ethnic press: There are four Vietnamese TV stations, several Vietnamese-language newspapers and numerous closely followed Vietnamese radio stations. He regularly appears on Vietnamese radio, a cheap and effective way to reach voters. “You can buy radio really cheap on some of these stations — if you’re on the air for half an hour for $180,” said Adam Probolsky, an Orange County pollster and consultant.

And although Sanchez does coordinated outreach to the Vietnamese press, Tran has the lingustic advantage: Sanchez does not speak Vietnamese. “So 7 p.m. at night, you’re talking politics with Van, and he’s on the air for half an hour while people are driving home,” said Probolsky, who ran a campaign in June for a local judge. “We bought Vietnamese press — print and radio, as cheap as can be — but it had a huge impact on the outcome,” he said.

For the full article visit: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/40366.html

Instant GOP Stars

Politico.com
By: Kasie Hunt
July 23, 2010

“A key success? Van Tran, a California assemblyman running against Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez. Tran, an immigrant whose parents left Vietnam on a military plane in the days before Saigon fell, lives in California’s 47th District, which has the highest concentration of Vietnamese-Americans in the country.

When McCarthy sat down to find someone to challenge Sanchez in a district that gave 60 percent of its vote to Obama in 2008 but voted for Bush in 2004, Tran was a natural fit: a popular elected official with a natural base beyond the party itself.

“You have to encourage the right people in the right districts,” McCarthy says.

He recalls a top House Democrat approaching him after Tran announced he would run, acknowledging the seat would become more difficult for Democrats to hold: “Van Tran - now that one hurt,” the Democrat said.”

Click here for the full article: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/40023.html

Huck PAC Endorses Van Tran For Congress From California’s 47th CD

July 21, 2010
by Mike Huckabee
HuckPAC.com

Huck PAC and I are pleased to announce our support of Assemblyman Van Tran for Congress. Van is committed to using common-sense solutions to solve the current problems in California, and around the Nation. He wants to balance the budget deficit by putting a restraint on reckless spending and eliminating waste in Washington bureaucracy.

Van’s personal history is truly the American Dream. His family first came to America in 1975, having been evacuated by the U.S. Army a week before the fall of Saigon. Before serving the people of the 68th Assembly District in Orange County, Van was the managing partner of his own law practice. Van also served on the Garden Gove Planning Commission and served as Vice-Mayor of Garden Grove before being elected to the California State Assembly in 2004. In fact, Van became the first Vietnamese-American elected to any state’s legislature.

Assemblyman Van Tran has fought hard for his constituents in Sacramento with public safety as one of his top priorities. Serving as vice-chair of the Judiciary Committee as well as sitting on the Banking and Finance and Governmental Organization Committees – Van has the right knowledge and expertise to affect real positive change in the 47th district, all of California and Washington, D.C.

I hope you’ll join me in supporting Van Tran for Congress.

http://www.huckpac.com/?Fuseaction=Blogs.View&Blog_id=3160

Van Tran Urges Congress to Reject Obama’s Newest Spending Plan

For Immediate Release
June 14, 2010
Contact: Rory Luepton
(714) 907-3442

Santa Ana – Yesterday, President Obama sent a letter to congressional leaders urging lawmakers to approve almost $50 million in new emergency spending for states and local governments to avoid “massive layoffs of teachers, police and firefighters.” This comes after the president recently proposed a three-year spending freeze on discretionary spending.

“It is very clear to the American people that President Obama is not committed to reducing taxes and cutting spending,” said Assemblyman Van Tran, candidate for the 47th Congressional District seat currently held by Loretta Sanchez. “It is time Washington gets it’s act together. The American people are being forced to bear the burden of excessive spending and increasing taxes. We need to remain focused on creating jobs, helping small businesses grow, and reducing our national deficit.”

“The White House is contradicting itself at the expense of all the hard working families in our great nation,” added Van Tran. “The President has said he is focused on getting people back to work, but at the same time he is calling for passage of a bill that extends unemployment benefits. We cannot continue to afford $50 billion of spending here, and $80 billion of spending there. You cannot spend your way to economic prosperity- no matter how many times this Congress tries. I will go to Congress and work to get spending under control and our economy back on track.”

In his first year and a half in office, President Obama has amassed nearly half the current national deficit. The White House urged Congress to pass the stimulus bill, the healthcare bill, and cap and trade legislation, all of which have added to our national deficit, and all of which Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez supported.

“Adding to our national deficit and burdening our children’s children is not the hope and change America voted for in 2008,” said Van Tran. “Sadly, our posterity will be paying the bills from the current Administration and Congress.”

“Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez says she is a Blue Dog Democrat. There is nothing fiscally conservative about voting to double our national deficit. That is wreckless spending, something we have grown accustomed to from Loretta Sanchez. I am running for Congress to restore the basic principals of fiscal conservatism and common sense. We simply cannot afford to spend what we do not have. I will not burden our children and grandchildren by wrecklessly voting for more taxes and spending.”

Orange County Register: Tran moves up in national GOP program

CLICK HERE for the OC Register article.