Supervisor Andrew Do is Orange County’s most powerful Vietnamese American official, known for mentoring other Vietnamese American conservative politicians from Little Saigon.
But now Do’s ability to serve is being challenged following ethics questions raised by an LAist investigation exposing critical times he failed to disclose family connections.
On Thursday, the county’s largest paper, the Orange County Register, issued a call for Do’s resignation, which was echoed by some in the Vietnamese American community that had helped to catapult him to the county’s highest office.
Tracy La leads the Garden Grove-based advocacy group VietRISE, which is part of a coalition demanding Do resign. Her group has criticized Do for failing to serve the Vietnamese American community on issues such as immigration reform and rent stabilization.
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“Andrew Do has built a career pretending to be a champion for Vietnamese people, but he's only proven time and time again that he only cares about his small circle of political allies and cronies,” La said.
Do's checkered past
Dzung Do, the top editor at the largest Vietnamese-language paper in the country, Nguoi Viet, said allegations of financial impropriety have tailed Do for years, but that the supervisor has still enjoyed popularity among a Vietnamese American constituency that doesn’t closely follow the goings-on of the Board of Supervisors.
“He organized some events in the community like a health fair or festival for Tet, so people like him for that,” Do said.
But revelations that Do approved millions of dollars worth of subcontracts for a mental health center without publicly disclosing it’s led by his 22-year-old daughter will “remind people (Do) used to do bad things in the past.” Top of mind for the news editor was when Do resigned as board chair of the county’s health plan for low-income residents after it came to light that he presided over giant hikes in executive pay.
“His reputation (is), more or less, damaged,” Do said.
Dzung Do said he was taken aback when the editorial board of the Register on Thursday called on Do to resign.
“Asked to resign by an American mainstream newspaper — that's a big deal,” Do said.
Do is termed out next year
Andrew Do did not respond to a request for comment about calls for him to resign. He cannot run again for supervisor next year because of term limits.
Nguoi Viet's Do said his paper has also been following LAist’s reporting on how a mistrial was declared after the supervisor testified in a case about a homelessness case without revealing he’s married to a high-ranking Orange County Superior Court judge, Cheri Pham.
The suit was filed by the city of Santa Ana to shut down a county-funded homeless services drop-in center in the city for zoning violations.
"To cause a mistrial is just devastating to our residents, because those are public taxpayer dollars," said Thai Viet Phan who sits on Santa Ana's city council and represents a western ward that's part of Little Saigon.
Phan, Santa Ana's first Vietnamese American councilmember, did not demand that Do resign — she said that is up to the residents of District 1, which Santa Ana was moved out of during redistricting last year — but she said an investigation into his actions is in order.
"He is a highly educated attorney and been in office for a very long time so it's not like he can't know," Phan said.
Tracy La of VietRISE is also insisting on an independent probe and audit of Do’s time in office. La said that others in county government must also shoulder responsibility for Do directing millions to his daughter’s nonprofit.
“It seems to me like there's an ecosystem of people and county government who have not only enabled it, but most likely have partnered with Supervisor Do to make this happen as well,” La said.
