Santa Ana Planning Commissioner Falsely Claims Credit for Little Saigon Business Sign

This post began with a notation from the minutes of the May 12 Santa Ana Planning Commission meeting.  In closing comments, from Vice Chair Sean H. Mill, this bullet:

“Shared that he (Mill) has been working with Vietnamese business community in Little Saigon regarding adding a privately-funded business monument sign at Euclid and Newhope Streets, which was recently approved by the City Council.”

This claim, augmented on the New Santa Ana blog, went into more detail.  “What the Register did not tell their readers is that Santa Ana Planning Commissioner Sean Mill and I (Art Pedroza) came up with the idea to restore the sign, during a phone conversation a few months ago.  I mentioned to Mill that it would be awesome to rebuild the sign and he took the ball and ran with it.  Mill talked to his contacts in Little Saigon and brought the idea to Santa Ana City Manager David Cavazos, who fully supported rebuilding the sign.

Mill’s contacts are forming a Little Saigon Business District Committee which will be paying to restore the monument sign.”

There’s only one thing wrong with this picture.  It’s completely false.

Santa Ana’s Ken Nguyen is a retired Little Saigon businessman who leads the Little Saigon Business Foundation.  He’s been working with Little Saigon business leaders and city officials in Santa Ana to get the sign rebuilt and has taken a leadership position in raising money for the new sign which will feature better lighting and barriers to prevent another car from destroying the sign that was damaged by a car in 2008.  Nguyen started the fundraising and construction of the original sign back in 2003.  When we contacted Nguyen with the notes from the Planning Commission meeting with Mill taking credit for restoring the sign, Nguyen was perplexed.

“I don’t know Sean Mill,” he said.  “I’ve never met him.  I don’t know what he looks like.  He hasn’t met with our group.  He has had nothing to do with rebuilding this sign.  If he wants to write us a check, we’ll take it.  But he has had nothing to do with rebuilding the sign and he nothing to do with forming a Little Saigon Business District Committee.  He has little to do with Little Saigon.  Little to do with the Little Saigon Business District.  And little to do with the Little Saigon Foundation that raised money to rebuild the signs.  Mill’s claims about working with us to replace the sign is completely false.”

Nguyen’s background with a Little Saigon business community leaders dates back to 2001 and he was a key proponent of the signs highlighting the business district that covers Santa Ana, Garden Grove and Westminster.

Mill claiming credit for the sign is odd in light of postings to the Yahoo Santa Ana Citizens group, where he took a 180 degree position on the sign dating back to 2003.  Perhaps his position on the sign and members of the city’s Vietnamese community have evolved over time, much like his views on Santa Ana’s LGBT community (of which we’re still interested in reading one of the “scores” of articles Mill has published “with his byline in the newspaper” in support of the city’s LGBT community; we can’t find them).  Mill had a negative view of Little Saigon and the Vietnamese Immigrants who fled South Vietnam.

From the Yahoo Santa Ana Citizens group, and some of Mill’s comments signed with his name used the Yahoo handle “dumppulido” and certain passages are bolded by us for emphasis:

Dumppulido     Jan 21, 2004

 

Brett Franklin sure has a thing for signs these days and he doesn’t

listen to anyone when he wants them erected. No, not even the laws

and ordinances he pushes to have enforced upon others. It is time we

the voters show him the exit sign and send a signal to the arrogant

politicians in this community that the time has come for them to walk

the walk.

 

First in a blatant act of pandering for money, votes and support

Brett pushed the Little “Ho Chi Minh City” (Saigon does not exist)

 sign down the throats of the people. He ignored the wants and

 desires of local businessman and neighborhood associations when it

 came to this sign. He claims to be a supporter of the neighborhood

association system and says that he listens to the neighbors. Well

ask Dave Lopez or Robert Henson if he does.

 

Piggy backing on his “Ho” sign success Brett decided to ignore the

very signage ordinances that he pushes upon the businesses and

citizens of Santa Ana. His temporary sign at 1001 W. 17th does not

meet the guidelines and no permit for temporary signage is on file at

city hall. How very arrogant.

 

Well, knowing that Lisa Mills must have missed this blatant violation

otherwise she would have reported it, I filed a complaint at the

beginning of summer. To my amazement when I followed up on the

complaint, there was no record of it being filed. Determined to rid

the north side of 17th from this awful eyesore I, as I noted in a

post several weeks ago, filed another complaint.

 

I called to follow up on it this morning. You won’t believe what

happened when I made my inquiry. No record of the complaint being

filed again. Shocking! Well I followed up that with a call to Dave

Ream’s office and filed yet another complaint.

 

I call upon those of you out there that have push and prodded city

hall to enforce signage regulations to do so now. Floral Park,

 Fisher Park and West Floral Park demand this eyesore be removed and

 the owner fined. A message must be sent to these scofflaws that no

one is above the law. Not even Brett Franklin!

 

 

Sean H. Mill

*******************************************************

 

 

—–Original Message—–

From: dumppulido [mailto:seanmill2002@…]

Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2004 11:59 AM

To: SantaAnaCitizens@yahoogroups.com

Subject: [SantaAnaCitizens] Re: “Little Saigon” Sign Groundbreaking

 

Steve-

 

The red and yellow flag is not even recognized by our government.

 The state dept. recognizes the Republic of Vietnam as the legitimate

 government. The red and yellow flag is nothing more than the banner

 being used by terrorists and right wing nuts.

 

I plan to be there at the dedication and will bring a legitimate

 Vietnamese flag with me. I guess I’ll find out how much these

 alleged lovers of freedom and democracy really are lovers of freedom

 and democracy.

 

 

Sean H. Mill

 

 

*************************************************************************

 

Dumppulido   [Sean Mill’s moniker at the time]    Feb 14, 2004

 

To paraphrase Art’s hero President Ronald Reagan:

 

“Mr. Pulido, tear down this wall!”

 

Sean H. Mill

 

 

— In SantaAnaCitizens@yahoogroups.com, ROBERT HENSON

<orangeknight69@y…> wrote:

 

 

This is now the “Little Saigon Wall” that devides the people of Santa

Ana, and the people of saigon.

 

 

> Robert L Henson, Sr.

> Riverview West Neighborhood Association

 

*******************************************************************

> dumppulido <seanmill2002@y…> wrote   Feb 13, 2004:

 

> The Little “Ho Chi Minh City” sign is up. I am not sure if it is

> 100% completed, but it is for the most part.

>

> I hope next this election coming up, as well as all future elections

> that everyone remembers who is responsible for this. After todays

> article in the Register, I think Jose Solorio should really be sent a

> message come November.

>

> I realize that Brett has recieved most of the criticism, but it took

> four votes to get the sign approved. It got five. Make them pay for selling out.

>

>

> Sean H. Mill

 

****************************************************************************

 

 

Dumppulido    Feb 16, 2004

 

The attached article is from todays Register and demonstrates my main

reason for opposing the sign at First/Euclid. It has been almost

 thirty years since the fall of Saigon and these people are still

 fighting this war. If you don’t agree with their thug/terroist

 mentality, you become the focus of their anger.

 

Ngyuen Cao Ky realizes that things are not going to change in Vietnam

any time soon. Rather than continue fighting he has decided the best

way to affect change is with dialog. By doing this he is called a

traitor and worse.

 

I for one don’t want this brand of thuggery and terroism associated

 with Santa Ana.

 

Sean H. Mill

 

 

*************************************************************

He also signed onto this Yahoo group in the following manner:

 

Sean H. Mill

“Little Ho Chi Minh City Settlement”

 

**************************************************

and this gem from November 1, 2004 (the tag is bolded for emphasis):

> — dumppulido <smill@…> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > As I gathered all of the political propaganda I
> had
> > received over the
> > past month in order to review it before voting, I
> > noticed something
> > that was quite interesting. According to the
> > propaganda pieces I
> > received from the Carlos Bustamante campaign,
> Carlos
> > was endorsed by
> > not only “Dave’s Neighbors”, but also by Mike
> > Garcia, Claudia
> > Alvarez, Van Tran and Andy Quach. In light of the
> > events that led to
> > the creation of “Dave’s Neighbors” this is quite a
> > unique and odd
> > collection of supporters.
> >
> > The Little Saigon sign that continues to be a
> blight
> > on those of us
> > that live on the westside of Santa Ana came to
> > fruition do to the
> > efforts of Tran and Quach and with the votes of
> > Alvarez and Garcia.
> > If Dave Lopez and company were as outraged as they
> > claimed by the
> > sign, why do they now align themselves with those
> > responsible for
> > it? Alberta Christy the most vocal opponent of
> the
> > sign among the
> > city council has endorsed Bustamante’s opponent.
> >
> > Bustamante claims to “support our neighborhood
> > associations”, but is
> > supported by the very same people that said to
> hell
> > with them. After
> > looking at the list of his supporters it is clear
> > that his backing is
> > from those outside the city and those with a
> > political agenda that
> > supports party politics over the will and best
> > interests of the
> > people.
> >
> > The fact that “Sandy” Nalle has the backing of
> Mayor
> > Pulido is
> > something that I find disturbing. However, after
> > speaking to Mr.
> > Nalle I found him to be someone who is willing to
> > listen to different
> > ideas and be willing to compromise for the good of
> > the community.
> > Mr. Nalle’s campaign has focused on issues that
> > pertain to the city
> > as a whole, while Bustamante has run a campaign
> > better suited for
> > school board.
> >
> > We need a council member that is there to serve
> the
> > interests of the
> > residents of the whole city, not just those that
> > reside in the Santa
> > Ana School District boundries. That is another
> > reason that I find
> > the endorsement of “Dave’s Neighbors” rather
> > strange. Seeing as how
> > Riverview West is located in the Garden Grove
> School
> > District
> > boundries, I would have thought Mr. Lopez might
> want
> > a candidate that
> > isn’t beholdn’t to SAUSD interests.
> >
> > The choice in Ward 3 is crystal clear to me. I am
> > just suprised that
> > it wasn’t to “Dave’s Neighbors”. I will continue
> to
> > stand in
> > opposition to outsiders like those who imposed the
> > eyesoar (sic) on First
> > Street and I reject candidates they support. I
> > never thought I’d say
> > this, but I’m with Pulido. “Sandy” Nalle is the
> > best candidate in
> > Ward 3.
> >
> > Sean H. Mill
> > Little Ho Chi Mihn City
> > formerly known as West Santa Ana
> >
> >

The entire Sean H. Mill/Santa Ana Citizen archive is here and he cannot delete these posts as he did on the Orange Juice Blog or New Santa Ana blogs to polish his image.

We shared these posts with Nguyen; he gasped audibly upon hearing it.

“These comments are outrageous,” Nguyen told us.

So here’s what we have; Mill is claiming credit for moving a privately-funded sign forward and working towards developing a Little Saigon Business District that already exists when no one involved with actually raising the funds or working with the city on the sign even knows what Mill looks like.  Mill has taken a 180 turn on the sign after standing against it in Internet post after Internet post as an “eyesore.”  In comments — in fairness that are 11 years old — Mill referred to Little Saigon as “Little Ho Chi Mihn City” and referred to those who still revere the South Vietnamese flag as “thugs” and “terrorists.”  Now, since we didn’t attend the original dedication ceremony for the original sign, Mill claimed he would attend the ceremony and “will bring a legitimate Vietnamese flag with me. I guess I’ll find out how much these alleged lovers of freedom and democracy really are lovers of freedom and democracy.”

Add this to the fact the FPPC is examining Mill’s failure to fully disclose his statement of economic interest on his 2013 form 700 (while fully disclosing all of it in his 2014 report) and add this to previous writings Mill did in 1988 in a letter to the LA Times that many called homophobic, just what sort of city council candidate would Mill be?  We agree that a person’s views can evolve, but only a few years ago Mill called Chris Prevatt of this blog — an HIV+ positive man — an “infected piece of shit” in an email to Chris.  In 2009, he referred to a Vietnamese blogger as a “victim of Agent Orange,” Mill also doubled down and made a statement that he had published “scores of articles” under his byline in local newspapers in support of the LGBT community when no amount of Google or Bing searching has revealed a single story.  For those who can’t recall, the term a score is 20 and “scores” would mean more than 40.  We can’t find one.

Mill is considered by many to be a candidate for City Council in Ward 6 after Sal Tinajero’s term expires.  Tinajero has ignored the homophobic comments and the failure to disclose economic interests, but can he ignore Mill’s claim of credit for a sign that those in Little Saigon disavow any role by Mill in the rebuilding of or Mill’s comments on “Little Ho Chi Mihn City” or calling those who identify as South Vietnamese as “thugs and terrorists?”

At what point does Tinajero hold his Planning Commissioner accountable?