A Closer Look at Garden Grove District 6

We receivwed this guest editorial this afternoon and offer it for our readers:

Tonight at 7PM the Democratic Party of Orange County will be meeting to make their endorsements. In many of the contested races, the recommendation is to go open and endorse no one, which is a smart decision. When two viable Democrats are on the ballot, the party really should let the voters decide. Unfortunately there is one exception to this that I find most concerning, Garden Grove City Council District 6. The DPOC endorsement committee decided to go with Rickk Montoya, the former plaintiff in the California CVRA Lawsuit as the endorsed candidate of the Democratic Party. Problem is he has a viable challenger, Kim Bernice Nguyen, who was the author of the district map that was unanimously passed by the City Council.

While Rickk has been endorsed by an AFSCME Local in Los Angeles and Orange County Board of Education Trustee Becky Gomez, Kim has racked up a far more impressive list of endorsements that include former State Senator and likely future Congressman Lou Correa, both sitting Democrats on the Garden Grove City Council, Mayor Bao Nguyen and Councilman Kris Beard, Westminster School District Trustee Jamison Power and former Congressman and Coast Community College District Trustee Jerry Patterson.

It is a shame the DPOC Central Committee is ready to endorse Rickk without having all these facts, and the reasoning is even more concerning as it seems like Ms. Nguyen is being left out because of her youth. Unfortunately there have been whisper campaigns by people supporting Rickk Montoya, making wild claims questioning Ms. Nguyen’s Democratic credentials. Usually this is a sign of desperation.

Recently, information was brought to my attention regarding Mr. Montoya’s potential support from right wing interests who have painted Ms. Nguyen as the “leftist” candidate.

Here is the first set of screen captures from a Ms. Maureen Blackmun. Our sources tell us she is President of the Garden Grove Neighborhood Association and quite the conservative Republican. Here is her endorsement of Rickk Montoya calling him the “real deal.”

Now there are some screen captures where she and other Garden Grove residents including Bert Ashland, a known Republican activist, rail against the idea of Asian Democrats running for office and put Rickk Montoya on their slate of conservative Republican candidates.

Looking at the tone of these messages, these anti-Asian comments would likely be heard at a Donald Trump rally. It is shameful that Rickk Montoya seems to accept support from such unsavory individuals.

Yet is gets worse as more screen captures were sent of Duy Nguyen, a known confidente of Republican Supervisor Andrew Do issuing a warning that Kim Nguyen and the Vietnamese Democrat running in District 3, Thu Ha Nguyen, are plotting to bring a leftist agenda. Shouldn’t this give Democrats a reason to support Kim Nguyen. I for one am disturbed at Duy Nguyen’s endorsement of Rickk Montoya, as if he expect Rickk to bring a conservative agenda to the City Council.

Last, I did some more research on Duy Nguyen, and it is clear he is on the far far right of the political spectrum, constantly spewing anti Latino and pro Allen West propaganda.

So the message to Rickk Montoya, can we count on you to condem the postings by Duy Nguyen, Maureen Blackmun and Bert Ashland and their racist behavior? These are serious concerns that the DPOC should take into consideration. Ultimately the DPOC should not take a stand on this race and allow the voters to decide who they feel is best to represent them.