Republican candidate against Latina Congresswoman vows to stay in race despite threatening letter to Latino voters that emanated from his office

By PETER PRENGAMAN
Associated Press Writer

GARDEN GROVE, California (AP): A Republican congressional candidate who acknowledged his campaign sent a letter threatening Latino immigrant voters insists he will stay in the race despite mounting pressure for him to step aside.

Tan D. Nguyen, a Vietnamese immigrant trying to unseat a popular Democratic incumbent, resisted calls on Thursday from leaders in his own party to quit the race. He said he had no prior knowledge of the letter that wrongly told thousands of Orange County immigrants they could be jailed if they voted.

“I did not do this. I did not approve of any letter,'' Nguyen told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. He said he has since fired his campaign's office manager, who he said helped produce the mailer.

County Republican Chairman Scott Baugh said that after speaking with state investigators and the company that distributed the mailer, he believes Nguyen had direct knowledge of the “obnoxious and reprehensible” letter. He said the party’s executive committee voted unanimously to urge Nguyen to drop out of the race against Democratic U.S. Rep. Loretta Sánchez.

Sánchez is the older sister of U.S. Rep. Linda Sánchez, who visited Ohio this past week, campaigning for U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown (endorsed Democratic candidate, running for the U.S. Senate against Senator Mike DeWine).

``I learned information that allows me to draw the conclusion that not only was Mr. Nguyen's campaign involved in this, but that Mr. Nguyen was personally involved in expediting the mailer,'' Baugh said in a telephone interview.

State and federal officials were investigating the mailing for possible violations of election law. Investigators met with Nguyen for two hours Thursday, said his attorney David Wiechert, who declined to elaborate.

``Mr. Nguyen has no intention of dropping out of the race. He would do the public a disservice if he dropped out,'' Wiechert said.

The letter, written in Spanish, was mailed to an estimated 14,000 Democratic voters in central Orange County. It warns, ``You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time.''

Immigrants who are adult naturalized citizens are eligible to vote.

Numerous political leaders denounced the letter, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who called it ``a despicable act of political intimidation and a hate crime.''

Undocumented immigration has been a centerpiece of Nguyen’s campaign to oust Sánchez, a five-term congresswoman who said she has not spoken to Nguyen and never saw him as a threat to her re-election.

``If it is in fact this guy (who sent the letter), the most disgusting and saddest thing about it is that it comes from another immigrant,'' said Sánchez, who was born in the U.S. to Mexican parents. “These communities have spent years trying to get naturalized immigrants to vote.''

Nguyen's campaign Web site says he was born in 1973 in Vietnam, where his family fled the communist regime.

In 2004, he unsuccessfully ran in the Democratic primary to challenge Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher in a heavily Republican coastal district. He later changed his party affiliation and declared his bid to upset Sánchez.

Orange County for years has been a battleground on immigration issues.

One founder of the Minuteman civilian border patrol group ran for Congress here and cities have debated issues such as the value of public centers for day laborers and the use of local police to arrest undocumented immigrants.

Editor’s Note: Associated Press writers Michael R. Blood in Los Angeles, Don Thompson and Steve Lawrence in Sacramento, Michael J. Sniffen in Washington, D.C., and Rico de La Prensa contributed to this report.

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