Thursday’s editorial calling for Supervisor Andrew Do’s resignation from the Orange County Board of Supervisors is nothing more than a political hit piece. Such an editorial is clearly the paper’s prerogative; however, I would have thought that as a long-serving county supervisor, especially one endorsed by the paper, that the bare minimum of fact checking or a phone call to verify information would occur.
The editorial misleads readers by providing them just enough information to create a negative narrative but, tragically, ignores the facts that, once known and easily found, make the piece’s conclusion null and void.
Here are the facts.
The editorial parrots back reporting by Nick Gerda, a reporter now with LAist and formerly with Voice of OC who has published over 100 hit pieces against me through the years. Referring to Gerda’s article but not mentioning the reporter by name and, by doing so, relying on the “objectivity” of a Los Angeles- focused blog, prevents your readers from judging the biased nature of Gerda’s LAist article.
Gerda posted his initial story on Thanksgiving eve, knowing that any attempted correction would not occur for some time due to the holiday. The Register’s editorial compounds Gerda’s errors by taking them at face value without any attempt at verifying the information. Your disappointing editorial from November 30, 2023 demands that you correct key elements of your column.
The facts Gerda got wrong and that the Register Editorial Board relied on were: 1) the nonprofit, Viet American Society (VAS), was and has always been a legally registered non-profit organization; 2) Gerda radically inflated the amount of County contracts; and 3) VAS, the nonprofit mentioned, was already under three previous County contracts during COVID, well before my daughter was hired as an employee to help run its mental health clinic. Of note, my daughter was not a director or officer and she did not handle any of the non-profit’s finances. She did, though, have mental health experience (the Steinberg Institute) and is dual-language fluent — essential for Orange County’s Vietnamese-American community.
Next, I sat on CalOptima’s board because I represented, among other cities, Santa Ana, meaning that I served the most patients in the CalOptima system. After 2021 redistricting, Supervisor Sarmiento represented Santa Ana and Anaheim, which meant he now had the most patients in his supervisorial district. Rightfully, because of this fact, he should sit on the CalOptima board, the same way Supervisor Todd Spitzer left the board for me back in 2016. So, contrary to the editorial’s claim, I didn’t resign.
CalOptima’s board of directors consists of County health leaders, including hospital CEOs and directors of UCI Medical Center and the Coalition of Community Clinics. All actions the board took required a board vote. I chaired the CalOptima board for two of the eight years I had served on that board. To say that I had “control” of CalOptima is not only wrong, but it also ignores eight directors, as well as previous board members and chairs, which I find offensive. Yet, the Register’s editorial board described my involvement at CalOptima this way to further a misleading narrative.
Peter Pham, VAS’s founder, had never been involved in any fundraising fine. But, the Register, yet again, repeats Gerda’s spurious and false allegation and didn’t bother to do any fact checking.
Still another example of gross misinformation is the editorial’s reference to alleged money laundering. At the height of my 2020 general election, a complaint was filed by political opponents alleging that I was working with the Orange County Republic Party to “launder” money. As you know, these complaints are not uncommon in politics. The Fair Political Practices Committee dismissed that complaint a week after it was filed. But, by parroting the spurious accusation, which my political opponents attempted to use against me in that campaign, the Register knowingly uses a “non-event” to again further its narrative.
I was honored to receive the Register’s endorsement when I ran for office. I realize that news and its coverage evolve over time. However, I expected — or, hoped — that at a minimum a long-serving public official would at least get the common courtesy of basic fact checking.
I’m “in the arena,” and live in the rough-and-tumble world of politics. But, the Register’s readers, many of whom are my constituents, deserve a more balanced application of the power of the press. You took on face value the “reporting” of someone who has a history of targetng me…and expanded his platform in the process. Shame on the Orange County Register and the editorial board for not doing its homework.
Andrew Do is vice chairman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors
