Andrew Do ( vi, Andrew Đỗ) is an American politician currently serving as Orange County Supervisor, representing the First District. He is a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

. Do was a candidate for

California State Treasurer The state treasurer of California is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of the government of the U.S. state of California. Thirty-five individuals have held the office of state treasurer since statehood. The incumbent is Fiona M ...

in 2022, but was eliminated in the primaries.

Early life

Do fled with his family from Vietnam to the United States following the

Fall of Saigon The Fall of Saigon, also known as the Liberation of Saigon by North Vietnamese or Liberation of the South by the Vietnamese government, and known as Black April by anti-communist overseas Vietnamese was the capture of Ho Chi Minh City, Saigon, t ...

, with only the clothes they were wearing and a "suitcase full of dictionaries." Do grew up in Garden Grove, California and subsequently attended UC Davis. Do earned a JD from Hastings College of the Law.

Career

Do served on several professional boards, including the Vietnamese-American Bar Association of Southern California and the Orange County Bar Association. In 2007, Do served as the

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

for

Janet Nguyen Janet Q. Nguyen (born May 1, 1976) is an American politician who serves in the California State Assembly. A Republican, she represents the 72nd district, encompassing parts of northern coastal Orange County which includes the cities of Huntin ...

, a politician from Southern California. In 2008, Do was a city council member of Garden Grove, California. He was also a deputy district attorney of Orange County as well as an adjunct professor at California State University of Fullerton. In 2022, Do ran in the

election, but lost to Cudahy

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural coun ...

man Jack M. Guerrero in the primaries. According to campaign spending data from Cal-Access, Do’s campaign raised $212,401 until May 21 for the campaign.

Racist abuse

Do has been subjected to racist abuse while serving in his official capacity as supervisor. During an Orange County Board of Supervisors meeting on

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

prevention efforts in July 2021, one speaker, under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individu ...

of "Tyler Durden", told Do: “You come to my country, and you act like one of these communist parasites. I ask you to go the f--- back to Vietnam," despite Do being an American citizen and living in the country for more than 46 years.

Residency controversy

In the 2008 Garden Grove City Council race, Do's political opponent filed a complaint that he lives in a North Tustin home he purchased in 2002 making him ineligible to sit on the Garden Grove council. No charges were brought against Do. In 2015, Do has been accused by the same political opponent of residency fraud, stating that his primary residence is outside the district he serves (1st district) and is instead in North Tustin (3rd district) where he owns a house purchased in 2002. Do acknowledged that he bought the

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

residency in the 1st district to meet residency requirements to run for office in 2015. However, Do denied the allegations that he still lives in his North Tustin home, but declines to state whether it is being rented out or not.

CalOptima

In March 2017, Do attempted to become the supervisor to CalOptima, Orange County's $3.7 billion publicly-funded health insurance plan for low-income citizens. His bid was rejected by the CalOptima board of directors. Do then attempted, but was blocked by state legislators, to take control of CalOptima by proposing that all 5 board members of the OC Board of Supervisors become board members of CalOptima. When a fellow supervisor said the takeover effort was motivated by being rejected as chairman, Do did not respond and instead reiterated his qualifications to be chairman. The move was also seen as an attempt to pull CalOptima back from the medical industry and install elected-officials instead, after a former county supervisor and lobbyist gave the industry control in 2011. Do eventually became chairman of CalOptima in 2020, making him the first Vietnamese American to take this seat. At this time, he hired Veronica Carpenter, one of his longtime advisors, to the newly-created chief of staff role, paying $282,000 plus benefits. Multiple former CalOptima chairmen raised concern given Carpenter having less than a year of hospital administration experience. In 2021, Do led the effort on the board to appoint Blair Contratto as the hospital administrator of CalOptima, despite Contratto lacking experience in Orange County. This caused a rare public rebuke by the Hospital Association of Southern California noting that diverging from the traditional appointment of a local leader "disregards the breadth of knowledge and experience our hospital leaders bring to CalOptima". Under Do's leadership as board chair, CalOptima has increasingly become under fire for its substantial turnover in key positions and salaries having jumped significantly (from $400,000 to at least $560,000 for the CEO position). In February 2022, the board abruptly fired its entire in-house legal team of attorneys and support staff in a closed session meeting.

Pay-to-play violations

In July 2022, the non-partisan

California Fair Political Practices Commission The Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) of California is a five-member independent nonpartisan commission that has primary responsibility for the impartial and effective administration of the Political Reform Act of 1974. The Commission's ...

published a stipulation revealing that Do -- while serving on the board of CalOptima in 2016 and 2017 -- has steered government contracts to two lobbyists that were donors of his political campaigns. This is in violation of California's pay-to-play restrictions. The commission noted that "Do made, participated in making, and attempted to use his official position to influence governmental contracting decisions involving a participant who contributed to his campaign". The commission revealed a sum of roughly 5,000 USD that were donated by the two lobbyist, but that Do did not disclose this or recuse himself from the vote to award the government contracts to them. The commission imposed an administrative penalty of $12,000 and that Do has "apparently" agreed to this fine. In the same stipulation, the commission also noted that Do violated regulations on a series of behested payments for a statue project at

Mile Square Park Mile Square Regional Park is a park located in Fountain Valley, California, United States. It includes two lakes, three 18-hole golf courses, archery range, baseball and softball fields, picnic shelters, and a urban nature area planted with Califor ...

by filing the required reports late. The commission noted that "Payments made at the behest of elected officials—including charitable donations—are a means by which donors may seek to gain favor with elected officials. Timely reporting of such activity serves to increase public awareness regarding potential attempts to influence in this manner." The commission met again on July 21 2022 to determine these cases.

References

External links

Andrew Do at ballotpedia.org

Andrew Do at ocpolitical.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Do, Andrew American politicians of Vietnamese descent California Republicans California city council members Living people Orange County Supervisors People from Ho Chi Minh City California politicians of Vietnamese descent Vietnamese emigrants to the United States Vietnamese refugees Year of birth missing (living people) University of California, Davis alumni Asian conservatism in the United States