Assembly Candidate Tran to Plead Guilty to Bribery
Former Rosemead mayor and 49th Assembly District candidate John Tran faces up to 10 years in prison for bribing a developer.
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Editor's Note: On Feb. 4, Joseph Chang and Cung Nguyen said they did not endorse John Tran's campaign, and the assembly candidate fabricated quotes attributed to them.
Chang told Patch he endorsed Ed Chau for State Assembly and when contacted in March, Chau told Patch that Chang had endorsed him some time around October 2011.
The San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported 49th Assembly District candidate John Tran has agreed to plead guilty to federal bribery charges.
The former Rosemead mayor received several payments from 2005-2006 totaling $7,000 from a unnamed developer — whose business partner also paid Tran $3,200 cash in 2007 — according to the criminal complaint filed by the U.S. District Attorney's Office.
See the criminal complaint to the right.
Tran served on the Rosemead City Council from 2005-2009. He was mayor from 2007-2009 before being voted out.
Arcadia will join the 49th District — which also includes San Marino — later this year when the new district maps go into effect. Arcadia Unified School District board member Cung Nguyen and San Marino Unified School District Board Member C. Joseph Chang, along with several other local officials, threw their support behind Tran.
Tran is scheduled to appear in federal court in Los Angeles Feb. 21 to answer to the bribery charges.
Lan Nguyen
6:33 pm on Saturday, February 4, 2012
For you to single out two Asian elected officials with no connection to Tran or these incidents among a list of many other public officials who supported Tran is COMPLETELY UNCONSCIENABLE! Without looking at that list, if there is even 1 other Arcadia or San Marino public official on that list then I have to completely question your motives for this completely unrelated association.
Natalie Ragus
10:07 pm on Saturday, February 4, 2012
Lan, the officials (and Tran) being of Asian descent has absolutely NOTHING to do with the story. Those officials were simply the most high profile officials in both cities who gave formal endorsements to Tran. You are making an issue where there is none. Had Mayor Kovacic (who is Caucasian) given his endorsement to Tran, I would have put that in the article. To the best of MY knowledge, Mayor Kovacic did not give his endorsement to Tran. Please correct me if I'm wrong, however.
C. Joseph Chang
11:33 pm on Saturday, February 4, 2012
Dear Editor Natalie Ragus,
You have incorrectly cited my name in your article as an endorser of Mr. John Tran. I have never endorsed Mr. Tran in any way and have never formally given permission for my name to be used in his campaign. In order to use my name for a campaign, I have always had a candidate officially submit a letter to me before I give permission. This has been my policy for the last 10 years while serving as a school board member. Please check your facts before publishing a blatantly incorrect fact to the public. I would like my name removed from this article with an statement made about the correction.
C. Joseph Chang
Board of Education, San Marino Unified School District
Natalie Ragus
11:42 pm on Saturday, February 4, 2012
Hi Mr. Chang,
Trans campaign sent out a formal e-mail announcing the endorsements, which is where we (San Marino editor Jessica Hamlin) and I got the endorsements and the quotes. Mr. Nguyen sent me an e-mail saying he did not endorse Tran either. How did the Tran campaign get the quotes?
Natalie Ragus
11:43 pm on Saturday, February 4, 2012
I should have said press release. The Tran campaign sent out a press release announcing the endorsements and that included the quotes.
C. Joseph Chang
12:15 am on Sunday, February 5, 2012
Dear Editor Natalie Ragus and Jessica Hamlin,
As I have repeated before, I have never given permission to use my name or title in Mr. Tran's campaign. I have never attended any of his campaign events and have never followed his activity as a public official. I am not sure how my name became part of his press release. I would still like my name removed from this article with a statement made about the correction.
C. Joseph Chang
Board of Education, San Marino Unified School District
Jessica Hamlin
11:21 am on Sunday, February 5, 2012
Hi Mr. Chang,
I just double-checked and found the press release that names you in the endorsements. I will contact the person who sent the email on Monday and see how the endorsement came about. If an error was made, it will definitely be corrected with a note about the correction.
Thank You
Natalie Ragus
3:07 pm on Sunday, February 5, 2012
And I double checked as well for Mr. Nguyen and will also contact the person who sent me the press release on Monday. Like Jessica said, if an error was made, it will be corrected.
June Huynh
3:52 pm on Tuesday, February 7, 2012
I am looking through all my saved images on my camera's memory chips (looking through 4 of them). I think I have an image of Joseph Chang with John Tran from some event.