Van Tran

There’s a three-way race in the Republican primary for the 47th Congressional District to decide which candidate will face the seven-term Democratic incumbent, Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Santa Ana), in the November general election. The district covers Garden Grove, Costa Mesa, Santa Ana and parts of Anaheim and Fullerton. As the only Orange County Democrat in Congress, Sanchez is being targeted by the National Republican Campaign Committee. The primary election is June 8. Here’s a look at the candidates who want to take on Sanchez in November.

Alicia Robinson For freshman state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, starting his first term has been a flashback to starting college. But for his colleague Van Tran, the first week has been a commuter's nightmare. After winning election Nov. 2, Republicans DeVore and Tran have flown to Sacramento for a week of orientation and they've requested the committees they'd like to serve on. "It's almost like putting together a class schedule," DeVore said.

Alicia Robinson Since winning the March 2 primary, Republican 68th Assembly District candidate Van Tran has found himself in the midst of a media frenzy, but he said it hasn't turned his head. Though he's not taking anything for granted, Tran is considered a shoo-in against perennial Democratic candidate Al Snook in November. As potentially the highest-ranking Vietnamese American elected official in the country, Tran has been sought by the media, giving interviews to the BBC, Radio Free Asia, the Voice of America and other international media outlets.

Alicia Robinson EDITOR'S NOTE: This week, Daily Pilot government and politics reporter Alicia Robinson is in Sacramento to provide a firsthand look at Newport-Mesa's elected representatives. She will be checking in on freshmen Assemblymen Chuck DeVore and Van Tran and seeing how state Sen. John Campbell is adjusting to life in the Senate. Pilot photographer Kent Treptow is also on the assignment in the state capital. SACRAMENTO -- It's just before 8 a.m., and Chuck DeVore is on his way to the Capitol building to read the Bible.

Assemblyman Van Tran said he stands behind his endorsement of Sen. John McCain, despite the Arizona senator’s repeated use of a racial slur for Asians during the 2000 election. Tran, the highest elected Vietnamese-American in the United States, said he believes the veteran senator was referring to his Vietcong captors when he used the term — not the Vietnamese or Asian community as a whole. “I hated the [ethnic slur],” McCain said of his captors during a 2000 campaign stop.

Assemblyman Van Tran has introduced a bill that would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations to verify the immigration status of any new prisoner taken into state custody. The bill, which would require correctional officers to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and federal law, is aimed at reducing the state costs Tran sees related to the state’s influx of illegal immigration. A Vietnamese immigrant himself, Tran says prison costs could be cut tremendously by deporting, instead of detaining, such criminals.

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore says he won’t turn down a pay hike despite state budget problems some say could lead to service cuts. Four state senators and nine assemblymen have officially turned down a roughly $3,000 pay raise amid concerns over a tight budget. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has warned of a $10 billion budget deficit next year. But legislators are long overdue for a raise, DeVore said. “I work very hard as a state assemblyman,” DeVore said.

A few notable local Republicans have shipped out to Minnesota to attend the Republican National Convention this week to see presumptive vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin speak and participate in a variety of other functions. Even though California still doesn’t have a budget, Assemblyman Van Tran went to the Twin Cities as a delegate, while fellow state politicians Sen. Tom Harman and Assemblyman Chuck DeVore stayed home. Tran said that even though the budget is a pressing concern, he is not on the budgetary committee and therefore not intimately involved in drafting it; when one is drafted, he will return to vote.

Local California Assembly Republicans Chuck DeVore and Van Tran voted alongside a unanimous coalition of assembly Republicans to oppose a new Democrat-backed budget plan Sunday, which means the state still doesn’t have a budget more than a month into the fiscal year. However, DeVore and Tran consider the vote an important step toward solving California’s budget stalemate. “Now that the vote has failed, we’re hoping that some of our suggestions will be taken seriously,” DeVore said.

Most bills sponsored by Newport-Mesa state representatives on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk in the past few days escaped veto and were signed into law. As of the end of the state bill-signing period Tuesday, the governor had vetoed a record 415 state bills, amounting to more than 30% of the legislation that crossed his desk. Assemblyman Van Tran’s bill creating a commission that would recommend national activities to honor the bicentennial anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth was one of those that got vetoed.