Brown Takes Her Campaign for Governor to Little Saigon : Politics: Saying she welcomes ‘the diversity that is California,’ she becomes first such candidate to visit area.

Drawing on her family’s own immigrant background, Kathleen Brown spoke to an intimate crowd of Vietnamese Americans in Little Saigon on Thursday, becoming the first gubernatorial candidate ever to campaign here.

“I welcome the diversity that is California to my table as I launch my campaign for governor of California,” Brown told the small group, promising to “reinvent the California Dream” if she wins her bid for office.

Dinh Kim Le, president of the Vietnamese American Democratic League, which sponsored the event, said, “This is a first ever, so we are very honored to welcome a gubernatorial candidate. Pete Wilson never came here. Personally, I am very moved, because she is a front-runner. We want to show her our hospitality.”

About 40 people attended the brief event, hosted in a second-floor storefront of a Little Saigon strip mall decorated with red, white and blue balloons.

Calling California “a place where dreams were born and dreams realized,” Brown recounted her great-grandfather’s journey from Germany to dig for gold in the hills of Northern California, and her other great-grandfather’s flight from the famines of Ireland.

“California opened up its arms, opened up its state and welcomed people from all over,” she said.

In a brief question-and-answer session, Brown also ran down her main campaign promises, spelling out a commitment to create 1 million jobs and emphasize technology, trade and global competition in a new economy.

Several people in the audience pressed her on her stance on immigration, saying many legal residents in the Vietnamese community are fearful that the anti-immigrant climate in California could lead to the whittling away of their access to welfare.

Brown derided “immigrant bashing” and said she opposed denying education to children of illegal immigrants or blocking access to emergency health care. But she stressed that she believed illegal immigrants should not receive welfare or “long-term health care.”

“She’s very bright, very close to people,” Hoan Nguyen of Fountain Valley said after the event, praising Brown’s demeanor.

Some in the audience, however, found Brown short on specifics.

“She was very general about her answers,” said Hong Tram Pham, who works with Vietnamese Community of Orange County, Inc. “She talked about her master plan for education, but what is her master plan? She was very polished, but that’s a politician.”

Pham said Brown’s visit nevertheless was significant for her community.

“Maybe for the first time, the mainstream is starting to recognize the Vietnamese community, not only economically, but as a strong voice in the political process. That’s important,” she said.

“I think it’s a very smart move on her part,” added Arthur Nakazato, president of the Orange County Asian-American Bar Assn. “Orange County has 2.5 million people and 250,000 are Asian . . . Evidently Kathleen Brown has realized that, and I commend her for doing that.”