Councilman Lam Refuses Involvement in Protests

The nation’s first elected Vietnamese American official, facing criticism for not intervening in the Little Saigon flag controversy, said he has considered resigning over it.

“My heart has been torn apart,” Westminster City Councilman Tony Lam said at Tuesday’s council meeting, his voice cracking with emotion. “It’s truly tearing me down.”

Lam has been under attack, and is facing a possible recall drive, for not getting involved in protests against store owner Truong Van Tran’s display of the Vietnamese flag and picture of Ho Chi Minh.

Some have called him a Communist sympathizer, noting that his brother helped negotiate a deal with the Vietnamese government to build a hospital in Hanoi. But Lam said the city attorney’s office has advised him and other City Council members to stay out of the dispute because the city must remain neutral and impartial to avoid possible legal action.

Lam said his wife had threatened to divorce him for not getting involved, and he had even considered quitting office.

“Deep in my heart, I’m very sympathetic to the demonstrators,” Lam said, adding that he also feels bad for neighbors who have had to deal with traffic and noise from the protests.

The audience applauded Lam after his 10-minute speech, after which he left the council chambers for a few minutes to collect himself.

Other council members also expressed sympathy for the protesters, but insisted they have to stay impartial. The situation, they said, is a dispute between two private parties, and their role is simply to enforce the law.

“We cannot be put in the middle,” Mayor Frank Fry Jr. said. “And we are being pushed by both sides to become a factor in it, and that is not our intention.”

But some audience members said they believe the city’s political leaders should at least visit the protest site to demonstrate interest and support for the protesters’ cause.

“I don’t think politicians have the right to be neutral when it comes to something like this,” Dietrich Nicholson, a Garden Grove political activist, told the council. “To me, it’s a moral subject.”

Councilwoman Margie Rice said she thought the demonstrators, who have reportedly raised $200,000 to support the protest, should help pay the city’s police overtime costs, which have hit $109,000 so far.

“I don’t feel the taxpayers should have to pay it,” Rice said.