Vietnamese Democratic Leaders Chosen as Convention Delegates

Two members of the Garden Grove-based Vietnamese American Phoenix Democratic Club will represent the 46th Congressional District at the Democratic National Convention this summer in Los Angeles.

The club’s president, Dinh Kim Le, and vice president, Mai Cong, were selected last week at a caucus in Orange for presidential candidate Al Gore.

Le said that hundreds of people turned out to support Gore, while a caucus for Sen. Bill Bradley at Santa Ana College drew 27 people.

“He’s a good man, and I like him,” Le said of Bradley. “But I still think Al Gore is the better candidate.”

Delegates from the district--which includes Santa Ana and parts of Garden Grove, Orange and Anaheim--will attend a state meeting in April to be confirmed as part of the delegation from California.

Cong received the most votes out of the nine candidates vying for positions in the district. “I am humbled by the outpouring of support from the Vietnamese America Community,” she said.

As delegates, Le and Cong will vote to nominate the Democratic Party’s candidate for president. They will also vote for the adoption of the party’s national platform, which is usually viewed as the national policy for the next Democratic presidential administration.

Both Le and Cong first served as delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1996. Because delegates are responsible for their own travel expenses, Cong is happy the convention is being held in Los Angeles.