Andrew Do’s agreement to plead guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, and to resign from his post as a county supervisor, both revealed Tuesday, Oct. 22, cap a long list of ethical questions, investigations and fines aimed at Do during the past 17 years of his political career.
Here is a brief rundown of that career:
• 2007: Do, a lawyer who fled Vietnam as a child in 1975 and grew up in Garden Grove, signs on as chief of staff for a younger Garden Grove politician, Janet Nguyen. Do serves as a powerful surrogate for Nguyen in Vietnamese-language media, helping the 30-year-old become the youngest supervisor in county history.
• 2008: Do, a former public defender and assistant district attorney, wins his own election, replacing Nguyen on the Garden Grove City Council.
• 2010: Do quits his job as Nguyen’s chief of staff.
• 2011: Do unexpectedly resigns from his seat on the Garden Grove council. Political opponents accuse Do of not living in the city and of using a Tustin home as his primary residence. If true, it would be a violation of state election law. Do denies that claim and no charges are filed. He explains his move to step down from the council by saying he wanted to resume his legal career and help run a Lee’s Sandwich shop that he co-owns with Nguyen’s husband, Tom Bonikowski Jr.
• 2015: Do returns to politics, running to fill Nguyen’s District 1 seat on the Board of Supervisors after her successful bid for a seat in the California State Assembly. Do beats longtime Santa Ana politician Lou Correa by 43 votes; Correa goes on to become a congressman, representing Santa Ana and Anaheim in Washington, D.C. During the 2015 campaign, and in subsequent campaigns, Do is accused of living outside the district he’s trying to represent, again because of the home in Tustin he bought in 2002. Do concedes he bought a home in Westminster to meet the county residency requirements.
• 2016: Do wins his first re-election to the Board of Supervisors, in part by promising to help homeless people leave the Santa Ana Civic Center area. Two years later, he plays a role in relocating hundreds of people who were living in tents near the Santa Ana River.
• 2017: Do is rejected in his bid to become the supervisor in charge of CalOptima, the $3.7 billion program that provides health care to nearly a half-million low-income residents of Orange County. The state later blocks another bid by Do to appoint all five supervisors to the CalOptima board. Do eventually becomes chairman of the CalOptima board.
• 2018: Do is accused of misusing tax money to pay for mailers he uses as campaign fliers in his re-election race against Santa Ana Councilwoman Michele Martinez. At one point, Do issues about 470,000 mailers, at a cost of about $148,000. Though not illegal at the time, the move is considered a key reason the state passed a law setting clear rules on tax-funded campaign fliers.
• 2022: Do’s bid to become California’s state treasurer ends when he does not advance out of the primary, finishing third behind Jack Guerrero and eventual winner Fiona Ma.
• 2022: The California Fair Political Practices Commission says Do used his role at CalOptima to steer contracts to lobbyists who previously donated to his campaigns. The commission demands Do pay an administrative penalty of $12,000. The same report notes that Do didn’t issue timely reports related to campaign donors with ties to a statue proposed for Mile Square Park. The commission said those donations could be used to win political favor from Do.
• 2023: In February, Do quits his role as chairman of CalOptima. He previously had been criticized for supporting huge salary hikes for some CalOptima executives and for hiring an aide, Veronica Carpenter, to a newly created, $282,000-a-year job as chief of staff. That move raised questions, in part, because Carpenter had less than a year of experience in hospital administration.
• 2023: LAist first reports that Do helped direct millions of dollars to a nonprofit without revealing his daughter Rhiannon’s role in the organization.
• Oct. 22, 2024: Do agrees to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery in federal court relating to a scheme involving Viet America Society and the embezzlement of millions in COVID relief funds. He admits to receiving more than $550,000 in bribes to vote in favor of and direct millions to VAS, where his daughter was hired as a condition of the bribery scheme. As part of his agreement, he resigns from the Board of Supervisors.
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