The long, strange political saga of Janet Nguyen has taken another curious turn.
She is being sued in small claims court by the man who quarterbacked her recount effort in the wake of the Feb. 2007 special election: veteran GOP operative Jimmy Camp.
The reason: Janet’s refusal to pay Jimmy the final $2,500 of the $10,000 win bonus he was promised if she won the recount.
Jimmy has been working in OC and California GOP politics for close to twenty years. he has worked with a laundry-list of candidates, elected officials and movers-and-shakers. He is roundly liked, admired and respected.
Why stiff him?
Leaving aside the wrongness of refusing to pay someone what you owe them…but forcing Jimmy Camp to go to court to in order to get paid? Why confirm the persistent criticism that Janet isn’t ready for prime time with this display of political pettiness and immaturity?
Obviously, Janet can bank on this being the subject of hit pieces. But it also takes a toll on her image annd credibility among other elected officials, donors, activists, etc — the OC political class. As OC GOPers have wearied of the Van-Janet war of attrition, my sense is sympathy has been shifting to Janet. As she acquired a better feel for her office and largely stopped making mistakes that highlighted her inexperience — couple with a political party’s natural aversion to destructive intra-party fights — the narrative in the political class has shifted (fairly or unfairly) away from Janet’s flaws and acquired a negative view of Assemblyman Van Tran as a vindictive ethnic machine boss.
Jimmy Camp’s lawsuit shifts it right back on Janet and how she’s acquired a remarkable number of enemies in a short political career.
Jimmy Camp’s situation is illustrative. Camp was hired to quarterback Janet’s recount effort following the special election — the effort that wiped out Trung Nguyen’s 7-vote victory and led to Janet being elected by a 3-vote margin. I’d say service of that nature merits gratitude and loyalty.
Jimmy agreed to run the recount effort for a low $2,500 on the condition of getting a $10,000 win bonus if Janet won the recount.
As we know, Team Janet pulled it off at the end of February, and $7,500 of Jimmy’s win bonus was dribbled out to him over the next few months.
Following Janet’s election, Jimmy Camp express to her his interest in joining her supervisor staff. It’s pretty standard for victorious candidates to bring campaign staff with them into office, and if you are a young, inexperienced new Supervisor with only two years of service as an elected official, brining a savvy politico like Jimmy Camp on board would be a smart move. IF she had done so, Janet’s first months in office likely would not have been so bumpy.
Word came back to Jimmy about Janet’s response: Jimmy’s appearance didn’t fit in with the image she wanted her office to project.
Considering Janet hired her sister, her recount attorney and her political bag man onto her staff, concern that Jimmy’s tattoos project the wrong image suggests a lack of perspective.
So why stiff Jimmy Camp for the final $2,500 payment? Jimmy had a conversation with a reporter which it came out that Jimmy’s recount fee was paid by Phil Greer, and that led to Mike Schroeder finding out (and which was public information that was subsequently included in Janet’s campaign report).
And that led to Jimmy waiting month after month after month for his final payment — until now, more than a year later, Jimmy has to go to court to get his money.
This episode spotlights Janet’s talent for self-inflicted wounds and unnecessarily making people. It’s practically impossible to rise in elected office without alienating some people — but to make an enemy of the guy who ran the recount effort that put you in office because you’re too irritated at him to pay your bill?
Janet’s decision to stiff Jimmy Camp for $2,500 is bringing a lawsuit, bad publicity, lowered estimation in the eyes of the political class, and provides extra material for more hit pieces.
I think it would have been cheaper to pay the $2,500.
Janet’s trying to get re-elected; the last thing she needs is another court case that re-opens the whole recount can-of-worms. The question is whether Janet draws this out, or pays her bill and puts this episode in the rear view mirror.