Brown and Yellow: Great on Heidi Klum, Not So Good On Voting

Yeah, I Google-baited the snot out of that one. What of it?

Anyway, it seems that a Vietnamese immigrant running for Congress in California might be behind letters sent to Hispanic voters in Orange County telling them that illegal aliens and immigrants can't vote.

No, I'm not kidding:

State investigators have linked a Republican campaign to letters sent to thousands of Orange County Hispanics warning them they could go to jail or be deported if they vote next month, a spokesman for the attorney general said.

"We have identified where we believe the mailing list was obtained," said Nathan Barankin, spokesman for Attorney General Bill Lockyer.

He declined to identify the specific Republican campaign Wednesday, citing the ongoing investigation.

The Los Angeles Times and The Orange County Register both reported Thursday that the investigation appeared to be focused on the campaign of Tan D. Nguyen, a Republican who immigrated to the U.S. from Vietnam as a child and is now challenging Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez for her seat in Congress. Nguyen's Web site says he opposes illegal immigration.

The letter, written in Spanish, tells recipients: "You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time."

In fact, immigrants who are naturalized U.S. citizens can vote.

The fact that he himself is an immigrant seems to have been lost on Mr. Nguyen, though if California is anything at all like North Carolina it is quite possible that illegal aliens could easily cast a ballot.

Were these letters sent out to kindly remind Orange County voters not to break the law, or were they sent out to intimidate voters? I'd guess "yes," which would appear to be just slightly illegal, hence the Attorney General's involvement.

What Nguyen should have done was to send out letters printed in Spanish, Screenwriterese, and Ghost to remind people that illegal aliens, fictional characters, and the dead can't vote, which would have a far more chilling effect on a wider front of the Democratic base, without having crossed legal lines.