Anthony "Ngọc Trí" Phan (born November 27, 1993) is an American politician currently serving as a member of the Milpitas City Council.[1]
Anthony "Ngọc Trí" Phan | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the Milpitas City Council | |
| Assumed office December 2016 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | November 27, 1993 San Jose, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Residence(s) | Milpitas, California |
| Occupation | Politician |
Early life and education
editAnthony Phan attended UCLA, where he earned a Bachelor's of Arts in Political Science.[2]
Milpitas City Council
editPhan later moved to Milpitas, and in 2016 sought and won a seat on city council.
In June 2017, the California Fair Political Practices Commission confirmed it was investigating allegations that Phan had improperly reported campaign contributions and loans. He was found guilty and fined $15,000 from the State's Fair Practices Committee for three campaign violations. [3]
In February 2018, Phan rebuked the city's planning director Bradley Misner during a live council meeting. While discussing a council item pertaining to a study of retail spaces in Milpitas’ midtown area, Misner told the council that conducting the study would require “strategy and coordination” between his own department and the city’s economic development department. Phan expressed that he had “no confidence” in Misner’s ability to accomplish said coordination, warning Misner: “The next time that we’ll be having a conversation about coordination or strategy, [it] will be agendized as a public employee performance evaluation.” After City Attorney Chris Diaz then pointed out to the council that the only employees the council has hiring and firing authority over are the city attorney and city manager, Phan responded, "I don't care." Following comments from the acting city manager Dianne Thompson, Phan replied, “I don’t care what position is listed for the public employee performance evaluation. If it is for the city manager, I will agendize it as such.” [4]
On March 6, Milpitas resident Joseph Weinstein approached the dais during public forum to offer comments on Councilmember Phan’s threats to review the performance of the city’s planning director. In his remarks, Weinstein criticized Phan's actions, stating, "Council has no authority to discipline [or] influence city staff, except by working through the city manager, and then only by the majority vote of the council." During Weinstein's public remarks, Phan produced a bag of popcorn from beneath the dais and began eating from it. Phan then interrupted the public remarks to tell Weinstein to look at him, at which point Milpitas Mayor Tran called the meeting into recess.[5]
In November 2018, Phan was linked to an anonymous political attack mailer against Milpitas Mayor Rich Tran associating Tran with the communist government of Vietnam.[6][7]
During the 2022 race for Milpitas Mayor, Phan was criticized by fellow Milpitas councilmember and candidate for mayor Carmen Montano after a website appeared online under her name that redirected visitors to Phan's website.[8][9] Asked for comment, Phan stated that Montano "was not digitally competent enough to register a domain name," but refused to comment as to whether or not he had purchased the domain name. Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney John Chase wrote that the website appeared to violate cyber piracy laws that preclude registering a domain name under someone else's name in bad faith.[10]
Electoral history
edit| Councilmember, City of Milpitas, General Election 2016 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % | |
| Bob Nunez | 7,465 | 24.00 | |
| Anthony Phan | 6,480 | 20.83 | |
| Evelyn Chua | 5,787 | 18.60 | |
| Jennifer Strohfus | 4,506 | 14.49 | |
| Mark Tiernan | 3,663 | 11.78 | |
| Gwan Alisantosa | 3,207 | 10.31 | |
References
edit- ^ Mohammed, Aliyah (December 8, 2016). "Milpitas: New council, school board to be sworn in on Dec. 13". Mercury News. Bay Area News Group. Retrieved December 20, 2016.
- ^ "Councilmember Anthony Phan". Milpitas, CA. City of Milpitas. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
- ^ Mohammed, Aliyah (June 23, 2017). "Milpitas: FPPC is investigating Councilman's election contributions and loans". Mercury News. Bay Area News Group. Retrieved August 4, 2017.
- ^ Gendreau, Henri (18 February 2019). "Councilmember expresses 'no confidence' in Milpitas planning director". Bay Area News Group. Mercury News. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
- ^ "City Council March 6, 2018 Webcast". City of Milpitas. Retrieved 19 May 2019.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Wadsworth, Jennifer (5 November 2018). "Milpitas Mayor Rich Tran Condemns Malicious Ad Linking Him to Communist Vietnam". Metro Silicon Valley. San Jose Inside. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
- ^ Geha, Joseph (20 December 2018). "Milpitas: Councilmember Phan apologizes to Mayor Tran for mailer implying he is a communist". Bay Area News Group. Milpitas Post. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
- ^ Montano, Carmen (9 February 2022). "Letter to the Editor: Councilmember Phan purchased a domain under my name". The Milpitas Beat. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
- ^ Shapiro, Rhoda (9 February 2022). "Councilmember Phan buys domain of Vice Mayor Montano's name, redirects it to his fundraising site". The Milpitas Beat. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
- ^ Greschler, Gabriel (13 February 2022). "Milpitas councilmember may have violated cyber piracy laws, DA says". Bay Area News Group. San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 12 June 2022.