OC DA: Westminster councilmember isn’t complying with court order<\/p>\n
The Orange County District Attorney\u2019s office said Amy Phan West, a city councilmember in Westminster, hasn\u2019t complied with the terms of a court order she agreed to after facing criminal charges of bribery.<\/p>\n
Westminster City Councilmember Amy Phan West<\/a> caught a break after she was accused of attempting to bribe parking officers<\/a> who were about to tow her husband’s car: A judge ordered her to take an ethics training course and do 20 hours of community service. In exchange, the charge would be dropped.<\/p>\n One year later, Phan West is poised to run for reelection. But the Orange County District Attorney’s Office says she has learned nothing from her brush with the law and is asking the judge to revoke the deal and send the case to trial.<\/p>\n In a recent court filing, Deputy District Attorney Matthew Bradbury gave examples of what he called Phan West\u2019s \u201crepeated and ongoing misuse of her official position\u201d to argue that the councilmember hadn\u2019t accepted responsibility for the alleged crime or taken the mandatory ethics training to heart.<\/p>\n Keep up with LAist.<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, you’ll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less. <\/p>\n \u201cThe Defendant\u2019s actions only serve to undermine the public\u2019s faith in the justice system,\u201d Bradbury wrote, adding that they \u201cwarrant no leniency.\u201d In the past, Phan West has denied wrongdoing and said she is being unfairly targeted for for being outspoken. <\/p>\n LAist called and left a text message on Phan West\u2019s phone requesting comment on the DA\u2019s recent filing. LAist also sent an email to Phan West\u2019s defense attorney, Randy Collins. We will update this story if and when we get a response.<\/p>\n What the court records say<\/p>\n In the filing, Bradbury, the deputy district attorney, said that in the year since Phan West was charged with attempted bribery, she appears to have repeatedly violated rules intended to bar local officials from using public resources for campaign activities. She also mocked the case against her, Bradbury said, showing no sense of accountability.<\/p>\n The DA\u2019s examples of Phan West\u2019s alleged continued ethics violations include:<\/p>\n At Westminster\u2019s annual Tet parade in February, Phan West handed out flyers for her Congressional race \u2014 a potential violation of rules against local officials using public resources for campaign activities<\/a>. (Phan West lost in the June primary.)\u00a0\u00a0 Help keep stories like this free<\/p>\n \n LAist is 100% community funded. Your support makes it possible to keep producing the local reporting Southern California depends on.\n <\/p>\n What happened at city hall?<\/p>\n Phan West has repeatedly clashed with the majority of her council colleagues in recent years. In 2024, the council officially censured Phan West<\/a> for behavior that allegedly included improperly disclosing confidential information and lying. The city later sued<\/a> Phan West and allied councilmember NamQuan Nguyen for repeatedly disrupting meetings and creating a \u201cdysfunctional and raucous\u201d atmosphere. <\/p>\n Phan West has accused her opponents on the City Council of violating her right to free speech and waging a personal vendetta against her.<\/p>\n What’s next?<\/p>\n Phan West officially filed papers earlier this week to run for re-election to Westminster City Council in November.<\/p>\n A hearing to determine whether Phan West has complied with previous court orders in the case so far is scheduled for Aug. 11 in O.C. Superior Court in Westminster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OC DA: Westminster councilmember isn’t complying with court order The Orange County District Attorney\u2019s office said Amy Phan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426960,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[14270,163,165,164,17802,611,8801,6737,106214],"class_list":["post-426959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-amy-phan-west","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-bribery","tag-orange-county","tag-orange-county-district-attorney","tag-westminster","tag-westminster-city-council"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
In May, Phan West gave a media interview about her Congressional run from her Westminster City Council office, a potentially similar violation.\u00a0
Phan West has repeatedly downplayed the criminal charge against her and disparaged the legal process in public comments and social media posts. In response to a question at a candidate forum, she called it a \u201cjungle-like court\u201d and compared her legal problems to the President\u2019s. \u201cLike how they\u2019re doing it to Donald J. Trump \u2014 it\u2019s the same thing they\u2019re doing to take me out,\u201d Phan West said, according to the court filing.\u00a0<\/p>\n