Westminster City Council censures Amy Phan West during chaotic meeting
Muted microphones, shouting matches and an early adjournment framed an acrimonious Westminster City Council meeting on Wednesday when Councilwoman Amy Phan West faced censure over “unacceptable conduct.”
The lengthy 12-page resolution central to the dispute listed more than two dozen violations of the city’s ethics policy allegedly committed by Phan West, from filing a false police report against Councilman Carlos Manzo to trespassing on a construction site with her dirt bike on social media.
“We have spent so much time on this already,” said Vice Mayor Kimberly Ho, who supported the censure. “We have heard our constituents over and over again.”
Polarizing Westminster Councilwoman Amy Phan West has three months to change her behavior as an elected official before council members consider a censure vote in September.
Westminster Mayor Chi Charlie Nguyen noted that Wednesday’s meeting marked the fourth time council members have discussed Phan West’s behavior.
A majority of council members previously moved forward with censure back on June 12, but the mayor granted Phan West a three-month reprieve to change course before the Sept. 11 council meeting.
But on June 26, council members voted to bring the censure resolution back for a vote a month early, much to Phan West’s dismay.
“All of you guys have violated this city’s ethics policy,” she said at Wednesday’s meeting. “We’ve all seen it. You all should be censured, as well.”
Phan West suggested changing the censure resolution to describe Westminster City Council as a “Chinese communist dictator” and called the pro-censure council majority a “gang of three,” in loose reference to a Maoist political faction that gained prominence during China’s Cultural Revolution.
Mayor Nguyen showed little patience for what he called Phan West’s repetitious rhetoric and tried to move forward with a vote.
That prompted Councilman NamQuan Nguyen, Phan West’s sole ally against censure, to interject.
“You are trying to silence her,” he told the mayor. “Let her speak.”
Council members continued to speak over each other. Phan West’s microphone was muted on several occasions. When her mic was turned on, she likened the council meeting to a “banana republic.”
“I don’t even know what you guys are censuring me for,” Phan West said, which drew derisive outbursts from the audience. “Why don’t you put it into the public record so that the public can know exactly what you’re censuring me for?”
Mayor Nguyen attempted to offer closing comments before casting a decisive vote to censure his colleague, but another round of interruptions prevailed.
Amid the back-and-forth banter, he abandoned his remarks and opted, instead, to cast a final vote to censure Phan West, which elicited applause from the audience.
But the acrimony continued after the vote.
Phan West pushed for the entire censure resolution, which was readily available as an attachment to the meeting’s online agenda, to be read aloud into the public record. Three other council members agreed.
City Clerk Ashton Arocho and City Atty. Christian Bettenhausen took turns reading the resolution for over 16 minutes amid intermittent interruptions.
The mayor took the opportunity at the end to complete his concluding remarks.
“Understand that this action is necessary at this time,” Mayor Nguyen said. “However, I believe in your potential, Councilmember West, for positive change. I am committed to reversing this decision in the future if we can work together towards improvements.”
“That’s such a lie,” Phan West said with a cynical chuckle.
Immediately after, tensions renewed.
Phan West tried to introduce an item that called for a letter asking the Orange County district attorney to investigate Ho, the vice mayor, for fraud related to $21,860 raised by a GoFundMe drive to help the daughter of a women who died in an e-bike accident in Westminster earlier this year.
Tuan Nguyen is listed as the organizer on the GoFundMe page for Lan My Thai, who passed away in February. The Asian American National Committee, which Phan West claimed Ho is affiliated with, is listed as the beneficiary.
The staff report included a disclaimer that, while prepared by City Manager Christine Cordon in collaboration with council members, it did not reflect her opinion in any way.
“This is not related to city business,” Mayor Nguyen protested.
He warned that hearing the matter before council could expose Westminster to a potential lawsuit.
Bettenhausen advised that discussion be limited to whether or not the matter constituted city business and also pledged to step in on any potentially defamatory remarks.
Ho denied the accusations against her and began reading a prepared statement from her attorney when Phan West interrupted again.
Mayor Nguyen ordered a pair of five-minute recesses during discussions that devolved into council members talking over each other yet again.
Once the council returned, he moved to end the meeting early and pledged to bring back a discussion of sanctions against Phan West as well as an agenda item over the GoFundMe allegations.
Some council members questioned what would be different when the council reconvened on Aug. 28.
“How can you lose control of your own meeting?” Ho asked the mayor. “How are we going to get things done?”
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