San Jose official says campaign mailer misrepresents his past

A campaign mailer resurfacing decades-old misdemeanor convictions has sparked a war of words in the race for the District 7 San Jose City Council seat.

A flyer circulated by the challenger in the race, East Side Union High School District trustee Van Le, accuses incumbent Councilmember Bien Doan of concealing his criminal record from voters, pointing to two misdemeanor theft convictions from the mid-1980s.

Doan has responded by threatening Le with a lawsuit, and accusing her of misrepresenting his record by providing misleading characterizations of his convictions and sentences. Doan also denied he has concealed the two convictions — which he said took place in his early 20s during a turbulent period of his life — noting that he has publicly discussed his past on several occasions.

The controversy centers on a mailer from Le’s campaign. Emblazoned with the words “Bien Doan is a convicted criminal,” it details his conviction record in English, Vietnamese and Spanish — drawing on the scant information available in the few remaining records of the cases that have not been purged by the court.

The resurfaced convictions — which have also circulated on social media and within the local Vietnamese-language press — have roiled the race to represent the East and Central San Jose district just weeks before voters are set to receive ballots for the Nov. 3 election. Doan came out of the June 2 primary election with a commanding 47.8% vote, trailed by Le in second place with 22.4%.

After the flyer began to circulate earlier this month, Doan sent Le a letter demanding a retraction and apology for what he terms “false and defamatory” claims. While the flyer includes references to jail terms and the reverse side has a portrayal of a handcuffed prisoner, Doan maintains he has never served time in jail. He’s also accusing Le of unscrupulous campaigning.

“People across this country are tired of politics built on division, personal attacks and tearing people down,” Doan, who has clashed publicly with Le before, told San José Spotlight. “I believe Van Le’s campaign is another example of that kind of politics.”

Le has so far refused Doan’s demands, and said she stands behind the campaign mailer.

“This is a public record concerning an elected official who is asking voters to return him to office, and I believe that voters have a right to know about them,” Le told San José Spotlight.

Dusting off old records

Doan had multiple run-ins with the law between 1985 and 1987, according to Santa Clara County Superior Court records. Over that time, Doan, who had emigrated from war-torn Vietnam as a refugee the decade prior, was arrested several times and later convicted in two separate theft-related cases, though the records suggest his punishments involved no time in jail.

Doan also faced a number of more serious charges over that time period. However, in all of those cases the charges were either dismissed or Doan was found not guilty following a jury trial, court records show. The charges included burglary, inducing false testimony and fraud-related crimes, among others.

“It’s not one time. This is a pattern,” Le said. “When I look at those convictions in the context of the broader court history, I did not believe describing this simply as a youthful indiscretion gave voters the full picture.”

Representatives for Doan’s campaign said that at the time of the convictions, Doan was struggling to find his footing as a young adult and recent immigrant to the U.S. Both arrests took place in Santa Clara County, likely in 1985. In one case, Doan admits to stealing clothing. In the other, a campaign representative said that while Doan was present when the theft took place, he was not involved in the crime himself. Nevertheless, Doan pleaded no contest to the charges in order to avoid jail time, the representative said.

“I made mistakes and was convicted of petty theft for stealing a pair of jeans and clothing to keep warm,” Doan said. “I got in trouble again by hanging around the wrong people. I took responsibility for those mistakes and used my second chance to make a difference by answering the call to serve.”

Doan later went on to a decades-long career as a firefighter, including 21 years with the San Jose Fire Department, where he became the city’s first Vietnamese fire captain.

He said he discussed the convictions during his first run for the District 7 seat in 2022, including a glancing reference he included in material posted to his campaign website.

“I have also shared my story with at-risk youth groups, from the council dais and at political and community events,” Doan said.

A fair line of attack?

Doan contends Le’s flyer paints a misleading picture of his court record. Under two sections labeled “conviction and sentencing,” one for each crime, the flyer reports “31 days in jail” and “15 days in jail” respectively for the two misdemeanors. The jail terms are verbatim quotes from court records, but those same records suggest Doan likely served jail alternatives outside of custody, according to legal analyst Steven Clark, who reviewed the documents.

Doan said he received suspended sentences and instead served 48 hours of voluntary community service.

In addition, the flyer also characterizes one of Doan’s convictions as “petty theft of personal property / embezzlement by employee,” another verbatim quote from court documents that Doan contends misrepresents the facts of the case. On the reverse side, the flyer states “embezzlement is a serious breach of trust.”

“It’s a technically correct statement of the charge, but it is misleading,” Clark, a former prosecutor for the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office, told San José Spotlight.

Clark said the conviction heading is a generic charge, and could cover a range of different criminal conduct, including crimes that don’t involve embezzlement. The actual criminal conduct is impossible to determine from available records because nearly all of the underlying documents have been purged, meaning that only basic information about charges and final outcomes remain.

Doan denies ever embezzling money from an employer. He said he has not retained court records related to the convictions.

For her part, Le is pushing back on Doan’s criticism. She said the flyer accurately quotes sentencing information, and argues it makes no claim about what term Doan ultimately served. She also points out that as rumors about the convictions swirled online in recent months, other prominent Vietnamese American figures in San Jose, including longtime Doan critic and community organizer Ha Trieu, have pressed the councilmember for a fuller explanation, but have received no response.

Le said Doan’s record and his response to inquiries into the matter raises questions about his character and fitness for office.

“The District 7 residents deserve integrity at City Hall,” she said. “Can voters trust Councilmember Bien Doan’s integrity?”

Contact Keith Menconi at [email protected] or @KeithMenconi on X.