Nearly five hours of fiery discussion resulted in a divided Westminster City Council voting to move forward with the censuring of one of its own members.
The request for a resolution of censure against Councilmember Amy Phan West was spearheaded by Councilmember Kimberly Ho with support from Councilmember Carlos Manzo.
The council voted 3-1 on June 12 to make the request, with Councilmember NamQuan Nguyen opposed and Phan West abstaining from the vote.
The request alleges 20 misdeeds by Phan West, who was elected to office in 2022 to represent Westminster’s District 1, ranging from frequently texting while on the dais to accusing city officials in a live video on Instagram of taking bribes.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Ho said of the council’s decision to take a formal stance showing its disapproval of Phan West, “and I believe we owe it to the people.”
During the council meeting, Phan West spent an hour and a half defending herself against the allegations.
She also referenced the May 3 meeting, during which councilmembers passed a resolution denouncing the declaration of April 30 as “Jane Fonda Day” by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors — a move that the Westminster City Council called “culturally insensitive and historically tone deaf.”
April 30, known as Black April in Vietnamese communities, commemorates the Fall of Saigon in 1975. For many South Vietnamese people, April 30 is treated as a day of “loss and mourning,” the Westminster council’s resolution says.
In 1972, Fonda made headlines when she visited Hanoi in protest of the war in Vietnam. During her visit, the actress posed on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun used to target American planes.
Phan West called her fellow councilmembers “weak” when they wouldn’t use her proposed language calling the L.A. Board of Supervisors’ declaration of Jane Fonda Day as “despicable.” Ho called such “abusive language” in violation of the city’s code of ethics.
The L.A. Board of Supervisors has since moved Jane Fonda Day to April 8 to recognize the actress for her humanitarian efforts.
At the same May 3 meeting, Phan West and Manzo had an interaction that resulted in her filing a police report.
Phan West said that after the meeting adjourned, Manzo waited for her, blocked her from leaving the dais with a “physically intimidating posture” and said something along the lines of, “What you did tonight was a disgrace to your parents.”
The police investigation found that Manzo committed “no crime at this time,” according to a copy of the report Phan West gave The Orange County Register.
Manzo said he didn’t wait for or physically intimidate Phan West, but confirmed his statement to her.
“Obviously I was a little bit upset. Her parents are the kindest, most polite people I have ever met, in complete contrast to the way Mrs. West conducts herself,” he said.
“The council has had enough of her destructive behavior,” he said of the censure request, adding she’s had a pattern of publicly insulting her colleagues when they did not vote in her favor. “Whenever she doesn’t get her way, she goes to bash us on YouTube or social media.”
Phan West’s council opponents also allege she “constantly grandstands herself” by insisting on putting her name on resolutions and cover letters, and “places her self-interests over the needs of the constituents.”
Phan West, a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump, chalked the request for censure up to “political jealousy” and “workplace bullying.”
“The attempt to censure me is nothing more than another underhanded tactic to silence me from exposing a hostile work environment,” said Phan West.
This is not the first time a divided council has called for censure in Westminster; multiple censure votes have been taken in the last couple of years.
Councilmember NamQuan Nguyen, the sole vote against the request for censure, said he did so “on the condition that Councilmember Phan West acknowledges all the facts, and is willing to sit down to work things out.”
Councilmembers Ho, Manzo and Mayor Chi Charlie Nguyen talked more about the censure during a special meeting Tuesday night, June 25, and scheduled further conversation at the meeting Wednesday night.
At Wednesday’s council meeting, June 26, Phan West said she plans to introduce her own resolution, “Moving Forward & Reconciliation,” which will call to rescind the “contentious” resolution for her censure.
For now, a formal vote for censure will be scheduled for Sept. 11, Mayor Nguyen said while closing the discussion at the June 12 council meeting, though that could be moved up by councilmembers. “If within those three months, if her behavior is still the same, then the resolution will be brought up.”
This story has been updated to reflect a special council meeting that was held June 25.
