After much speculation about whether Janet Nguyen might run for one of Orange County’s hotly contested congressional seats in 2020, the Republican former state senator has thrown her hat in a surprising ring.
And she’s not alone. Nguyen is one of seven people vying to fill a board of directors seat with the Municipal Water District of Orange County. The seat was left vacant after director Wayne Osborne, who was elected to a four-year term in 2016, retired in late April.
“I was really heartened to see someone from that level interested in serving on our board,” MWDOC board president Brett Barbre said of Nguyen.
With an applicant roster that also includes former city councilmen and a current school board member, Barbre — who’s been on the water board since 2000 — called the level of interest in working on the water board “unprecedented.”
He attributes part of that spike in interest to decisions recently handed down from the state, including Gov. Gavin Newsom’s May 2 move to kill a controversial 30-year plan to build twin tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to help move water to the south.
Indeed, several candidates — including Nguyen — mentioned the twin tunnels project in their MWDOC applications.
“That’s really heightened interest in water issues,” Barbre said. “I think that irresponsibility across the state is driving a lot of this.”
Metropolitan Water is a wholesale water supplier. It buys water imported from the Colorado River and the State Water Project and sells it to 28 city water departments and private water districts. Those agencies supply water to more than two-thirds of Orange County, including every city except Anaheim, Fullerton and Santa Ana.
A seven-member board oversees MWDOC’s $10.8 million operating budget and nearly $250 million in annual water sales.
Board members can take home more than $30,000 a year in pay and are eligible for benefits that can amount to another $20,000 a year. That includes nearly $300 for every meeting attended, at up to 10 meetings per month, along with optional health insurance coverage, a retirement plan, transportation reimbursement and more.
Directors are elected every four years to represent different areas of the county. Osborne’s vacant seat is for Division 3, which includes Cypress, Fountain Valley, Los Alamitos, Stanton and Westminster plus portions of Garden Grove and unincorporated Orange County.
Nguyen now lives in Fountain Valley. She pointed out that she’s represented more than 90 percent of MWDOC Division 3 over the last decade in her elected roles on the Garden Grove City Council, county Board of Supervisors and state senate.
There were originally nine candidates for the MWDOC seat.
Los Alamitos Councilman Richard Murphy applied for the vacancy and was backed by several local leaders, including First District Supervisor Andrew Do. But once Murphy discovered he couldn’t simultaneously sit on the water board and keep his seat on the Los Alamitos City Council, he withdrew his name from consideration.
At least two other candidates might face similar decisions if appointed to the MWDOC seat. Khanh Nguyen is a civil engineer who already serves on the Westminster School District board, and Betty Burnett, an attorney from Fountain Valley, serves as general manager at South Orange County Wastewater Authority.
Other candidates include former Fountain Valley mayor Larry Crandall, former Garden Grove mayor pro tem Kris Beard, former Fountain Valley planning commissioner Robert McVicker, construction marketing manager Mathew Forester and former Los Alamitos school board member Jeffrey Barke.
Barke, a physician who helps with regional disaster preparedness, received an endorsement from County Supervisor Michelle Steel, who recently announced that she is running against Rep. Harley Rouda, D-Laguna Beach, for the 48th congressional district.
Nguyen was rumored to also be eyeing that CA-48 seat. She declined to elaborate Thursday on her future plans, saying only that if appointed to the MWDOC board she’ll run for re-election in 2020.
The MWDOC board is expected to appoint a candidate to fill Osborne’s vacant seat at the May 29 meeting.
Barbre said he’d prefer to have residents vote on who’ll hold the seat for the next 19 months, but he couldn’t get support from the rest of the board to hold a special election that might cost $1 million.