Attack ad row escalates in San Jose’s District 7 race

With less than two weeks until Election Day, the challenger in San Jose’s District 7 City Council race is accusing incumbent Bien Doan of an all-out effort to stifle her voice in the campaign. Community advocate Van Le, a trustee for the East Side Union High School District, held a Thursday news conference to draw attention to her accusations, which center on two recent dust ups between the rival campaigns. Both incidents are part of the fallout from an attack ad issued by Le’s campaign last month that resurfaced two misdemeanor theft convictions Doan faced 40 years ago in his early 20s. Doan accused Le of misrepresenting his record and threatened to file a defamation lawsuit. In the most recent incident, Le is accusing Doan of bullying tactics after he sent a cease and desist letter to local Vietnamese-language AM radio station KVVN over a comment made during a paid segment promoting her campaign that broadcast on Oct. 17. Doan said the comment, which reportedly suggested his theft co