LULAC Wants Top Priority on Poll Probe

The League of United Latin-American Citizens has asked U.S. Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh to give top priority to the FBI’s investigation of the Orange County Republican Party’s use of uniformed security guards in 20 largely Latino precincts on Election Day.

“Although it appears that the Republican Party of Orange County played a major role in this Mississippi-like voter intimidation, (our) position is that voter harassment goes beyond party and partisan lines and is occurring in areas throughout the nation . . . ,” LULAC Far West Vice President Anita Del Rio said in the Dec. 7 letter to Thornburgh. “We cannot and must not let this happen again.”

LULAC, the nation’s oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization, also is expected to join in a lawsuit next week against the Orange County Republican Party, its chairman, Thomas A. Fuentes, and others over use of the guards. Fuentes authorized $4,000 to hire the guards, saying the party feared widespread voter fraud in the precincts, which also are heavily Democratic.

All of the precincts were in the 72nd Assembly District, where Republican Curt Pringle won the election by 867 votes over Democrat Christian F. Thierbach after a bitter $2.1-million battle. Pringle succeeds the late Assemblyman Richard E. Longshore (R-Santa Ana).

The guards incident was denounced by Democratic and Latino leaders as well as GOP leaders, including state Republican Party Chairman Bob Naylor, who called it a “terrible, terrible symbolic insult” to Latino voters.

The guards carried signs in Spanish and English admonishing non-citizens not to vote. In some instances, the guards allegedly questioned voters about their citizenship.

Latino groups and labor organizations filed suit to overturn the election, charging that the guards harassed or intimidated potential voters. The groups were especially concerned that the guards, who were dressed in uniforms that resembled those of police officers, could have frightened away first-time voters.

Besides LULAC, the Latino Issues Forum, a West Coast Latino think tank, also is expected to be added as a plaintiff to the lawsuit, according to Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sepulveda), who helped Thierbach with his campaign. Katz said Assemblyman John R. Lewis (R-Orange), who aided Pringle with his campaign, also will be added to the lawsuit.

John Gamboa, executive director of the Latino Issues Forum, which is chaired by former California Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso, joined with Del Rio in the letter to Thornburgh.

“The Department of Justice’s role in this case could be a key litmus test of the Administration’s commitment to civil rights and its good faith concern for the Hipanic community,” Del Rio and Gamboa told Thornburgh.

Thornburgh was unavailable for comment on the letter.