Investigation of Group’s Voter Registration

I am gratified to read Frank del Olmo’s Feb. 2 column (“The System Isn’t Foolproof”), where he presents a perspective that has a different tone and nuance than most of The Times’ recent coverage of alleged voter fraud in Orange County’s 46th Congressional District. Latinos are one in four residents of Orange County and are taken for granted because many are poor, are of working-class background or have limited English skills. One builds a base within a growing community by nurturing positive relationships. This has been absent from The Times’ coverage of the Hermandad Mexicana Nacional’s efforts to help Latino immigrants achieve what every other generation of immigrants has sought, to enjoy the privileges and responsibilities of U.S. citizenship.

If no charges were placed against former Rep. Robert K. Dornan in his first run for Congress in 1984, when he mistakenly provided a business address rather than a residential one, why so much partial coverage and stigmatizing of Hermandad? Previous ethnic groups went through the same process, made the same mistakes. It seems to any reasonable observer that this is not a conspiracy. Unfortunately, the only major Latino organization in Orange County that stands with those who have no voice is targeted and unjustly stigmatized for helping those who need the most help.

VICTOR M. RODRIGUEZ

Irvine

* Del Olmo needs to read his own newspaper to become better acquainted with the facts surrounding the investigation of voter fraud in the Loretta Sanchez-Dornan matter. We’re no longer looking at 18 potential violations, but as many as 374 (“O.C. Widens Probe of Votes by Immigrants,” Feb. 1).

I’m glad Dornan is out of Congress because he, like Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), was something straight out of “Dr. Strangelove”--an always silly and sometimes hysterical elected official. I’m also sure that Sanchez will breathe lots of fresh air into the district, and that whatever voter fraud turns up, Sanchez had nothing to do with it.

But the issue isn’t Sanchez-Dornan, it’s the motor-voter law. I’m sure investigations into this matter will uncover more irregularities, and eventually spread to other geographic areas of voter fraud. This is why it’s so disappointing when people like Del Olmo attempt to trivialize serious matters with banal comments about “attempts to demonize immigrants.”

MICHAEL A. SCOTT

Glendora