Sanchez, O.C. Republicans Want Election Hearings Here

Members of the local congressional delegation have invited two House panels to hold hearings in Orange County on the election challenge by defeated former Rep. Robert K. Dornan, and on alleged voter fraud by noncitizens.

In a request filed Wednesday by Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove), the congresswoman asked the House election task force to visit Orange County to personally hear a rebuttal to Dornan’s election and voter fraud charges by Orange County Registrar of Voters Rosalyn Lever.

“I believe that a fair hearing . . . which receives testimony from all concerned parties, will convincingly demonstrate to the Task Force that there is no credible evidence to cast doubt on the certified results of the Nov. 5 election,” Sanchez said in a letter to committee members.

Separately, the five remaining members of the Orange County congressional delegation--Republicans all--have asked the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight to meet in Orange County to investigate the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s role in the processing of citizenship applications by Hermandad Mexicana Nacional.

The congressmen--Reps. Dana Rohrabacher of Huntington Beach, Christopher Cox of Newport Beach, Jay C. Kim of Diamond Bar, Ron Packard of Oceanside and Ed Royce of Fullerton--called on the committee to probe whether the INS looked the other way as noncitizens were allegedly registered to vote by private groups.

Earlier this year, the congressmen urged INS Commissioner Doris Meissner to sever all ties with Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, a Latino advocacy group that authorities say registered hundreds of clients to vote before they became citizens. The Justice Department’s inspector general’s office is conducting an investigation into the relationship between the INS and Hermandad.

INS officials could not be reached for comment late Wednesday.

The local representatives claim in their letter to House Government Reform and Oversight Committee Chairman Dan Burton (R-Ind.) that the INS “has continued its highly inappropriate relationship with Hermandad,” and ask the panel to come to Orange County “to investigate INS’ role in contributing to and/or tolerating this illegal activity.”

Cox serves as the panel’s vice chairman.

Sanchez won the election by 984 votes. But Dornan’s allegations of illegal voting by noncitizens have prompted a series of inquiries at the local, state and federal levels.

A search warrant affidavit recently released by Orange County Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi indicated 227 people registered to vote in the county last year before becoming citizens.

None of the alleged voter fraud has been directly tied to the Sanchez campaign.

“Bob Dornan has tried to confuse the issues with innuendo and hot rhetoric,” Sanchez said in a statement. “I believe to cut through all his smoke and mirrors, the task force should hear directly from the officials in Orange County. We have nothing to hide and a fair process will demonstrate that.”

The task force plans to hold its first meeting in Washington the week beginning Feb. 24. No hearing date on the INS matter has been scheduled by the Oversight Committee.

Reached at his home in Virginia, Dornan Wednesday called for amnesty for “innocent victims” who were misled into registering before they became citizens--”if they will come forward.”