Dornan Subpoenas Seek Wide Range of Information

Subpoenas served by former Rep. Robert K. Dornan in his quest for a new election seek a broad range of information about immigrants--from those taking English classes to those dropped from welfare rolls--that critics charged Friday have little to do with allegations of voter fraud.

Some of the subpoenas target Dornan’s political foes, such as Loretta Sanchez, who defeated Dornan last November in the 46th Congressional District, and Michael Farber, who lost a bitter campaign against Dornan in 1994.

Dornan began serving dozens of subpoenas Tuesday to help bolster his contention that his defeat in November was tainted by fraud and voter irregularities. A Republican-dominated House subcommittee ruled this week that there is enough evidence to merit a formal hearing on Dornan’s charges.

Michael Schroeder, Dornan’s attorney, said the subpoenas were served as part of Dornan’s investigation to uncover what Schroeder called “massive voter fraud,” principally in the immigrant community.

Schroeder denied the subpoenas were politically motivated and charged that Sanchez and her staff were engaged in a cover-up and obstruction of justice to prevent investigators from unearthing voter fraud.

“If the subpoenas are confusing, then they should contact us and get a clarification . . . Every question that we’ve asked, every subpoena we’ve served, relates to whether or not voter fraud occurred,” Schroeder said.

Among those receiving subpoenas are Sanchez, labor unions, a community college that teaches English classes, nonprofit agencies that work with the poor and the Orange County jury commissioner, who was asked for a list of all those excused for jury duty because they were not yet citizens.

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Catholic Charities of Orange County, the social welfare arm of the church that serves the needy, was served Friday. Dornan requested materials about citizenship classes, English classes and voter registration activities, which confused Raoul Aroz, the agency’s deputy director, because the organization signed out for registration cards but did not register voters.

Aroz said the subpoenas could have “a chilling effect” on immigrants struggling to become U.S. citizens and who have not broken any laws.

“People eligible for citizenship should not be afraid to come forward and apply for citizenship,” he said. “I’m concerned . . . that Dornan’s attempt to get information about people is going to have [an effect] on the individuals we serve. We don’t want them to be afraid to exercise their right to apply for citizenship and receive citizenship education.”

Dornan’s representatives have also served subpoenas on the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Orange County district attorney’s office, which is investigating allegations of voter fraud first raised by Dornan after his election loss to Sanchez.

But attorney John Palacio, an activist in the Latino community, expressed outrage at Dornan’s tactics.

“It’s quite clear that what you have here is a return of McCarthyism,” Palacio said. “What he is alleging is that government agencies, unions, colleges, churches and Latino organizations conspired to unseat him. He’s targeting poor people. He is using his influence to get confidential government records for political purposes.”

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In Washington Friday, Democrats complained that the House Contested Election Task Force, a subcommittee of a larger oversight panel, effectively granted Dornan subpoena powers in his election challenge with its vote this week. They said the action was a “frightening” move aimed at harming Latinos and a ruse by Dornan to win back the Orange County congressional seat at taxpayers’ expense,

Maintaining that they will fight Dornan’s subpoena power in federal court, Sanchez’s Democratic colleagues lashed out at the House Oversight Committee and at Republicans in general for sanctioning Dornan’s probe. Attorneys for Sanchez tried to persuade U.S. Magistrate Judge Elgin Edwards to withdraw the subpoenas he had authorized, but he denied the request Thursday.

Democrats said the committee acted without first requiring Dornan to substantiate his claims, as has been required for previous contested elections.

“The unprecedented action by the committee this week has led to a situation where a private citizen is issuing subpoenas in the name of the Congress,” said Rep. Martin Frost (D-Texas), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

“That has never happened before in our history,” Frost said at a Capitol Hill news conference that included Reps. Jane Harman (D-Rolling Hills) and Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles).

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Representatives for Dornan and the committee disputed the characterizations, saying Democrats are trying to keep Dornan from proving his allegations by blocking his use of subpoenas. They added that Sanchez, in asking for a hearing, effectively gave Dornan subpoena power. They also said Dornan had provided a greater showing of voter fraud at this stage of an election challenge than in previous contests.

“He has crossed the threshold,” said Bill Schweitzer, the counsel to the Republican majority on the Task Force. “The Task Force didn’t vote to hold a trial. It voted to hold a hearing and the Task Force could say ‘We have heard enough’ after one session.

“I am mystified about their complaints that somehow this is unfair,” he said. “We did exactly what she wanted.”

Dornan has also demanded that the Orange County Social Services Agency produce a list of all residents from the 46th Congressional District who are being dropped from the welfare rolls because they are noncitizens. In addition, he subpoenaed the county Jury Commissioner, seeking all jury summonses returned by people who were excused from jury duty because they were not citizens. The information requested from both county agencies covers Jan. 1, 1994, to the present.

Rancho Santiago College, which runs citizenship classes, received four subpoenas this week.

Attorney Ron Wenkart, who is representing the college, said the subpoenas the school received from Dornan were “vague. It’s not clear what it is Dornan wants.”

Wenkart said Dornan is “asking for a lot of records related to the classes offered by the college to people who wanted to become citizens. He wants class lists and we’re trying to figure out if he wants names or something else.”

Rancho Santiago officials said that 4,200 people have gone through the school’s citizenship classes during the more than two years they have been offered and said the college did not register students to vote. Chancellor Vivian Blezins said the school’s citizenship program has been hailed as one of the top 10 programs of its kind in the state and also offers English as a Second Language (ESL) classes to 15,000 students each semester.

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Dornan’s charges of noncitizen voting led to an investigation by the Orange County district attorney’s office and the secretary of state of Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, an immigrant rights group that provided citizenship classes and registered voters before the November election.

Authorities believe there is evidence to show Hermandad helped register 227 noncitizen students who attended citizenship classes at the group’s Santa Ana and Anaheim offices, some of whom cast ballots in November. Investigators are trying to determine if Hermandad illegally helped them to register.

Dornan has accused Hermandad of playing a key role in his defeat and issued two subpoenas to the group and one to Michael Farber, a Democrat who ran unsuccessfully against him in 1994. Farber and Hermandad executive director Nativo Lopez ran a voter participation project in 1996 called Citizens Forum.

Hermandad officials did not return calls for comment about the subpoenas. Farber said he would consult with an attorney and decide whether to comply with the subpoena.

Democrats said Friday said that Dornan could not find enough “illegal” votes in the registrations made by Hermandad, so he is casting a wide net across the district to keep alive his contest and his 1998 congressional campaign.

Bill Hart, an attorney for Dornan, strongly disagreed, saying that the “subpoenas are basically our only method of obtaining impartial data on what happened in this election and who participated in what we believe to be widespread voter fraud.”

Hart challenged Sanchez to join with Dornan in calling on the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to release the computerized data that would allow the committee to cross-check the list of those who voted with citizenship records.

“Let’s get to the bottom line,” Hart said. “She is the congresswoman in this district and she ought to want to get to the bottom of this. If the number is 200 and that is it, then we fold the tent and we are gone.”

Times political writer Peter M. Warren contributed to this report