Sanchez Asks the House to Dismiss Election Challenge

Lawyers for Orange County Rep. Loretta Sanchez filed a new request with the House on Monday to dismiss the challenge to her election being pursued by Robert K. Dornan.

In papers submitted to the House Contested Election Task Force, Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) argued that the case should be dropped because “new information and evidence” shows Dornan “will never be able to carry forward any credible claim” to the 46th Congressional District seat.

This latest legal maneuver by Sanchez attempts to speed up consideration of what the congresswoman says is a weak case in its current state, while also attempting to freeze Dornan’s ability to subpoena witnesses that he says will help him prove he lost the election because of voter fraud.

But the move won’t work, said Dornan attorney Michael Schroeder.

Schroeder noted that last month, the task force--at Sanchez’s own request--postponed consideration of her first motion to dismiss Dornan’s case so that a hearing could be held in Orange County. That hearing is now set for April 19.

“They are obviously trying to obstruct the process,” said Schroeder, who also serves as the chairman of the California Republican Party.

Among the new materials Sanchez’s attorneys submitted on Monday was a recent Associated Press report that quoted Schroeder as conceding that the Dornan forces’ own number of suspected fraudulent voters has dropped from 1,789 to 1,072.

Sanchez also submitted a copy of a Times article published last Friday reporting that some of the votes identified by Dornan as suspect were cast by legitimate voters.

The Sanchez forces maintained that Dornan should be required to prove there were enough illegal ballots to overturn her 984-vote victory in November’s election.

Almost all of Dornan’s suspected cases of voter fraud would have to be proven as pro-Sanchez ballots for her election to be set aside, her attorneys argued in the legal brief.

There was no indication late Monday, however, that the Republican-controlled task force would act on Sanchez’s request prior to the Orange County hearing.

Schroeder said the Dornan legal team would seek new subpoenas for records on behalf of Dornan as early as today in federal district court.

The subpoenas would generally cover the same people and organizations as the subpoenas served two weeks ago, which were voided on Friday by U.S. District Judge Gary Taylor because of procedural and technical errors.

For his part, Dornan said his lawyers may ask the committee to postpone the April 19 hearing because he does not have enough time to investigate his case.