Full Inquiry, but Not Overkill

A public hearing held in Santa Ana last Saturday by a special House task force looking into the election victory of Rep. Loretta Sanchez produced more heat than light.

The Garden Grove Democrat’s vanquished foe, Robert K. Dornan, again failed to show that his loss, by 984 votes, was due to noncitizens voting. California Secretary of State Bill Jones repeated the finding of his criminal investigation that several hundred people voted before becoming citizens.

The partisan nature of the dispute unfortunately was evident, with the one Democrat on the panel questioning the need for the House inquiry and the task force chairman, one of two Republicans, urging the Immigration and Naturalization Service to open more of its records. The panel wisely did not demand a new election. But it unfortunately left open the possibility of still more hearings, which would cause this matter to drag on. It’s time to wrap up the House inquiry.

The INS already has shared with Jones’ investigators and those of the Orange County district attorney records of more than 1,000 people registered to vote by the Latino rights organization Hermandad Mexicana Nacional. Jones says all the noncitizens who voted were registered by Hermandad. The organization has not convincingly explained the cause of this apparently serious problem.

Jones, in an unwarranted stretch, wants INS assistance in checking the citizenship of more than 1 million voters in Orange County. Dornan too is off base by scattering subpoenas far and wide for individuals and groups he thinks might somehow help his case.

Tampering with votes is a grievous wrong and warrants full investigation to determine what happened and to prevent recurrences. But there must be a cutoff point. Sanchez has not been linked to the illegal voting, and nearly six months of inquiry has produced no evidence that her victory was the result of electoral fraud.