O.C. Grand Jury Hears Election Case Testimony

Nearly a year after local and state investigations began, the Orange County Grand Jury has begun hearing testimony about allegations that a Latino rights group registered ineligible voters for the 1996 election.

The 19-member grand jury first questioned witnesses last Friday and continued this week, sources said. Several employees of the group, Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, were subpoenaed to testify Tuesday and two appeared at the district attorney’s office before noon.

Former Republican Rep. Robert K. Dornan has contended that voting by noncitizens cost him his 46th Congressional District seat. He lost by 984 votes to Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove). Congress is investigating Dornan’s claim that there were a sufficient number of fraudulent votes to unseat Sanchez and force a new election.

Hermandad has denied any wrongdoing, saying the investigations are motivated by the political agenda of Republicans who want to aid Dornan and keep Latinos from voting.

The district attorney’s office declined to confirm the grand jury’s involvement or discuss details of the investigation into allegations of voting fraud in the 1996 election.

“We are still reviewing the matter,” said Chief Assistant Dist. Atty. Maurice Evans. “I have no further comment than that.”

The California secretary of state’s office, which has assisted in the investigation, also declined to discuss its status.

“We are unable to comment on the grand jury,” spokeswoman Beth Miller said.

The Hermandad employees subpoenaed to appear Tuesday are involved in clerical work and data processing, said a source within the Latino rights group. They were accompanied to the grand jury proceedings by Hermandad attorney Mark Rosen.

The witnesses declined to be interviewed and Rosen refused comment.

Also subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury Tuesday was a 36-year-old Fullerton man who said he attended classes at Hermandad “a few years ago.”

“I don’t know why I am here,” he said as he waited in the Santa Ana courthouse to talk with investigators.

The Fullerton man was among 1,160 people registered to vote in 1996 by Hermandad on voter registration cards issued to the group by the registrar, according to court records. He cast an absentee ballot in the election though he was not a naturalized citizen, according to an INS document filed with Congress.

He later declined through a family member to discuss his citizenship status at the time he voted.

The local investigation into voting by ineligible persons began several weeks before the Nov. 5 election. At that time, the district attorney’s office received a complaint from the registrar of voters, describing at least one instance in which someone not yet a citizen allegedly was improperly registered to vote at Hermandad’s Santa Ana office. The investigation broadened after the election, when Dornan filed a complaint with the secretary of state’s office.

In the last 12 months, investigators working for the district attorney and the secretary of state have interviewed dozens of people associated with Hermandad and searched its Santa Ana offices. Investigators also have gained the unprecedented cooperation of the Immigration and Naturalization Service to match voter rolls with immigration records to determine the extent of voting by those ineligible to do so.

In March, Secretary of State Bill Jones released an analysis of 1,160 people registered to vote by Hermandad on registration cards issued to the group, concluding that “a substantial number of unqualified individuals registered to vote.”

Jones found that 721 people countywide apparently had not completed the citizenship process before they registered. Of that number, investigators contend, at least 442 unlawfully voted in the election. In the 46th Congressional District, at least 303 voted unlawfully, Jones said.

That analysis and the Orange County criminal investigation have been cited frequently by Republicans in Congress to justify the continued inquiry into the Sanchez victory.

The numbers and their reliability, however, are hotly disputed by Sanchez and some Latino leaders, who say INS records are incomplete and error-filled.

John Shallman, a campaign consultant for Sanchez, said investigators can be certain only of the information they obtain firsthand and must not rely on data supplied by the INS.

“It requires knocking on doors and talking face-to-face with someone to get to the truth. Other than that, you have no other way to verify it,” he said. “If you do go out and you find out these numbers are large and there is a conspiracy to commit fraud, then this grand jury should take the appropriate action.”

A lawyer for Dornan applauded news of the grand jury activity, saying it made sense for the officials in the district attorney’s office to wait until evidence had been developed by other investigations “before moving themselves to present the matter criminally to the grand jury.”

“It is time now to get to the bottom of how the voter fraud was accomplished in Orange County,” said William Hart, Dornan’s attorney. “We know that it occurred. . . . The next step is identifying who was involved and how it was done. That is the role of the D.A. and the grand jury.”

* ANGRY CITIZENS: Four voters apparently named in House probe show bona fides, denounce Dornan. A14