Bid to End Election Probe Fails

Democratic leaders Thursday made their first official demand that the investigation into last fall’s contested election in California’s 46th Congressional District be dismissed, but the Republican-controlled House defeated the motion on a near party-line vote.

Having lost the first floor vote regarding the probe, the Democrats announced plans for a national “Loretta Day” on Wednesday--named after Rep. Loretta Sanchez, the Garden Grove Democrat whose 984-vote victory over Republican Robert K. Dornan is being challenged. The day is to feature protests in 42 districts currently represented by Republicans--nearly half in California--where the voting-age population is at least 10% Latino.

The Democrats also renewed previous vows to derail House business with a barrage of parliamentary shenanigans.

The rejection of the demand for ending the election probe by a House committee came after a dramatic hourlong debate punctuated by catcalls, cheers and a lengthy standing ovation for Sanchez by her party colleagues after she finished her first comments on the matter in the House chamber.

“The time has come to let this go. The time has come to do the right thing,” boomed Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.), who invoked his special privilege as the ranking Democrat to bring the matter to the floor Thursday.

“When will we make a decision? Will we make a decision after the next election?” asked Rep. Sam Gejdenson (D-Conn.), who sits on the House Oversight Committee, which is conducting the investigation. “We have to end this now. It brings disgrace to this House.”

But while Democrats whistled and cheered, pleaded and shouted, Republicans stoically ticked off the history of the investigation since Dornan challenged the results--largely because of allegations that large numbers of votes were cast by noncitizens. The Republicans argued that they need more time, noting that witnesses have failed to respond to subpoenas and complaining that combing through thousands of Immigration and Naturalization Service records to determine the citizenship status of Orange County voters is a painstaking process.

“Is it taking too long? It’s certainly taking longer than I would like,” acknowledged Rep. Vernon J. Ehlers (R-Mich.), chairman of the committee task force focusing on the election. “But there’s just a great deal of work to be done.”

The motion, which called on the Oversight Committee to make a final recommendation on the case by Wednesday or drop it, lost by a vote of 222 to 204, with Sanchez abstaining. Rep. James Traficant (D-Ohio) joined the Republicans in opposing the measure, while Rep. Michael Forbes (R-N.Y.) defected to the Democrats.

Democrats expected the defeat, but were surprised to get even the hourlong debate; Republicans could have immediately voted to table the motion.

Thursday’s developments were triggered by a Republican proposal the previous day to ask California Secretary of State Bill Jones and local INS officials to review a list of suspected illegal voters the committee has prepared and make the final judgment on how many votes should be declared invalid.

Democrats countered that the committee was shirking its constitutional responsibility by trying to hand a political hot potato over to Jones.

Although Democrats rejected the proposal, Republicans may still follow through with it. That issue will probably be decided at a meeting of the task force scheduled for today.