House Panel Seeks Voter Verification

Despite vehement objections by Democrats, Republicans leading the investigation into last fall’s contested election in Orange County’s 46th Congressional District decided on Friday to send a preliminary list of suspected illegal voters to California Secretary of State Bill Jones for verification.

The task force conducting the probe also voted to subpoena two witnesses in the case who have previously refused to answer questions: Nativo Lopez of the Santa Ana group Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, and Michael Farber, who directed a group working against the election of former Rep. Robert K. Dornan and who lost in the Democratic primary to the eventual winner, Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove).

Meanwhile, Democrats followed through on their promise to disrupt House business in protest of the ongoing inquiry into the 984-vote victory by Sanchez. The Democrats forced a procedural vote to waste time and spoke about the issue repeatedly on the floor Friday.

“We will continue to object strenuously,” warned Minority Whip David E. Bonior (D-Mich.), hinting that upcoming congressional sessions could drag on longer than expected. “Members should make plans accordingly.”

Friday’s move to hand a key part of the investigation over to Jones followed a failed attempt by Democrats on Thursday to force the probe’s dismissal. Dornan contends widespread voting by noncitizens cost him the seat he had first won in 1984.

At a task force hearing Friday morning, Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) reiterated complaints that the House Oversight Committee is abdicating its responsibility by bringing Jones into its investigative process. Hoyer also noted that Jones is a Republican elected official with a vested interest in discouraging voter participation by people sympathetic to Democrats.

“That’s not to say he’s not honest,” Hoyer said. “We simply don’t believe he’s neutral.”

Rep. Vernon J. Ehlers (R-Mich.), who chairs the task force, said the Oversight Committee would retain ultimate discretion on whether to vacate the seat, and the committee is simply trying to tap the expertise of Jones and local Immigration and Naturalization Service officials.

According to a memorandum of understanding that the Democrats refused to sign but the Republicans plan to enter into with Jones anyway, the task force will send Jones a computer database listing voters who are suspected of not being citizens at the time they registered to vote in the 46th district. Jones and the INS would then review the list, gathering extra information if necessary, and analyze the data.

The memorandum asks Jones to place the names into six categories: confirmed legal vote, confirmed illegal vote, unable to determine status of vote, confirmed legal registration, confirmed illegal registration and unable to determine status of registration.

Hoyer, the lone Democrat on the three-person task force, questioned the format of what would be transmitted to Jones and insisted that he and his staff be given copies at the same time. Fireworks flew when, as Hoyer asked a series of detail-oriented questions regarding the memorandum, Ehlers cut him off.

“I’m not at all interested in you telling me that in a matter of this importance . . . time has expired because your little light goes on,” Hoyer erupted. “You don’t discuss things with me . . . [you’re] dead, flat wrong.”

Ehlers let Hoyer ask a second round of questions, but the Democrat still ended up on the losing end of two 2-1 votes.

A spokeswoman for Jones said the secretary would join the investigation only after conducting a meeting that includes the Democrats on the oversight panel and ensures all parties agree on “process and expectations.”

The second task force action would force Lopez and Farber, who ran a group called Dump Dornan, to testify before the committee or face a possible citation of contempt of Congress. Sources say this branch of the probe reflects the Republican theory that undocumented immigrants, who have no records at the INS, also may have been illegally registered to vote.

Both Farber and Lopez declined to answer written questions posed by the committee earlier this month, arguing that the panel lacks the authority to use such a legal tool. They also had fought previous subpoenas by Dornan in court.

On Friday, lawyers for Lopez and Farber said both men would cooperate with subpoenas if they are issued lawfully.

But Lopez, who also is under criminal investigation by the Orange County district attorney’s office, may invoke his 5th Amendment privilege to refuse to testify on the grounds of self-incrimination.

“Obviously, if the subpoena is properly served and properly issued, he will respond by showing up--how he will respond to any Q-and-A situation will depend,” attorney Edward Munoz said. “In light of the investigation that is happening locally, you can’t really make too many cut-and-dried decisions beforehand.”