A Respite for Rep. Sanchez

The House Oversight Committee has wisely voted to end its investigation into the 1996 election of Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove). The inquiry had dragged on far too long, fueled by the bombast of former Rep. Robert K. Dornan, a Republican whom Sanchez defeated. His accusations of voter fraud generated investigations at the federal, state and local levels that produced much more rhetoric than substance.

This week, more than a year after allegations first surfaced, a congressional task force said it had found “substantial voter fraud” but could not prove that there were enough tainted votes to change the election’s outcome. Wednesday’s vote by the Oversight Committee is expected to be formally accepted by the House next week.

Partisanship has been much in the air throughout this dispute. The inescapable conclusion for some time has been that any voting irregularities in this 46th Congressional District election, which Sanchez won by 984 votes, were not sufficient to turn the tide.

Perhaps the most important finding came from the Orange County Grand Jury, which issued a definitive statement on the controversy at the end of last year. It was that inquiry that removed the cloud hanging over Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, a Latino rights organization. Dornan had accused the group of conspiring to put him out of office by the way it registered voters, but the grand jury found that the invalid votes connected to the organization probably were the result of carelessness.

The dismissal of the House inquiry ought to further clear the air and provide Sanchez at least a few unencumbered months to serve her constituents before facing a new election cycle. She, and they, deserved better than this.

The 1996 election has been a preoccupation for so long that the June primary suddenly looms ahead, with a number of Republican challengers, perhaps including Dornan, lining up for the chance of taking on Sanchez in November.

Secretary of State Bill Jones, meanwhile, has called for reforms in the voting system in California. His concern over the integrity of voting files has prompted laudable efforts to remove deadwood in voters’ lists throughout the state.