O.C. Reaction? It Depends on Who Answers

A supporter of Robert K. Dornan said she is glad the investigation is over.

“I think he was right in the first place, but I think he’s carried this a little too far,” said Norma Hinkson of Santa Ana, a 71-year-old lifelong Republican. “It’s time to end it. It makes him look like a bad loser.”

But Janice Bartone, 44, of Garden Grove, an independent voter who helps manage a sign shop, said, “It disgusts me that they dropped it.”

“I’m disgusted with the amount of [illegal] votes that they found,” Bartone said. “As elected officials, they should be concerned with each and every vote.”

On sidewalks and in shops across Santa Ana and Garden Grove, residents of the 46th Congressional District expressed their opinions about a House task force’s decision Wednesday to dismiss Dornan’s challenge to the November 1996 election of Democrat Loretta Sanchez.

“They should have dropped it. They spent too much money in the case investigating who was right and who was wrong,” said John Taylor, 48, of Costa Mesa, a telecommunications worker and independent voter waiting for a bus on Harbor Boulevard.

Others said they were disgusted with the congressional task force for dismissing Dornan’s challenge despite evidence of voting by noncitizens.

“Dornan wasted two years,” said James Hershiser, 27, a Santa Ana independent shopping for groceries at a Ralphs supermarket. “He obviously brought up a good point--voter fraud--but the way he did it, he made it look really partisan.

“He could have made it into a real issue” and ridden it into the 1998 election, he said. “He hurt himself. He made Sanchez look like the victim.”

Others said they felt that Congress let them down.

“I’m disappointed if they dropped it because they couldn’t get witnesses or agencies to cooperate,” said Richard Rambo, 39, who said he became so disenchanted with the electoral process that he is no longer registered to vote. “I think if the police come and ask you questions and you don’t want to cooperate, you go to jail until you do.”

Others blasted Dornan and expressed relief that the 14-month probe is over.

“It’s useless. It’s taxpayer money, what they’re using, and I don’t think it’s fair for the people,” said Raymond Zamora, 68, a retired construction worker and registered Democrat.

Zamora was caught up in the investigation when his 1996 ballot was among 700 that Dornan labeled as “suspect’ because they were cast by several people sharing a common address. Zamora said his Santa Ana home has six registered voters: himself, his wife and children.

Orthodontist Dr. George Georgieff, 66, also made the list because his North Santa Ana home showed six voters. He said Wednesday he has been a Republican since age 21 and cast his first ballot for Eisenhower. And he thinks it’s high time the House probe ceased.

“I can’t for the life of me figure out how this guy gets away with it,” Georgieff said of Dornan.

Voters on both sides of the political fence said the ordeal shows that voter-registration laws need to be toughened.

“I think my dog could probably vote,” said Gay Connley, 44, as she piled purchases into her car outside a Santa Ana Target store.

Bruce Bailey, 48, a Santa Ana auto mechanic and registered Democrat who voted for Sanchez, also supports stricter guidelines. And as for the disputed election, he has another suggestion.

“I hope they both run again,” Bailey said. “Maybe that will end it once and for all.”