Sanchez Elated as Probe Is Dropped

Flushed after a hearty ovation from 30 congressional colleagues and more than 100 Democratic staffers, Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) wiped a tear of joy and quoted her mother: “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

As the House Oversight Committee voted 8 to 1 Wednesday to dismiss its 13-month investigation into her 984-vote victory in 1996 over Republican Robert K. Dornan, Sanchez headed for reelection not only with the advantages of incumbency and a huge campaign treasure chest, but also as a political celebrity, the poster child for her party’s drive to appeal to Latinos.

“The timing is perfect for Loretta--what a first term!” said Fernando Guerra, a political scientist at Loyola Marymount University.

“She has been turned into a national martyr the Democrats have been able to exploit,” said Kevin Spillane, a California Republican consultant who has pushed the party to improve its image among Latinos. “The Democrats succeeded in turning her into a cause celebre.”

The full House is expected next week to approve a resolution officially ending the investigation into whether illegal voting by noncitizens gave Sanchez her seat. And with that, Republicans clearly hope to rehabilitate their image among Latinos, the fastest-growing segment of the population and the electorate.

Some GOP activists in recent weeks have blamed the Dornan challenge for making the party appear racist.

“This is a victory of the pragmatists of the party over the pure ideologues,” said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe of the Center for Politics and Economics at Claremont Graduate University. “An election year really does focus your attention on the realities of politics.”

As they unveiled the results of their investigation, Republican leaders of the House Oversight Committee denied that concern over a Latino backlash played into their decision to dismiss the election dispute. Rather, they said it was simply because they could only prove that 748 people had voted improperly--more than 200 shy of Sanchez’s margin of victory. They also hope the investigation will fuel legislative efforts to tighten voter registration procedures--bills that could land on the House floor as early as next week.

“There is not enough evidence of a sufficient number of illegal votes to justify vacating the election,” said Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.), who led the task force investigating the case.

Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) called the dismissal “an honest result.”

“Our job is not to be prejudiced for or against anybody, but to seek the truth,” he said in an interview.

As for his party’s appeal to Latinos, Gingrich said: “If we reach out to them with lower taxes and better retirement programs, a drug-free country . . . we’ll do a better job of getting their votes.”

The effective end of the election investigation provided a dramatic day of political theater on Capitol Hill, with Republicans offering the first detailed look at their investigation and Democrats celebrating in a campaign-like atmosphere complete with clusters of orange and white balloons.

Dornan, who had held his House seat for nine terms, sought to seize the limelight, holding a marathon press conference at which he hinted that he might make a run for the Senate and promising that “a Dornan”--either he or his son, Mark--would be on the 46th District ballot this year.

“Have you ever known an Irishman or a Hispanic who was ever out of politics?” he asked. “I won’t be out of politics until I’m dead seven days.”

Sanchez has already raised more than $900,000 for her reelection race. Dornan raised $1.4 million last year.

At the final session of Ehlers’ task force, a pyramid of 38 cardboard boxes filled with the documents collected by investigators sat in the center of the hearing room. With a flourish, Ehlers unveiled a chart explaining how his staff winnowed the number of suspect votes down to 748.

“This was an arduous process,” said John Kelliher, the attorney who led the investigation. “We’ve been, I believe, obsessive about the detail and accuracy of all of this.”

Kelliher explained that the committee began by comparing databases from the Immigration and Naturalization Service--in which citizenship might be in question--and the Orange County voter rolls. Matching last names and dates of birth turned up 500,000 people, 136,000 of them in Sanchez’s 46th Congressional District. Of those in the district, further analysis showed that 5,831 also had the same first names, or a similar ones.

A check of additional INS databases, a review of people who used noncitizenship to get out of jury duty in Orange County and an analysis of mailing lists of Orange County groups that registered people to vote in the 1996 election turned up thousands more, leaving the committee with 7,841 suspicious votes, Kelliher said.

Further study showed 5,303 of those were legitimate voters, and another 1,718 did not vote in the election, according to Ehlers’ chart. Of the remaining 820, there were 196 that Ehlers said he “in good conscience could not include” because there was only circumstantial evidence. That left 624 “documented” cases of noncitizens voting, plus 124 previously uncovered improper absentee ballots, bringing the total number of bad votes to 748.

Even as they celebrated the dismissal, Democrats quibbled over the numbers, saying about 400 had actually become citizens after they registered but before election day. Neither assertion could be proved because the voters’ identities were kept secret to protect their privacy.

Rep. Bill Thomas (R-Bakersfield), the Oversight Committee chairman, said a more detailed report would be forthcoming.

“I will be pleased with the outcome,” Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the lone Democrat on the task force, said before the vote to dismiss the case. “But I have not been pleased with the process.”

Even as the Oversight Committee voted overwhelmingly to dismiss the case, dozens of Democratic members and scores more staff members gathered in a nearby office building to fete Sanchez. They clapped, hooted and hollered for several minutes as she was ushered in from a hearing on national security, the now-trademark orange ‘Free Loretta’ ribbon pinned to the lapel of her sunshine-yellow jacket.

“It was worth the wait,” House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) exulted.

“Republicans have come to their senses,” said Rep. Vic Fazio (D-Sacramento). Saying the ongoing investigation had solidified the bond between Latinos and the Democratic Party, he added that Republicans “made a huge mistake. The ramifications of it haven’t even been felt yet.”

After collecting hugs from half a dozen colleagues, Sanchez shyly approached the microphone and thanked several aides, her siblings, her parents and her husband.

“People ask me how I feel today--I feel great,” she said. “When you stand up and you fight for something and you know that you’re right, justice can prevail.”

For their part, Republicans on the oversight panel attempted to rebut months of Democratic press releases that have described the probe as a “witch hunt” targeting immigrants and others with Hispanic surnames.

Ehlers said it was the first time in his life he had been called a racist and a sexist. Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) said the allegations were “totally unfounded . . . there was no witch hunt and you know that.”

“To come back and charge our majority with being anti-this group or anti-that group . . . I am really fed up with that,” added Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), who cast the lone vote against dismissing the case. “I think it is uncalled for.”

But political experts believe that significant damage was done to the GOP.

“It’s not a question of, ‘Are we going to lose the vote?’ It’s clear that Latinos have gone over to the Democratic side,” said Guerra, who specializes in Latino politics. “They have lost it. They have to regain it.”

Spillane said it was “in the long-term best interest of the party” that the case was dropped. It should also help the GOP regain the seat in 1998, he added, explaining that if the election had been overturned it would have enhanced Sanchez’s “martyr” status and “been seen as a power play.”

Times staff writer Peter M. Warren in Orange County contributed to this story.