Now Dornan Wants a Sanchez Rematch

Kicking off what promises to be an expensive and rancorous campaign on both sides, Robert K. Dornan on Saturday declared a nine-month fight to win back his seat in Congress from Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove).

The announcement came just two days after Sanchez announced for reelection and Congress turned aside Dornan’s 15-month campaign to overturn her 984-vote victory.

In rejecting the challenge to her 1996 win, a Republican-dominated Congress on Thursday said it had uncovered voting by noncitizens and other irregularities, but too few to cast doubt on the result.

Speaking in a small tent during a downpour to about two dozen family members and supporters, Dornan began his 11th campaign for Congress by reciting a litany of World War II battles and vowing a warrior’s challenge to Sanchez, who he claimed he had “treated with kid gloves” in 1996.

“I start as an underdog,” he said. “I’m a fighter pilot. . . . I like to play offense.” Dornan flew fighters for the Air Force during peace time.

Dornan immediately launched a barrage of attacks, calling Sanchez “an impostor as a Christian” and as a role model for young Latinos because of her votes for late-term abortions and U.S. funding of international population control programs.

He also contended that Sanchez had failed the district by backing federal funding for school construction that would lead to federal interference in local education.

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He called Sanchez an opportunist for moving back to the district from Palos Verdes Estates to run for Congress. He also criticized her for failing to vote in any federal and local elections prior to running for Congress.

“She even missed voting in 1994 when she ran and lost for Anaheim City Council as Loretta Sanchez Brixey,” he said, calling her by the married surname that Sanchez no longer uses.

Spokesmen for Sanchez said Dornan was personalizing the campaign and ignoring issues that matter, such as education, fighting crime and creating jobs.

“She has focused on the needs of Orange County,” said campaign consultant Bill Wachob. “I assume this means he will leave his estate back in Virginia and spend some time in Orange County.”

Lee Godown, Sanchez’s congressional spokesman, acknowledged Sanchez supports late-term abortion to protect the health of the pregnant woman and called references to her personal voting record irrelevant. “Who made him the judge?” he said.

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Both sides said Saturday they expected to spend at least $2.5 million each, much of it on direct mail and television. “That would make it one of the most expensive contests in the nation,” said Wachob.

Sanchez has raised about $1 million and has about $600,000 on hand, while Dornan has raised $1.4 million and has about $300,000 in cash. Both expect Congress to reimburse about $400,000 each in legal expenses for the just-ended contested election battle.

Dornan said his campaign would start immediately and would be patterned after his first run in 1976, when he had serious opposition in both the primary and general election.

“This campaign will be family-run and small-donor supported,” said daughter Robin Griffin, who has run the fund-raising operation. Dornan named his son, Mark, as his campaign manager.

Dornan first must win the GOP nomination against Superior Court Judge James L. Gray, lawyer Lisa Hughes and Anaheim Councilman Bob Zemel.

The nine-term congressman said he would also campaign against voter fraud. Pointing to an observer badge on his lapel from the 1985 El Salvador presidential election, he said he had been sold out “by gutless wonders” in his party who had failed to overturn Sanchez’s victory, despite as many as 2,666 votes by noncitizens. He offered no proof for the claim.

The House Oversight Committee said it found evidence of 748 improper ballots, 624 by immigrants who were not citizens when they registered to vote.

Wachob ridiculed the assertion: “Prior to last Thursday, it was a debate between him and Loretta, but now that he has been repudiated by his own party, which controls Congress, it is hard to say they didn’t do their job.”