Republicans Want Latinos as Voters
* Re “Consultants Won’t Pull Punches,” about State Sen. John Lewis’ hardball politicking (June 12):
The story declares, “Lewis and others were sued for their alleged roles in the 1988 posting of security guards at Santa Ana polling places in an effort to discourage Latino turnout. He denied any role in the scheme. The suit was settled for $480,000.”
The 20 or so uniformed observers were not intended to discourage voting by Latinos, but to discourage illegal voting by non-citizens.
Such illegal voting can and does occur and can be pivotal in elections. It has been established, for example, that many non-citizens voted in the Robert Dornan-Rep. Loretta Sanchez congressional race in 1996; the only debate is as to how many.
As a former Orange County Republican Central Committee member, I can assure you that Republicans do want Latinos to vote, and are investing great resources in trying to persuade them to vote Republican.
JIM GRAVES
Irvine
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