Sanchez Leads the Pack in Fund-Raising

Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) appears to be outdistancing her local rivals and fellow members of Congress in the contribution wars as she reported raising more than $2 million for her reelection campaign.

The total puts her second only to House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt of Missouri among Democrats in Congress. Her campaign treasury is far heftier than any of her local rivals, with nearly $1.1 million in the bank on May 13, the end of the most recent reporting period.

The reported totals astounded Democrats and Republicans alike.

“It’s amazing,” said Olivia Morgan, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in Washington. Morgan and others attributed Sanchez’s fund-raising in part to the perception that Sanchez has been under constant attack from Republicans since she defeated Robert K. Dornan in 1996.

“She was aided by the unceasing attacks from the Republicans. People are coming to her defense and doing it financially,” Morgan said.

“It is pretty phenomenal,” said Buck Johns, a GOP fund-raiser in Orange County. “It tells you how important this seat is to both sides. It is nothing short of amazing that she would be generating those kind of dollars. It is not coming from the local folks, you can bet on that.”

Four Republicans are seeking the GOP nomination in the June 2 primary to run against Sanchez in the 46th Congressional District. Of the two whose reports were available, Orange County Superior Court Judge James P. Gray had raised the most. He reported contributions of $219,000, and had $24,000 in cash to spend on his campaign.

Family law attorney Lisa Hughes reported raising about $154,000 from 1997 through the deadline. Of all the candidates, she has the largest personal financial stake in the campaign. She has loaned her campaign $350,000, including $150,000 since April 1. She reported having $71,000 in cash in her campaign bank account.

Hughes, a millionaire, has been spending lavishly on mail and cable television to bring her face and record before the voters. So far, she has spent about $348,000.

The reports of the remaining candidates, Dornan and former Cypress Councilman Chuck Coronado, were not available Wednesday.

Dornan likely will report contributions near those of Sanchez. He had reported raising $1.77 million as of March 31. At that time, he had $149,000 in cash. Much of Dornan’s funds were spent on his challenge to the election of Sanchez and on the cost of direct-mail fund-raising.

Sanchez, who is unopposed by a Democrat in the June 2 primary, raised $345,000 in the six weeks since April 1, some $125,000 of it at a May 3 fund-raiser in Los Angeles attended by President Clinton.

The freshman congresswoman developed a national following by defeating Dornan in 1996 and as a result has been able to tap contributors from around the country. Among her contributors this period are singer Nancy Sinatra, attorney Gloria Allred, television producer Norman Lear, movie director Rob Reiner and media mogul David Geffen.