Sanchez Event With Clinton Canceled

An Orange County fund-raiser in Anaheim Hills with President Bill Clinton has been canceled after U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez refused to change the Sunday event she is hosting from a sit-down dinner to a reception.

Sarah Anderson, a spokeswoman for Sanchez (D-Garden Grove), said the congresswoman wanted guests at the private home of a Republican backer to experience “a nice, intimate evening with the president.” But Clinton’s schedule changed, leaving him with less time.

“It’s really important to her that people who want to be a part of the process and contribute to the [Democratic National Committee] get a good experience,” Anderson said of about 350 guests who pledged to contribute $1,000 each. “We’re working with the DNC to get people plugged into smaller events” when Clinton visits the Los Angeles area this weekend.

Committee spokeswoman Jenny Backus said campaign events are canceled and postponed all the time for scheduling reasons. The Sanchez event with Clinton originally was set for June but was postponed because of Middle East peace talks, she said.

“We’re working to get folks to other events,” Backus said, including inviting the Orange County guests to another fund-raiser, in Calabasas.

But some party activists were perplexed at why Sanchez--who survived a dust-up last month over another fund-raiser she scheduled at the Playboy Mansion, then moved to another venue--would walk into another political buzz saw by passing on an opportunity to raise money with Clinton.

Sanchez relented on the Playboy Mansion issue after she was criticized by Vice President Al Gore’s campaign staff for choosing such a notorious locale. Even though it was moved to Universal City, Gore refused to attend the event, held in August during the party’s national convention in Los Angeles. The event raised $500,000 for Hispanic Unity USA.

Corralling Clinton in Orange County was a coup. The president’s last event here was during the 1996 campaign, when he appeared at a rally in Santa Ana. He has not attended a fund-raiser locally since his first presidential campaign in 1992.

“It’s so hard to get him to come here,” said one Democratic leader, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “As long as he can still come, you get him any way you can. He’s the president, for gosh sake.”

Local party officials, meanwhile, said they were unaware Tuesday that the event had been canceled. Jay Ziegler, Gore’s California campaign manager, was traveling Tuesday and said he also didn’t know what had happened.

“I would accept her explanation,” Ziegler said.

“Loretta is Loretta,” said Marty Schrank, secretary of the Democratic Central Committee. “She’s shown lately that she’s going to be her own person.”

Anderson said Sanchez hopes Clinton will be available for another fund-raiser in Orange County before the November election.