House Expected to Drop Probe of Sanchez Election - Los Angeles Times (latimes.com) 2-4-98
The task force found that about 750 noncitizens voted in the election, a Republican leadership source said. That is far fewer than the 2,500 illegal votes that Republican sources had talked about uncovering in the past several months. During Dornan’s investigation, the Orange County registrar of voters found about 125 illegally cast absentee ballots in the race. ...
Rep. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) called the task force’s decision a victory for Latinos nationwide. “It’s only a vindication of what we said all along, that this was a witch hunt,” Menendez said. “When we stand together . . . they can’t suppress our voice.”
State and county investigations found that several hundred noncitizens cast ballots in the election, but the House inquiry was weakened when an Orange County grand jury in December refused to indict anyone. The INS reviewed records of tens of thousands of immigrants for the panel during the inquiry but said publicly that its data alone was inadequate to prove that any specific voter may have registered improperly.
Dornan’s attorney, William Hart, cited Ehlers’ conclusions as damning.
“It is a pretty remarkable statement that the only reason they could not get to the bottom of this was stonewalling by witnesses, including Loretta Sanchez and government agencies controlled by Democrats,” he said. “The strategy of stonewalling by Sanchez and her supporters worked. That is the message. Stonewalling works. It is a sad commentary.”
