IV
105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. RES. 341
Relating to a question of the privileges of the House.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 28, 1998
Mr. GEPHARDT submitted the following resolution; which failed of adoption
RESOLUTION
Relating to a question of the privileges of the House.
Whereas Loretta Sanchez was issued a certificate of election
as the duly elected Member of Congress from the 46th
District of California by the Secretary of State of Califor-
nia and was seated by the U.S. House of Representatives
on January 7, 1997;
Whereas a Notice of Contest of Election was filed with the
Clerk of the House by Mr. Robert Dornan on December
26, 1996;
Whereas the Task Force on the Contested Election in the
46th District of California met on February 26, 1997, in
Washington, D.C., on April 19, 1997, in Orange County,
California, and on October 24, 1997, in Washington,
D.C.;
Whereas Mr. Robert Dornan made unsubstantiated charges
of improper voting from a business, rather than a resi-
HRES 341 IH
dent address; underage voting; double voting; and large
numbers of individuals voting from the same address;
Whereas these charges are without merit, as it was found
that those voting from the same address included United
States Marines residing at a Marine barracks and nuns
residing at a domicile of nuns; that business addresses
were legal residences for the individuals, including the
zoo keeper of the Santa Ana zoo; that duplicate voting
was by different individuals and those accused of under-
age voting were of age;
Whereas the Committee on House Oversight has issued un-
precedented subpoenas directing the Immigration and
Naturalization Service to compare its records with Or-
ange County voter registration records, the first time in
any election in the history of the United States that the
INS has been asked by Congress to verify the citizenship
of voters;
Whereas the INS has complied with the committee’s request
and, at the committee’s request, for over eight months,
has engaged in a manual check of its paper files and has
provided worksheets containing supplemental information
on that manual check to the Committee on House Over-
sight;
Whereas the committee’s investigation has extended far be-
yond a review of those who actually voted in this con-
tested election;
Whereas the District Attorney of Orange County has ended
his investigation and an Orange County Grand Jury has
refused to return any indictments and allegations of a
conspiracy to engage in voter fraud have been proven
groundless;
HRES 341 IH
Whereas the Committee on House Oversight has received a
report from the Secretary of State of California, in re-
sponse to the committee’s request, which yielded no new
information;
Whereas the committee’s requests have caused this contest to
be needlessly extended for four additional months while
the Secretary of State of California provided no new in-
formation regarding the citizenship status of registrants
or voters;
Whereas the Task Force on the Contested Election in the
46th District of California and the committee have been
reviewing these materials and have all the information
they need regarding who voted in the 46th District and
all the information required to make judgments concern-
ing those votes;
Whereas the Committee on House Oversight has after thir-
teen months of review and investigation failed to present
any credible evidence demonstrating that Congresswoman
Sanchez did not win this election and continues to pursue
never ending and groundless areas of investigation;
Whereas contestant Robert Dornan has not shown or pro-
vided credible evidence that the outcome of the election
is other than Congresswoman Sanchez’s election to the
Congress; and
Whereas the Committee on House Oversight should complete
its review of this matter and bring this contest to an end:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the election contest concerning the
46th District of California is dismissed.
Æ