Date: 1997-10-31
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. pursuant to clause 2 of rule IX. I hereby give notice of my intention to offer a resolution which raises a question of the privileges of the House. The form of the resolution is as follows: 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 California and was seated by the U.S. House of Representatives on January 7. 1997..and Whereas A Notice of Contest of Election was filed with the Clerk of the House by Mr. Robert Dornan on December 26. 1996. and 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 October 24. 1997 in Washington. D.C.. and Whereas the allegations made by Mr. Robert Dornan have been largely found to be without merit: charges of improper voting from a business. rather than a regident address. underage voting. double voting. and charges of unusually large number of individuals voting from the same address. It was found that voting from the same address incluled a Marines barracks and the 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 underage voting were of age. and Whereas the Committee on House Oversight has issued unprecedented subpoenas to the Immigration and Naturalization Service to compare their records with Orange 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. and Whereas the INS has complied with the Committees request and. at the Committees request. has been doing a manual check ef its paper files and providing worksheets containing supplemental information on that manual check to the Committee on House Oversight for over five months. and Whereas the Committee on House Oversight. subpoenaed the records seized by the District Attorney of Orange County on February 13. 1997 and has received and reviewed all records pertaining to registration efforts of that group. and Whereas the House Oversight Committee is now persuing a duplicate and dilatory review of materials already in the Committees possession by the Secretary of State of California. and Whereas the Task Force on the Contested Election in the 46th District of California and the Committee have been reviewing these materials and has all the information it needs regarding who voted in the 46th District and all the information it needs to make judgments concerning those votes. and Whereas the Committee on House Oversight has after over nine months of review and investigation failed to present credible evidence to change the outcome of the election of Congresswoman Sanchez and is pursuing never ending and unsubstantiated. areas of review. and Whereas. Contestant Robert Dornan has not shown or provided credible evidence that the outcome of the election is other than Congresswoman Sanchezs election to the Congress. and Whereas I watched Loretta Sanchez become a marvelous. energetic Representative of the 46th District of California during the five months she shared my apartment with me. and Whereas continuing this never ending attack on her election is wrong for this woman who wants to serve her constituents to the best of her ability. and Whereas. the Committee on House Oversight should complete its review of this matter and bring this contest to an end and now therefore be it. Resolved. that unless the Committee on House Oversight has sooner reported a recommendation for its final disposition. the contest in the 46th District of California is dismissed upon the expiration of November 7.