Orange County Elections 1996

House Speaker Newt Gingrich informed party leaders that "there is now sufficient evidence to overturn" the election of Rep. Loretta Sanchez, GOP Party Chairman Michael Schroeder told the state Republican convention here Saturday. Schroeder, who represents Robert K. Dornan in his bid to win back his seat from Sanchez (D-Garden Grove), made that claim as he introduced Dornan, who made a surprise appearance on the second day of the three-day gathering at the Anaheim Marriott.

Revealing that he has secretly cooperated with investigators for the past few months, former Santa Ana City Council candidate Roman Palacios pleaded guilty Friday to one felony charge in an elaborate extortion and money-laundering scheme aimed at seizing control of the council. As part of a plea bargain, Palacios, 37, acknowledged that he conspired to extort $31,000 in campaign money from a Santa Ana service station owner seeking favorable council votes on a liquor license request.

Conservative Christian candidates appeared to be failing Tuesday in bids to attain majorities on school boards ranging from Fullerton in northern Orange County to San Juan Capistrano and surrounding areas in the south. Based on early returns, the so-called "Christian right" was taking its biggest hit in the Capistrano Unified School District, with moderates holding commanding leads in races for four seats. Incumbent Peter J.

A long-running investigation into allegations of political corruption in Santa Ana is nearing completion, sources close to the probe said Monday. For the last two months, a federal grand jury in Los Angeles has been looking into questions about the circumstances surrounding campaign contributions from two businessmen who were seeking City Council help with their requests. The federal sources, who asked not to be identified by name, said the businessmen are not targets of the probe.

After nearly six months of searching, former Congressman Robert K. Dornan doesn't appear to have found enough illicit ballots to overturn his loss to Rep. Loretta Sanchez. But he isn't giving up. On Saturday, Dornan and his lawyers will stand before a high-powered congressional panel at the County Hall of Administration and make their best case for nullifying Sanchez's 984-vote upset last November.

The day after revelations that dozens of "suspect" voters cited by former Rep. Robert K. Dornan were legitimately registered voters, House Democrats on Friday pressed Republicans to drop the investigation into Dornan's challenge to the election victory of Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove).

Secretary of State Bill Jones has launched a formal investigation into complaints of voter fraud lodged by Rep. Robert K. Dornan, the Garden Grove Republican who narrowly lost his reelection bid last month to an upstart Democrat. Jones said in a letter Wednesday that his investigators would immediately begin looking into Dornan's allegations of fraud, including voting by illegal immigrants, lax ballot box security, people voting repeatedly and registering at phony addresses.

The Orange County Grand Jury's apparent decision not to hand down indictments against employees of a Latino rights group on vote fraud charges was a rarity in the legal world. Prosecutors are seldom rejected when they ask grand juries to return indictments against targets of investigations. Indeed, grand juries are often seen as rubber stamps for district attorneys. According to a source close to the investigation, the grand jury rejected Dist. Atty. Michael R.

Under vigorous cross-examination, a former aide to Garden Grove Assemblyman Curt Pringle insisted Thursday that he never checked with his superiors before taking part in a scheme to place a decoy Democrat on the ballot in a crucial election in 1995.

Fullerton's Municipal Judge Carla M. Singer appeared headed for the Superior Court bench, according to early election returns Tuesday night. In the race for a second Superior Court seat, Santa Ana Municipal Judge Jim Brooks was in a dead heat with private attorney Nancy A. Pollard. And in the county's third judicial race, Deputy Dist. Atty. Carl Biggs was well ahead of attorney Paul J. Nestor, a retired military judge, for a seat on the Municipal Court bench in Laguna Niguel.

State Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren has refused an Orange County congressman's request to reopen an investigation of a 1996 voter registration scandal, concluding that local prosecutors had conducted a "thorough and professional" probe. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) had raised concerns in April about the Orange County district attorney's investigation of Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, a Latino rights group accused of registering immigrants to vote before they were sworn in as citizens.

In a blow to Robert K. Dornan's effort to return to Congress, the House Republican leadership has decided not to reimburse him or Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) for the cost of his challenge to her 1996 victory. The decision hobbles Dornan's campaign, which used $464,000 to fight the election result and now is almost out of money. He was counting on getting the funds back for his rematch against Sanchez in this fall's election.

In a blow to Robert K. Dornan's effort to return to Congress, the House Republican leadership has decided not to reimburse him or Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) for the cost of his challenge to her 1996 victory. The decision hurts Dornan's campaign, which used $464,000 to fight the outcome and now is almost out of money. He was counting on getting the funds back for his rematch against Sanchez in this fall's election.

Ravi Mehta, whom the City Council fired as independent prosecutor this week, asked a judge Wednesday to let him keep his job. Fullerton Municipal Judge Gregg L. Prickett scheduled a hearing for today to consider why Mehta should not be removed from the post after nearly five months of investigations into allegations of campaign abuses by Mayor Tom Daly and others in the 1996 council race.

A conservative political action committee agreed Wednesday to pay the city $9,355 to settle charges that it violated campaign laws. The civil settlement ended misdemeanor charges against Lake Forest-based Business and Taxpayers Good Government Committee, led by attorney Rex Brady and Stephen Sheldon, son of the Rev. Lou Sheldon of Anaheim-based Traditional Values Coalition.

Flushed from a hearty ovation from 30 congressional colleagues and more than 100 Democratic staffers, Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) wiped a tear of joy and quoted her mother: "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Indeed. As the House Oversight Committee voted 8 to 1 Wednesday to dismiss its 13-month investigation into her 984-vote victory in 1996 over Republican Robert K.

In response to revelations that noncitizens voted in the Nov. 5 election, the Immigration and Naturalization Service is adding language to a letter to prospective citizens that clarifies they are not citizens until they attend a swearing-in ceremony.

The leaders of 12 prominent Latino organizations harshly criticized the Los Angeles Times on Thursday, contending the newspaper had smeared the entire Latino community in Orange County by using flimsy evidence of a losing congressional candidate who claimed that noncitizens voted illegally. The activists were angered by the national attention following a Dec. 27 report in The Times that 19 applicants for U.S.

It was vintage Dornan. As the lights flashed and the beepers beeped signaling a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives on Wednesday, the bona fide members of Congress fled the room. All cameras, all microphones, all people with notebooks had no choice but to turn to former member Robert K. Dornan--Air Force veteran, Clinton-hater, lesbian-basher, father of five, grandpa of 11. So what if leaders of Dornan's own Republican Party were about to dismiss his case contesting Rep.

A supporter of Robert K. Dornan said she is glad the investigation is over. "I think he was right in the first place, but I think he's carried this a little too far," said Norma Hinkson of Santa Ana, a 71-year-old lifelong Republican. "It's time to end it. It makes him look like a bad loser." But Janice Bartone, 44, of Garden Grove, an independent voter who helps manage a sign shop, said, "It disgusts me that they dropped it."