[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 152 (Tuesday, November 4, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H9969]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




NOTICE OF INTENTION TO OFFER RESOLUTION RAISING QUESTION OF PRIVILEGES 
                              OF THE HOUSE

  Ms. Millender-McDonald. 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 this 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 resident 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 included 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 and the INS has been asked by 
     Congress to verify the citizenship of the voters; and
       Whereas, the INS has complied with the Committee's request 
     and, at the Committee's request, has been doing a manual 
     check of 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 pursuing a 
     duplicate and dilatory review of materials already in the 
     Committee's possession by the Secretary of State of 
     California; and
       Whereas, the Task Force on 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 Sanchez's election to Congress; and
       Whereas, Congresswoman Sanchez's election to the Congress 
     represents an historic advance for all Americans, especially 
     women and Californians committed to opportunity, equality, 
     peaceful resolution of conflict and social justice; 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, 1997.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the previous citation by 
the Chair of rule IX's disposition of this matter will be entered into 
the Record at this point.
  There was no objection.
  The text of the Chair's prior statement is as follows:

       Under rule IX, a resolution offered from the floor by a 
     Member other than the majority leader or the minority leader 
     as a question of the privileges of the House has immediate 
     precedence only at a time designated by the Chair within 2 
     legislative days after the resolution is properly noticed.
       Pending that designation, the form of the resolution 
     noticed by the gentlewoman from California [Ms. Millender-
     McDonald] will appear in the Record at this point.
       The Chair will not at this point determine whether the 
     resolution constitutes a question of privilege. That 
     determination will be made at the time designated for 
     consideration of the resolution.




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