[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 28, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H72-H73]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSE--DISMISSAL OF CONTEST IN 46TH DISTRICT OF 
                               CALIFORNIA

  Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, I rise to a question of the privileges of 
the House, and I send to the desk a privileged resolution (H. Res. 341) 
pursuant to clause 2 of rule IX and ask for its immediate 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the resolution.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                              H. Res. 341

       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, DC, on April 18, 1997 in Orange County, 
     California, and on October 24, 1997 in Washington, DC; and
       Whereas, Mr. Robert Dornan made unsubstantiated charges of 
     improper voting from a business, rather than a resident 
     address; underage voting; double voting; and large numbers of 
     individuals voting from the same address; and
       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 underage voting 
     were of age; and
       Whereas, the Committee on House Oversight has issued 
     unprecedented subpoenas directing the Immigration and 
     Naturalization Service to compare its 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 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 Oversight; and
       Whereas, the committee's investigation has extended far 
     beyond a review of those who actually voted in this contested 
     election and;
       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; and
       Whereas, the Committee on House Oversight has received a 
     report from the secretary of State of California, in response 
     to the committee's request, which yielded no new information; 
     and
       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 
     information regarding the citizenship status of registrants 
     or voters; and
       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 concerning those 
     votes; and
       Whereas, the Committee on House Oversight has after 13 
     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; 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 the Congress; 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 the election contest concerning the 46th 
     district of California is dismissed.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Nussle). The resolution constitutes a 
question of the privileges of the House under rule IX.


                 Motion to Table Offered by Mr. Solomon

  Mr. SOLOMON. Mr. Speaker, I move to table the resolution.


                         Parliamentary Inquiry

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I have a parliamentary inquiry.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will state it.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, am I correct from a parliamentary standpoint 
under the rules this resolution would be debatable for 1 hour, if not 
tabled?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. That is correct.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the Chair. We would like to do that.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion to table 
offered by the gentleman from New York (Mr. Solomon).
  The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the noes appeared to have it.
  Mr. SOLOMON. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a 
quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not 
present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Evidently a quorum is not present.
  The Sergeant at Arms will notify absent Members.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 214, 
nays 189, not voting 27, as follows:

                              [Roll No. 2]

                               YEAS--214

     Aderholt
     Archer
     Armey
     Bachus
     Baker
     Ballenger
     Barr
     Barrett (NE)
     Bartlett
     Barton
     Bass
     Bateman
     Bereuter
     Bilbray
     Bilirakis
     Bliley
     Blunt
     Boehlert
     Boehner
     Bonilla
     Brady
     Bryant
     Bunning
     Burr
     Burton
     Buyer
     Callahan
     Calvert
     Camp
     Campbell
     Canady
     Cannon
     Castle
     Chabot
     Chambliss
     Chenoweth
     Christensen
     Coble
     Coburn
     Collins
     Combest
     Cook
     Cooksey
     Cox
     Crane
     Crapo
     Cubin
     Cunningham
     Davis (VA)
     DeLay
     Diaz-Balart
     Dickey
     Doolittle
     Dreier
     Duncan
     Dunn
     Ehlers
     Ehrlich
     Emerson
     English
     Ensign
     Everett
     Fawell
     Foley
     Fossella
     Fowler
     Fox
     Franks (NJ)
     Frelinghuysen
     Ganske
     Gekas
     Gibbons
     Gilchrest
     Gillmor
     Gilman
     Goodlatte
     Goodling
     Goss
     Graham
     Granger
     Greenwood
     Gutknecht
     Hansen
     Hastert
     Hastings (WA)
     Hayworth
     Hefley
     Herger
     Hill
     Hilleary
     Hobson
     Hoekstra
     Horn
     Hostettler
     Houghton
     Hulshof
     Hunter
     Hyde
     Inglis
     Istook
     Jenkins
     Johnson, Sam
     Jones
     Kasich
     Kelly
     Kim
     King (NY)
     Kingston
     Klug
     Knollenberg
     Kolbe
     LaHood
     Largent
     Latham
     LaTourette
     Lazio
     Leach
     Lewis (CA)
     Lewis (KY)
     Linder
     Livingston
     LoBiondo
     Lucas
     Manzullo
     McCollum
     McCrery
     McHugh
     McInnis
     McIntosh
     McKeon
     Metcalf
     Mica
     Miller (FL)
     Moran (KS)
     Myrick
     Nethercutt
     Neumann
     Ney
     Northup
     Norwood
     Nussle
     Oxley
     Packard
     Pappas
     Parker
     Paul
     Paxon
     Pease
     Peterson (PA)
     Petri
     Pickering
     Pitts
     Pombo
     Porter
     Portman
     Pryce (OH)
     Quinn
     Radanovich
     Ramstad
     Redmond
     Regula
     Riggs
     Riley
     Rogan
     Rogers
     Rohrabacher
     Roukema
     Royce
     Ryun
     Salmon
     Sanford
     Saxton
     Schaefer, Dan
     Schaffer, Bob
     Sensenbrenner
     Sessions
     Shadegg
     Shaw
     Shays
     Shimkus
     Shuster
     Skeen
     Smith (MI)
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (TX)
     Smith, Linda
     Snowbarger
     Solomon
     Souder
     Spence
     Stearns
     Stump
     Sununu
     Talent
     Tauzin
     Taylor (NC)
     Thomas
     Thornberry
     Thune
     Tiahrt
     Traficant
     Upton
     Walsh
     Wamp
     Watkins
     Watts (OK)
     Weldon (FL)
     Weldon (PA)
     Weller
     White
     Whitfield
     Wicker
     Wolf
     Young (FL)

                               NAYS--189

     Abercrombie
     Ackerman
     Allen
     Andrews
     Baesler
     Baldacci
     Barcia
     Barrett (WI)
     Bentsen
     Berry
     Bishop
     Blagojevich
     Blumenauer
     Bonior
     Boswell
     Boucher
     Boyd
     Brown (CA)
     Brown (FL)
     Brown (OH)
     Cardin
     Carson
     Clay
     Clayton
     Clement
     Clyburn
     Condit
     Conyers
     Costello
     Coyne
     Cramer
     Cummings
     Danner
     Davis (FL)
     Davis (IL)
     DeFazio
     Delahunt
     DeLauro
     Dellums
     Deutsch
     Dicks
     Dingell
     Dixon
     Doggett
     Doyle
     Edwards
     Engel
     Eshoo
     Etheridge
     Evans
     Farr
     Fattah
     Fazio
     Filner
     Forbes
     Ford
     Frank (MA)
     Frost
     Furse
     Gejdenson
     Gephardt
     Goode
     Gordon
     Green
     Gutierrez
     Hall (OH)

[[Page H73]]


     Hall (TX)
     Hamilton
     Harman
     Hastings (FL)
     Hilliard
     Hinchey
     Hinojosa
     Holden
     Hooley
     Hoyer
     Jackson (IL)
     Jackson-Lee (TX)
     Jefferson
     John
     Johnson (WI)
     Johnson, E. B.
     Kanjorski
     Kaptur
     Kennedy (MA)
     Kennedy (RI)
     Kildee
     Kilpatrick
     Kleczka
     Klink
     Kucinich
     LaFalce
     Lampson
     Lantos
     Levin
     Lewis (GA)
     Lofgren
     Lowey
     Maloney (CT)
     Maloney (NY)
     Manton
     Markey
     Martinez
     Mascara
     Matsui
     McCarthy (MO)
     McCarthy (NY)
     McDermott
     McGovern
     McHale
     McIntyre
     McKinney
     McNulty
     Meehan
     Meek
     Menendez
     Millender-McDonald
     Miller (CA)
     Minge
     Mink
     Moakley
     Moran (VA)
     Murtha
     Nadler
     Neal
     Oberstar
     Obey
     Olver
     Owens
     Pallone
     Pascrell
     Pastor
     Payne
     Pelosi
     Peterson (MN)
     Pickett
     Pomeroy
     Poshard
     Price (NC)
     Rahall
     Rangel
     Reyes
     Rivers
     Rodriguez
     Roemer
     Rothman
     Roybal-Allard
     Rush
     Sabo
     Sanchez
     Sanders
     Sandlin
     Sawyer
     Schumer
     Scott
     Serrano
     Sherman
     Sisisky
     Skaggs
     Skelton
     Slaughter
     Smith, Adam
     Snyder
     Spratt
     Stabenow
     Stark
     Stenholm
     Stokes
     Strickland
     Stupak
     Tauscher
     Taylor (MS)
     Thompson
     Thurman
     Tierney
     Torres
     Towns
     Turner
     Velazquez
     Vento
     Visclosky
     Waters
     Watt (NC)
     Waxman
     Wexler
     Weygand
     Woolsey
     Wynn
     Yates

                             NOT VOTING--27

     Becerra
     Berman
     Borski
     Deal
     DeGette
     Dooley
     Ewing
     Gallegly
     Gonzalez
     Hefner
     Hutchinson
     Johnson (CT)
     Kennelly
     Kind (WI)
     Lipinski
     Luther
     McDade
     Mollohan
     Morella
     Ortiz
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Scarborough
     Schiff
     Smith (OR)
     Tanner
     Wise
     Young (AK)

                              {time}  1404

  Mr. METCALF and Mr. FOLEY changed their vote from ``nay'' to ``yea''.
  So the motion to table was agreed to.
  The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________