Loretta Sanchez
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 47th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3 1997
Preceded by	Bob Dornan
Personal details
Political party	Democrat; Republican until 1992
Spouse	single
Residence	Anaheim, California
Alma mater	Chapman College, American University
Occupation	financial analyst

Loretta Sanchez (born January 7 1960), an American politician, has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 1997. She currently represents the 47th Congressional District of California ( map) in central Orange County.

Biography

Background

Sanchez was born in Lynwood, California and graduated from Katella High School in Anaheim in 1978. She received her undergraduate degree from Chapman College in Orange in 1982, obtained her MBA from American University in Washington, DC in 1984, and was a financial analyst until entering the House. Sanchez describes herself as growing up a "shy, quiet girl" who did not speak English. She credits government with much of her success in public life. ^[1] Her father was a unionized machinist and her mother worked as a secretary. Her immigrant parents had seven children, all of whom went to college. ^[2] Sanchez joined the United Food and Commercial Workers when she worked as an ice cream server in high school, and she received a union scholarship to college.

Entry into politics

In 1994 Sanchez ran unsuccessfully as a moderate Republican for the Anaheim City Council under her then married name, Loretta Brixey. In 1996, she changed parties and recast herself as a moderate Democrat to run in the 46th District against controversial six-term Republican incumbent Bob Dornan.

The bitterly fought race saw Sanchez charge that Dornan was out of touch with his constituency, especially after a distracting run for the 1996 Republican Presidential nomination. The 46th had always had a Democratic tilt, but became even more Democratic after the 1990 census when it received a considerably larger number of Hispanics than had previously been in the district. Sanchez won by 984 votes, and Dornan contested the election, alleging that many votes were cast by people who were not American citizens.

A Congressional investigation found evidence that 624 votes were indeed cast by non-citizens. An additional 124 votes had already been thrown out by California officials. These votes were not enough to throw Sanchez's victory into doubt, so the investigation was halted and the outcome was upheld by a Republican-controlled Congress, ^[3] making Sanchez the first Mexican to represent Orange County in Congress. Dornan continues to assert that illegal voter registration of non-citizens was decisive in Sanchez's victory. In consultation with the INS, the House committee identified as many as 4,700 questionable registration affidavits; ^[4] however, the probe was dropped before these affidavits were investigated. As Article I Section V of the Constitution of the United States provides that "Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members" the investigation was without binding authority. ^[5]

Sanchez became the first (and as of 2006, only) Democrat to represent a significant portion of Orange County since Dornan ousted Jerry Patterson in 1984. In a 1998 rematch, she heavily defeated Dornan and has not faced serious opposition since. Her district was renumbered the 47th District after the 2000 census. In 2006, she defeated perennial candidate Tan D. Nguyen ( R) with 62% of the vote.

In November 2002, Sanchez's younger sister, Linda, was elected for the new 39th District. They are the first pair of sisters to serve simultaneously in the United States Congress.

Loretta Sanchez in popular culture

Loretta Sanchez was mentioned by name in the song "Ni de aquí, ni de allá" by Jae-P in a verse signifying the rise of Latinos in society: "...el Latino hoy en día no es un simple lavaplatos Hey, Loretta Sanchez quién te limpia tus zapatos..." In English this translates as: "...the Latino nowadays is not a dishwasher. Hey, Loretta Sanchez who cleans your shoes for you...." ^[6]

The Hispanic Caucus Controversy (see below) was parodied on the Colbert Report on February 7 2007. ^[7] On February 8 2007, the phrase "Loretta Sanchez is a whore?" appeared on screen during "The Wørd" segment of the Colbert Report, eliciting laughs from the audience.

Loretta Sanchez appeared as herself in the September 10, 2007 episode of The Closer entitled "Til Death Do Us Part, Part II". Within the fictional narrative of the show, she was briefly seen on the program Larry King Live being interviewed about a criminal legal case.

On August 26, 2008, Sanchez was featured on TMZ on TV and TMZ.com at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado. TMZ claims "California Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez was four lattes past hyper today in Denver." ^[8] A video of Sanchez shows her excessively excited as she interacts with a cameraman. The TMZ video and viewer blog drew extensive comment from political media in the Congresswoman's home district, ^[9] and revived persistent rumors that she was having an inappropriate relationship with Jack Einwechter, her assigned Pentagon escort. ^[10]

2003 Gubernatorial recall election

During California's Gubernatorial recall campaign, Sanchez was one of the first Democrats to break from Governor Gray Davis and state that a Democrat should run to succeed Davis in case the recall measure passed. Though she recommended that the Democratic candidate be California’s Senior Senator Dianne Feinstein, Sanchez stated that if no other serious Democratic contender stepped forward, she would be willing to run herself. Many California Democrats ultimately adopted Sanchez’s position, paving the way for Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante to enter the race.

Political positions

Sanchez is known for her interests in education, crime, economic development, and protections for senior citizens. ^[11]

Education

After changing parties, she staunchly opposed the Republican's Head Start program overhaul in the 108th Congress, invoking her experience growing up poor and challenged by a speech impediment. "I know about these kids, because I am one of those kids," she said during debate on the bill. "It hurts to hear you talk about how we are not successful, or how we are losers. But we are very successful. We have had a lot of successes with Head Start," she said. Sanchez has asserted that conservative Republicans are not committed to improving public education. ^[12] When President Bush’s 2003 budget proposal threatened to cut education grants, she responded, "If he can run deficits for the military, then he can run deficits to educate our children." ^[1]

Armed services, social issues, and labor

She is the second-ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee. She is also a member of the Armed Services Committee, and has inquired into sexual assault in the military and service academies, which investigations revealed was much more prevalent than previously thought. As a result, she led the fight to change sexual assault provisions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. She also sought to reverse the ban on abortions at overseas military bases and installations. Because of her close ties to labor growing up, she often votes labor's way.

Sanchez is fairly liberal on social issues. She voted against a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and supports abortion rights. Playboy enterprises mogul Hugh Hefner is a frequent political donor. ^[13] In August 2000, Sanchez refused to relocate a political fundraiser she had planned at the Playboy Mansion in California. As a result, Democratic National Committee chairman Joe Andrew stripped Sanchez of her speaking role at the Democratic National Convention. Sanchez's address was reinstated just before the convention, when she agreed to relocate her fundraiser to Universal Studios. ^[14]

Conservative positions

Sanchez is conservative on fiscal issues. She has supported a Constitutional amendment to outlaw flag desecration and encouraged states to prosecute violent juvenile offenders as adults. ^[1] She is a Blue Dog Democrat as well as a member of the New Democrat Coalition.

Foreign policy

According to Congressional Quarterly, "In 2002, [Sanchez] voted against reviving fast-track procedures for congressional action on trade deals. And, coming from a district with one of the largest Vietnamese communities outside Vietnam, she voted against a trade agreement with Vietnam, saying that political and human rights conditions in that country needed improvement. Her outspokenness led the Hanoi regime to refuse to allow her into the country late in 2004 when she applied for an entry visa to meet with dissidents." ^[1] By April 2006, Sanchez had been denied a visa to visit Vietnam four times by the country's officials. ^[15]

Iraq

On October 10 2002, Loretta Sanchez was among the 133 members of the House who voted against authorizing the invasion of Iraq, but she has voted in favor of every appropriation bill for the war in Iraq. She opposed the troop surge in February 2007. ^[16]

Committee Assignments

• Armed Services Committee
  • Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee
  • Readiness Subcommittee
  • Military Personnel Subcommittee
• Homeland Security Committee
  • Subcommittee on Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism (Chair)
  • Subcommittee on Emergency Communications, Preparedness, and Response

Hispanic Caucus controversy

In February 2006, Sanchez withdrew from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus's political action committee, along with 5 other members, because the caucus chairman, Joe Baca, authorized political contributions to members of his family who were running for state and local offices in California. ^[17] Sanchez and other CHC members also claim that Baca was improperly elected chairman of the caucus in November 2006 because the vote failed to use secret ballots, as required in the group's bylaws. ^[18] On January 31 2007, Sanchez quit the CHC because she claimed that Baca repeatedly treated the group's female members with disrespect. Other female lawmakers have made the same complaint about Baca. ^[19] In the election for caucus chairman, only one female member of the 23-member Caucus voted to support Baca's candidacy. ^[20]

According to Sanchez and Hilda Solis, Baca also called Sanchez "a whore" when he was speaking to other lawmakers. ^{[17] [21]} Baca denied the charge. Politico.com reported that Sanchez claimed California Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez heard the comment from Baca and repeated it to Sanchez, yet Núñez claimed not to recall any such comment. ^[22] Sanchez, however, claimed after the article was published that she had never mentioned Núñez to Politico.com. ^[23]

Political ambitions

According to Roll Call, "Sanchez continues to give serious consideration to running for governor in 2010, as well as for the Senate, should Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA.) choose not to seek a fourth term." ^[24] In November 2005, she opened an exploratory committee called People for Loretta 2010. ^[25] Sanchez has been active in efforts to encourage Latinos to vote. She stated in a taped interview on www.SaberHacer.com [4], "I would just remind people that we have a very important thing in our nation – in the United States – one person, one vote. Those people who don’t show up to vote not only have no power, but they gave their power away to the people who did show up. So we need to show up and we need to vote." ^[26]

Notes

SaberHacer.com [5]

External links

• U.S. Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, U.S. House site
• Loretta Sanchez for U.S. Congress, U.S. campaign site

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Profile at Vote Smart
• SourceWatch Congresspedia — Loretta Sanchez profile
• Rep. Sanchez's 2004 Christmas card