Just Call Me Moe

“Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.” — Frederic Bastiat

Yesterday Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (D-CA 47) mocked Tea Party supporters and people from the south during a radio interview with talk show host Stephanie Miller. During the interview Sanchez, accompanied by hardy laughter by Miller, mocked Congressional Tea Party Republicans as slow for caring about the Constitution (with bigoted southern accent!) calling them Moe. I wonder how she would react to someone putting on a false Mexican accent and calling her Juanita.

Loretta Sanchez during an interview on the Stephanie Miller Show

This is not unusual for Sanchez. I know her and have worked with her on a Congressional issue. But first a little background on our Latina Congresswoman. Sanchez was born in 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 with Booz Allen Hamilton until entering the House.

In 1994, Sanchez ran unsuccessfully as a moderate Republican for the Anaheim City Council under her then married name, Loretta Brixey. This is when Loretta teamed up with Tom Daly the Mayor of Anaheim and a paid lobbyist by my firm to assist us in obtaining work from the Orange County Transportation Agency. Eventually Daly became her campaign manager for her run for Congress.

Loretta was an ambitious young girl who wanted to rise in Orange County politics, but the chairman of the Orange County Republican Committee, Tom Fuentes, would not allow a woman with little experience to challenge his favorite, Bob Dornan a loyal Reaganite, in a primary.

In 1996, Sanchez changed parties and ran as a moderate Democrat in the 46th District against 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, making Sanchez the first American of Mexican heritage 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; but the probe was dropped before these affidavits could be 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.

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. During that redistricting process, Sanchez hired lobbyist Michael S. Berman, brother of California Democratic Congressman Howard Berman, for "redistricting consulting" on her behalf. She paid Berman $20,000 for his work. In 2006, she defeated perennial candidate Tan D. Nguyen (R) with 62% of the vote.

In September 2010, Loretta Sanchez appeared on the Spanish language network, Univisión and said that "the Vietnamese and the Republicans are — with an intensity — trying to take away this seat", referring to her Vietnamese-born opponent, Van Tran. Sanchez also described Tran as "anti-immigrant". I guess Loretta is more racist than a thought.

In November 2010, Roll Call and the Orange County Register reported Loretta's engagement to retired Army Colonel Jack Einwechter currently a lawyer practicing in Washington, D.C. Sanchez, 50, was previously married for 14 years to stock broker Stephen Brixey; the couple split in 2004.

I first met Loretta in 1998 while I was working with the NGS on the National Height Modernization Plan. I was having trouble finding a member of Congress who would champion the plan and was in my home county. Tom Daly suggested Loretta Sanchez. The first time I met Loretta was in her office in Garden Grove, California. It was the Saturday of the annual Orange County Strawberry Festival. Loretta was wearing a low cut red dress and had been out all day meeting and greeting her constituents.

When Loretta walked in and Tom introduces me the first thing out of her mouth was that she had an argument with the Bishop of the Orange County Diocese over abortion (she was pro-choice) and said “the son of a bitch just doesn’t get it.” Suffice it to say I was a bit shocked, but I bit my lounge and let her ramble on about the Bishop. Loretta proclaims to be a Roman Catholic — probably to garner votes from her Hispanic constituents.

After she settled down I briefed on the Height Mod Plan and the challenges I was facing. She agreed to give me some help, which she did, and I thanked her. Before I left she informed me that it was against the law to ask for campaign donations in a congressional office. I go the message loud and clear and went home and immediately wrote a $250.00 check to her campaign fund.

Over the next two years I met with Loretta several times in her Longworth House Office Building office. She was always cordial and said she understood the plights of the private sector. After each meeting I received an envelope in the mail and sent her another check.

I was a bit surprised and dismayed to hear her comments on the radio. While not agreeing with her left-leaning politics I always thought she was not a radical bomb throwing lefty like her Congresswoman sister Linda. She was active with he military community and strong on defense. Her left-wing showed through on domestic policies and spending.

For her to make such a statement about the freshmen members of Congress demonstrates a complete lack of respect and a bit of racism against those she does not agree with. It’s a wonder she did not call them a collective bunch of sons of bitches.

This is just another example of the s called “civility” Obama called for in Tucson. It is how the left is now demonizing those with a different view of government than they have. After all they are so much smarter than the rest of us poor peasants in the hinterlands. Again it’s an example of the Alinsky tactics they use today. Mock and demonize your opponent.

It’s a good thing I am no longer involved with the political side of the work I was doing as I would have been tempted to call her and let her know the checks were stopping. I would have told her that I was one of those Tea Party Moe’s who believed in the Constitution and was working hard to keep 850 people gainfully employed and I guess that was worth ridiculing. Loretta, shame on you!