Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez being investigated by the House ethics committee

Raise your hands if you are being investigated by the House Ethics Committee!

Now that Judy Chu has defeated Gil Cedillo in a heavily Latino congressional district, is Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez in trouble as she is not only facing GOP Assemblyman Van Tran, but now appears to have an ethics problem?

“According to Roll Call, “the House ethics committee is reviewing whether the chamber’s rules were broken when Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.) put three of Rep. Loretta Sanchez’s (D-Calif.) aides on her own payroll in late 2006 because of a budget shortfall in her sister’s office.” More here (registration required),” according to the L.A. Times.

In related news, a former Sanchez staffer named “Caroline Valdez admitted in federal court Monday that she used Sanchez’s House credit card to buy airline tickets for herself and a family member and get pizza and groceries delivered,” according to the AP.

There is more to this story, “The 27-year-old Arlington resident also admitted that she forged Sanchez’s signature to get $6,000 in bonus salary and inflated the cost of taxicab fare she actually paid to get greater reimbursement.”

The news is not all bad for Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez.  Apparently her name is on the short list to replace Janet Napolitano as Homeland Security Secretary, in case Napolitano gets appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, according to the “Swing State Project.”

Obviously, if Napolitano gets picked to replace Justice David Souter, and Sanchez replaces Napolitano, that would clear the path for Tran to replace her in the 47th Congressional District – but it would then become a free for all on the Democratic side with many established names going for the seat, possibly including “State Senator Luis Correa, Santa Ana mayor Miguel Pulido, and State Assembly Member Jose Solorio.”

By the way, Congresswoman Sanchez endorsed Chu over Cedillo.  Good move in retrospect?