I just received the pamphlet from US Rep Loretta Sanchez entitled “Un líder con raíces en nuestra comunidad..” (A leader with roots in our community – her original emphasis) : this is a four-page pamphlet.
And I also saw the video in which she is riding the red pick-up truck.
And ONE THING IS OBVIOUS IN BOTH OF THEM . . . Rep Loretta Sanchez consistently FAILS TO mention that she is a Democrat. (She seems to be throwing the Democratic Party “under the bus”, same as when she threw President Obama under the bus, in her recent interview, saying that the President’s policies are not helping her.)
It is as if she is afraid of being a Democrat or afraid of running on her record as a Democrat.
Being a supporter of US Rep Sanchez for many years, I write everything below with mixed emotions and a heavy heart, and I encourage others to keep an open mind and to look at the facts as you do so, and not be swayed only by party label or slogans, or by “party loyalty”.
PART I:
I call this “Loretta Sanchez – (D) Matrix Evolution” and this is how she has evolved, I think depending on the political winds that suit her needs.
1) She started as – a Republican
2) She then ran as – a Democrat
3) She then called herself – a “Blue Dog” Democrat – (whatever that truly means)
4) She Now refers to herself as – the “Independent Voice”
This and her recent performances seem to me as if she is a:
(D) moralized & (D) isappearing Democrat
(D) efeated & (D) istracted Democrat
(D) ivisive- when she recently had to apologize for implying this was a fight between the Latino & Vietnamese community
(D) etached & (D) isconnected from the community
(D) eaf – as to how to improve the community
This makes her past supporters feel:
(D)-isillusioned
(D) isenchanted
Case in point about being (D)eaf and (D)isconnected from the community:
1) Most of her financial supporters and other special interests are from outside our district. Remember the “Golden Rule” – he who has the Gold Makes the Rules. So, if the bulk of her financial supporters that are providing her with the “Gold” are from outside the district, “Ask yourself who is she most likely to represent, and who has she been representing?”
2) There was a recent forum that was described as an opportunity for the Latino Community to communicate the issues that affect the community to a panel made up of local elected or civic leaders. US Rep Loretta Sanchez was the Master of Ceremonies, and participating was for example, Santa Ana Council members Claudia Alvarez, Michelle Martinez; SAC President; Teresa Saldivar – Santa Ana businesswoman. The panel participants dutifully shared their perspectives as to what they are doing to improve the community. But then it came time for the Panel and for US Rep Sanchez to hear from the community/participants. She then took a question or two and then said she had to go. She selected a member, the new chancellor to take questions. But the main reason for the participants attending was for US Rep Sanchez TO HEAR FROM THE COMMUNITY. She denied the community the opportunity to be heard…somewhat of a “bait and switch”. The Community provided Rep Sanchez a “photo opportunity”, but she did not stay to hear from the community. You could see and feel the dissatisfaction from the participants. This disenchantment was also talked about in the Los Amigos of Orange County meeting.
3) Several local leaders have been asking to meet with Rep Sanchez for over a year, and yet she has refused to meet with them. They might get an audience, now that election is around the corner…but this is a maybe.
PART II:
4) Rep Sanchez website & her brochure:
a) At her website, she says that Homeland Security is “priority number one”
b) In her brochure, she says “Job creation is Loretta Sanchez’s number one priority…”
Which is it? These sound more like empty slogans that came out from a focus group or from a polling result.
Furthermore per her website and past record or lack of:
5) She has failed to address and lacks a firm commitment to our nation’s out of control and the ballooning National Debt of over $66 Trillion.
6) She lacks a firm commitment for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, and seems that she only become a co-sponsor of the DREAM Act after several years of being pressured and did so because Cecilia Iglesias, Independent is a strong supporter and with a firm commitment to address the issue of undocumented immigration.
7) She lacks a firm commitment and a plan on dealing with the ballooning and out of control military spending, which doubled from 2000-2010…times that she has been in Congress.
8) She lacks a firm commitment and a plan to maintain the Fiscal viability of Social Security and Medicare largest components of National Debt ($46 Trillion).
9) Again, on the Economy and Jobs, she lacks a firm commitment and a plan to deal with this.
10) On Education – she also lacks a firm commitment. At her website she touts the “U.S. and the World Education Act (H.R. 3359)” which she sponsored on July 20, 2009. And which is intended “To raise achievement in international education in elementary schools and secondary schools through grants to improve teacher competency and to support programs in international education that supplement core curricula in such schools, and for other purposes.”
What she fails to mention is that this has been sent to committee. According to Govtrack.us, “Committees are like ‘mini Congresses’. Most bills begin by being considered by one or several congressional committees which may ‘report’ the bill favorably or unfavorably to the Senate or House as a whole allowing it to receive consideration by the full body and move forward, or may fail to consider a bill at all preventing the bill from moving forward. Most bills never receive any committee consideration and are never reported out. House bills start in House committees and enter Senate committees only after being passed by the House and received by the Senate, and similarly for Senate bills . . . Information on committee proceedings is notoriously opaque: committees vary in what information they make public and often do not provide basic public information such as the results of votes electronically or in an understandable format. Furthermore, if your Member of Congress does not sit on any committee relevant to this bill, you generally have no opportunity to voice your opinion on the bill while the bill is receiving its most important consideration.”
As far as I know, Rep Sanchez does not sit in this important committee that would help move this bill forward.
11) On Democracy and human rights. At her website, Rep Sanchez says that she is for democracy and human rights, and “Nowhere is this more evident than in Loretta’s work as a champion of religious freedom and free speech in Vietnam.” But how should we consider her record, and her single-minded focus on Vietnam at the expense at other tragic issues happening closer to home at our doorstep. Since 1998 about 5,000 people have died attempting to cross the US/Mexico border; about 115 of this are considered human rights abuses, including 14 deaths by US border patrol (I am not suggesting that the US border patrol has done something wrong, but merely that this high number needs to be scrutinized closely), and vigilantes and other intentional killings, in additional to the International condemnation by Mexico and other Latin American countries.”
Vietnam needs to be considered, especially as many Americans gave their lives in defending freedom for the Vietnamese community, but this should not be at the expense of ignoring other important human rights issues.
12) Healthcare. If we all recall, it seems that US Rep Sanchez had to be pressed into supporting healthcare reform, but did not fully endorse or work to make the Public Option a reality, which would have been true reform.
All these above seem to be “Promises Made, but Promises not Kept.
But if you are thinking that Assemblyman Van Tran would be a good alternative, think again.
Consider his weak record and poor performance. Our 47th Congressional District needs fresh ideas and a fresh perspective . . . and a true INDEPENDENT Candidate! And I will be giving Cecilia Iglesias very strong consideration. I know many of you are thinking that a vote for Cecilia Iglesias is a vote for Van Tran. No, this is not the case. I know a vote for Ceci is a vote for Ceci and for our district.
Imagine the following – In this race I consider this race as what happened with the tragedy of the sinking of the Titanic:
Rep Sanchez is at the helm of the powerful and mighty Titanic; Assemblyman Van Tran is the Iceberg that will bring down any ship; and Cecilia Iglesias is in the tiny small life-boat that is providing an opportunity for those that will come on board!
This DUMB, Loretta is stealing Cecilia’s line. Cecilia Iglesias is our Independent Voice in Washington D.C. Loretta knows she is sinking; why aren’t you original; why are you stealing Cecilia’s line.
I will vote for Independent Candidate Cecilia Iglesias!
I live in the 47th, and I know my representative. Sanchez originally ran as a Democrat for city council in Anaheim and she continues to be a Democrat. She is a Blue Dog, which means she looks at how to balance the federal budget. She voted for the 1997 Balanced Budget Requirement and recently (through the Blue Dogs) was able to reinstate PayGo as a requirement in Congress. This means you either have to cut spending or raise monies to pay for anything you want to fund in the Congress.
She sits on the committees to do military and homeland security-and she has done a great job. Under her chairmanship of the Terrorism committee she has brought jobs to local, innovative hi-tech firms in Orange County. The universiteis and hi tech and medical tech companies sing her praises.
She’s responsible for all the additional funding of Head Start since 2000 and she continues to push for more education funds, including the new GI bill which can be used by military or their spouse or their kids. When local vets were not getting their GI benefits this past year because the Veterans Admin was slow, she made a beeline to the Administrator with a letter signed by many of her colleagues and in 2 days the monies began to flow to the Vets. I know, I was one of them.
She has pushed to increase Pell Grants, streamline the new student loan program, and has funded nursing programs with Santa Ana Community College and local hospitals.
Her US and World Education Act is actually already inserted into the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which was held up for reauthorization this year because the Healthcare Reform took so long. But ESEA will be the first bill the Education Committee takes up in the new Congress. She happens to be good friends with George Miller -the Education Chairman.
Sanchez lobbied and received the $2.2B from President Obama for the new High Speed Rail to go from Anaheim to San Francisco in 2.5 hours. The jobs will start flowing next year, as soon as the final engineering is done. She was the first to embrace the Groundwater Replenishment System. This is where we flush, clean the water, insert it in our water table underground, and drink it 3 years later. This means our area of OC will not be fighting for limited water from the Colorado River or the Sacramento Delta.
She not only wanted a Public Option, but she authored an op-ed which ran in local and national news media explaining why she was for a public option and urging her colleagues to vote for it.
Sanchez is effective, and a very hard worker. She has senority, connections, friends in the Congress. And she’s smart-just ask her former prefessors from Chapman University. That’s what it takes to get things done for us. When times are tough, we need a tough leader. Not inexperience or the “no’ mantra. We send people to Congress to get things done. Sanchez does just that! And she does it for her hometown of Orange County.
@ 47th Resident:
1) “Sanchez originally ran as a Democrat for city council in Anaheim and she continues to be a Democrat. “
Are you implying she never ran as a Republican?
2) “She was able to reinstate PayGo as a requirement in Congress. This means you either have to cut spending or raise monies to pay for anything you want to fund in the Congress.”
Read the “Farce of PayGo”- which allows Congress to claim they are fiscally responsible, when they can still engage in massive uncontrolled spending. Both Republicans and Democrats have failed to control this spending.
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/03/06/congress-exploits-loopholes-in-pay-as-you-go-law/
3) “She sits on the committees to do military and homeland security.”
The military budgets have doubled in uncontrolled spending, putting the nation at risk. US military spending is greater than all the budgets of the world’s militaries combined. She should have used her position to engage in smart, controlled military spending. This is what Secretary of Defense Bob Gates is pushing for, but is constrained by Congress.
4) This blanket war on “Terrorism” needs focus and definition; otherwise you are using a shotgun to attempt to hit a fly…with a whole lot of collateral damage, which includes our civil liberties and personal security.
5) “Her US and World Education Act is actually already inserted into the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which was held up for reauthorization this year because the Healthcare Reform took so long. But ESEA will be the first bill the Education Committee takes up in the new Congress.”
You make my point. She made it sound like she accomplished an Education bill, when in fact she did NOT, and has NOT.
6) “She not only wanted a Public Option, but she authored an op-ed which ran in local and national news media explaining why she was for a public option and urging her colleagues to vote for it.”
Apparently, on October 13, 2009 she wrote an op-ed piece in support of a “public option”; but on October 29, 2009 she was reported to be opposed to a “robust public option” http://totalbuzz.ocregister.com/2009/10/29/poll-house-health-plan-has-public-option-agree/24123/
So she said one thing, but in reality when it come down to it, she was walking away from an actual “robust” public option, and was arguing for something different.
7) “Sanchez is effective, and a very hard worker. She has senority, connections, friends in the Congress.”
You are arguing for Seniority, Connections and friends in the Congress. Unfortunately, this seniority, connections and friends in congress (which includes lobbyists) are not doing a great job for the district or the nation. Most incumbents have gotten to be a little too comfortable in “their” position, and are forgetting their base and the significant issues at hand.
8) You also left out a concrete discussion on:
a) immigration reform;
b) tackling the uncontrolled spending and the National Debt which is also putting the nation at risk; and
c) left out a concrete discussion on how Social Security and Medicare will be paid for.