LORETTA SANCHEZ

Loretta Sanchez is truly representing her constituency, a rare phenomenon in Congress (“Ms. Sanchez Goes to Washington,” by Gregg Zoroya, July 13). This tiny, energetic woman has become a heroine to her constituents.

Earlier this year, Sanchez and a bilingual NASA astronaut visited Diamond Elementary School in Santa Ana. My second-grade class and all of the school’s students were very touched by the visit. Afterward, some students talked about going into space; others said they wanted to go to Washington. That visit encouraged our students to dream and to strive toward achieving those dreams.

Claire Blevins

Huntington Beach

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Sanchez is not in the same league as the Jimmy Stewart character in the film “Mr. Smith goes to Washington.” She has lowered the tone considerably. She might think it’s cute to call the vice president “Al,” but cute does not cut it for someone supposed to be setting a good example for American children.

As a feminist, I never thought I’d jump to the defense of Newt Gingrich, but Sanchez’s comments about his physique were inappropriate and irrelevant. If a man had described a woman representative in physical terms, Sanchez would be the first to call him sexist.

I wasn’t a Bob Dornan fan, but couldn’t we do better than this?

Martha Hartley

H[email protected]

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Like many Southern Californians, I popped the champagne cork upon hearing that Dornan had at last been defeated, even though I am not a member of his constituency. Frankly, he made all Southern Californians look bad.

But Sanchez apparently has been so unnerved by Dornan’s adolescent antics and their effect on her reelection chances that she seems to be allowing her votes to be influenced more by her critics than by her constituents.

On the day of your reporter’s visit, Sanchez--rather than making a concerned effort to represent the feelings and opinions of those she represents--was busy impressing corporate lobbyists while loyal campaign workers waited in vain for a chance to spend a minute with the woman they helped elect. Later that same day, as she took a call from another constituent who wanted to discuss some proposed legislation, Sanchez pretended to be a member of the office staff in order to avoid talking to the woman.

That is not the down-to-earth, accessible person Orange County voters elected.

Celeste S. Rothstein

Lakewood

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As a liberal Democrat dug in behind the Orange Curtain, I’m distressed to learn that Sanchez’s “job,” as it were, is focused on gaining reelection. That’s Dornan’s game. It’s what professional pols do--stay in office at all costs. As the lone Democrat elected to Congress from Orange County, Sanchez should not so quickly adopt the goal of her tormentor.

She shouldn’t be voting for a House resolution she believes is wrong because her “constituents might not understand how, to her, the bill violated a fundamental principle.” By doing so, she surrenders her responsibility as a representative to educate constituents and slanders the cognitive capacity of her electors. Continued behavior of this sort will lead an authentic Democrat to challenge Sanchez in the 1998 primary, to say nothing of the onslaught awaiting her from the county’s GOP establishment.

It seems that beyond the pedestrian ambition of getting reelected, Sanchez is interested in little else. A pity! Voters in the 46th sent her to Congress to do more than lobby for a ride on the space shuttle.

Mark P. Petracca

Professor of Political Science

UC Irvine