The San Diego Democratic Club’s Women’s Caucus held their annual Women’s Event Sunday, Sept. 7, with featured guest speakers Democratic U.S. Representatives Loretta and Linda Sanchez.

The first time two sisters have served in the U.S. House of Representatives in Congressional history, Rep. Linda Sanchez joined her older sister Loretta in congress last November. Rep. Loretta Sanchez was elected to Congress in 1996, and was reelected to her fourth term last year. Both women have worked extensively for Latino and women’s

civil rights issues, education and employment opportunities, and economic development.

Rep. Linda Sanchez, who ran her sister’s re-election campaign, decided to run for Congress when district lines were reapportioned in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, creating a new congressional seat. The new district is in the southeastern corner of Los Angeles County and is 60 percent Latino. An attorney who has worked as a bilingual teacher, a labor leader and for Federal Judge Terry Hatter, she was frustrated with the

lack of strong Democratic leadership in government and decided to put her broad-based experience to political use.

Linda Sanchez now sits on the House Judiciary Committee, which deals with civil rights issues, including reproductive rights for women, immigration and racial profiling. She also sits on the Government Reform Committee, the Small Business committee, and the Immigration subcommittee. Until her appointment, she said, issues critical to the Latino population, such as immigration and racial profiling, were decided with no Latino representation. She stressed that there is still not enough Democratic, Latino and female representation in the House, making it increasingly tough to address minority issues and

protect civil rights legislation that has already passed.

“Imagine what it’s like to for us to go to work every morning knowing that no matter how intelligent our arguments, how well-reasoned our debate, or how much information we have that backs up and supports what we want to say, at the end of the day [Republicans in the House of Representatives] have more votes than we do. We get steamrolled on everything.”

“There is a big disconnection between California and what goes on in Washington DC,” she continued. “I’m convinced that if people knew what was really going on in Washington DC, Americans would be rioting in the streets. The [Bush] administration has pushed through some of the most awful pieces of legislation that are going to have lasting impact on women, seniors, minorities, the environment and the military. If we

don’t get active and redouble our efforts, we are going to see even worse things happen.”

Rep. Loretta Sanchez has an MBA and financial consulting background. She was elected to Congress at a time when there were no Democratic representatives in Orange County, and only a handful of female elected officials. She is now the highest-ranking woman on the Armed Services Committee and the third ranking person on the Homeland Security

Committee.

Emphasizing the importance of having women in leadership roles, she pointed out that many highly competent women forgo political positions because they do not see themselves as leaders. “I think it is a generational thing; we’ve never had a woman hold these kinds of [political] positions before,” she said. “And every day, [older male members] cannot believe that I am the one who gets to set the agenda.”

Winning her campaign by 984 votes, she drove home the point that every volunteer, donation and voter is necessary if the Democratic Party is to regain and maintain political power. “If you think that you don’t matter when you decide to take the time to help a candidate, you do matter,” she said. During her 1996 election campaign, every member of the campaign staff except for one administrative coordinator was an unpaid volunteer. Many of her supporters felt bad that they could only donate small amounts of money. “You cannot understand how important those donations were to our campaign.” she said. “It’s the little things — the $30 checks, the contact with the voters, the volunteers knocking on doors. A million dollars [in total campaign expenditure], and it all came down to 984 votes.”

With the Governor Davis recall election exactly a month away, Linda Sanchez offered words of encouragement to the many volunteers and activists present, which were also words of warning. “What you do here has tremendous impact,” she said. “You need to keep working even harder. I know it gets tough, because you’re the foot soldiers,

but now is not the time to rest and leave the work to somebody else. It is time to redouble our efforts and send a clear message to the Republicans that they can’t come messing in our backyards and expect to leave unscathed.”

The San Diego Democratic Club’s Women’s Caucus holds periodic gatherings for women only, including the annual Women’s Event, which features different celebrity figures each year. For more information, see this story on the Gay and Lesbian Times web site at www.gaylesbiantimes.org and click on the web link.