LHHS Grad Gabriel Sanchez Puts Wits to Work for Embattled Governor
[Note: This is a pre-edited version of a story which appeared in the August 25, 2003 edition of The La Habra Journal]
Gabriel Sanchez has tasted electoral defeat at least twice in his life, and as a professional political consultant, he has only one thing to say about the experience: It hurts.
"It's not like sports," says Sanchez, a former La Habra cross country standout. "There's no 'next week.'You invest so much time with so many people into something you believe in and then it's suddenly over. You've lost. It kicks you in the gut."
As a chief spokesperson for Stop the Costly Recall, the emergency campaign launched by the same people who orchestrated the 2002 reelection of Governor Gray Davis, Sanchez knows the horrible feeling could strike a third time on October 7. That's the day California voters go back to the polls to decide whether or not to carry out the first successful recall of a sitting governor in state history.
Then again, October 7 is still six weeks away, and if Sanchez has learned anything besides the agony of defeat in his 10 year political career (15 years if you count back-to-back terms as sophomore and junior class president at La Habra), it's that a lot can happen in six weeks.
Sanchez points to his first professional campaign, congresswoman Jane Harmon's 1998 bid for the California Democratic party's gubernatorial nomination. "My first week on that campaign was the high," says Sanchez, recalling Harmon's initial commanding lead in a three-way battle against businessman Al Checchi and then-Lt. Gov. Gray Davis.
Within a few weeks the commanding lead had become a humiliating loss.
"Once the union support for Davis started to kick, you could see the poll numbers steadily drop," Sanchez recalls. "It was tough those last two weeks when you look at the polls and there's no movement ever."
Sanchez says the memory of primary election night, June 1998 still aches.
"I went through all the stages of grief afterward: anger, denial, whatever," Sanchez says. "I still haven't quite made it to acceptance, though."
Fortunately, his performance as a campaign aide willing to put in 16 hour workdays attracted plenty of attention in the opposing camp. When the Davis team began building up for the final showdown against Republican candidate Dan Lungren, Sanchez got the call.
"In politics they say it's not what you know but who you know," Sanchez says, looking back on what has now become a six year tenure with the governor's office. "I think it's both, actually. You have to have some talent and some school, but it also helps to know people. It's like "Goodfellas." You build a rep, and if someone can vouch for you, you're in."
Though always blessed with the gift of gab, Sanchez says he never thought seriously of a political career until his final two years at Cal State Fullerton. Until then, he said, he'd been licking his wounds over another heartbreaking loss, this time during his junior year when he failed to parlay his success as a sophomore and junior class president into an FDR-like third term as president of the entire student body.
"I think I lost by two votes," Sanchez says, recalling the 1988 loss to classmate Mark Robson. "I know because I made sure they recounted it twice. I now know how Mr. Al Gore feels."
In college, Sanchez admits to taking the slow road both in terms of personal discovery and landing a bachelor's degree. Midway through his collegiate career, however, he encountered a classmate who put an end to his lackadaisical ways.
"We met during a political science class that I didn't attend very much," Sanchez recalls. "During the whole time I was sitting in class, this girl giving me all these harsh stares. With my ego, I thought she had the hots for me. As it turned out, I'd taken her seat without knowing it."
A post-class conversation with the irked but attractive classmate led to a "finagled phone number." By summer, the two were friends. By fall, they were dating. The reignition of Sanchez's political career shortly followed. After a series of campus campaigns, Washington D.C. internships and graduate school study, the couple married in 2000. Sanchez and his wife Janina now live in Fullerton with their dog Buster, Sanchez commuting to his job at the Governor's campaign office in Los Angeles, Janina commuting to Claremont Graduate University, where she is currently pursuing a doctorate in international relations.
"We're both wonks but in two different fields," Sanchez says with a laugh. "I wouldn't be able to do this job without her support, though. She's been a saint.
As far as future career aspirations, Sanchez sees himself staying within state politics for the near future. Though the urge to try his hand in a national campaign is strong, Sanchez, in a recent interview with the Orange County Register revealed that his current "idols" are state Democratic party operatives Garry South and Kam Kuwata.
"They both have a depth and breadth of experience that's incredible," Sanchez says. "I'm on the phone with one of those two at least once a day, asking for advice."
For the moment, however, Sanchez's thoughts and skills are focused on one task: beating back the attempt to unseat his current boss and staving off that sickening "kick in the gut" feeling come October 7.
"I've had my ear to a phone all day," says Sanchez, whose quick wit and no-nonsense interviewing style have made him one of the most frequently quoted voices in the California political scene during the last month. "You look at it as, 'All right, we've got to beat this thing back.' We can do it."
Sam Williams is a freelance writer. His email address is sam@inow.com
Copyright © 2003 Sam Williams. Verbatim copying and redistribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium as long as this notice is preserved.