Caucus corrects Rohrabacher’s words

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher backpedaled Wednesday on comments he made this week that accused the Congressional Hispanic Caucus of lobbying to hold up a non-binding Congressional resolution calling on President Bush to pardon two Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a drug smugger in the buttocks.

The two men, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, are serving 11- and-12 year sentences for the shooting.

Rohrabacher, a co-sponsor of the resolution introduced by William Delahunt (D-Mass.), said Monday that he was disappointed that the bipartisan bill was going to be bottled up in committee.

But Rep. Joe Baca (D-Rialto), chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said in a prepared statement the Hispanic Caucus did not shelve the bill or anyone else.

“The CHC is not opposing or blocking this resolution,” he said. “This resolution has bipartisan support, was introduced by a Democrat, and has CHC members as cosponsors.

“It is very rare for any legislation to be brought to House floor for immediate consideration.”

Rohrabacher retracted his comments Wednesday — though not before bloggers and other concerned citizens inundated the office of the Hispanic Caucus with phone calls.

“There was a staffer that was talking about what was going on, and gave us a wrong analysis,” Rohrabacher said Wednesday.

“[The Caucus] contacted us to let us know that we did not accurately reflect their position, and I was very happy to hear that.”

“Sometimes Dana will be very emotional about things, and in this case he kind of decided to pass along information that we weren’t absolutely sure was the case,” said Tara Setmayer, the congressman’s spokeswoman. “The good news is that it’s not the case.”

For now, the resolution awaits review by the House Judiciary Committee, though no date has been set for the bill’s reading, according to the committee’s calendar.

CHRIS CAESAR may be reached at (714) 966-4626 or at chris.caesar@latimes.com.