U.S. congresswoman willing to yield in Playboy flap

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- A leading Democratic congresswoman said Friday she was willing to drop the Playboy mansion as the site of a planned Hispanic fund-raising event amid a pre-convention spat with her party's leadership over family values.

Sanchez said she picked the Playboy Mansion because it is a "high-profile venue"

But Democratic National Committee co-chairwoman Rep. Loretta Sanchez, also said if she were offered a new venue for the event Tuesday, it should have the "cachet" to draw donors and ensure "that we'll continue to be able to raise the money" to promote Hispanic participation in politics.

A hero to Democrats only four years ago when she beat a Republican hardliner, Sanchez said she was unphased by Party Chairman Joe Andrew's decision Thursday to remove her from her planned speaking role at next week's party convention in Los Angeles.

The more important thing is that her personal political action committee, Hispanic Unity USA, "will have a good event and they will be financially strong ... to empower people," said Sanchez, a lawmaker from California on the NBC Today program from Santa Ana, California.

Andrew, the Democratic national chairman, said on Thursday he was "sorely disappointed" with Sanchez's plan to hold the event at the mansion, the site of many Playboy centerfold shots, despite party entreaties that it would send the wrong message to families watching the convention.

Party presidential nominee Al Gore, who has tried to distance himself from sexual scandal associated with President Clinton, hopes to present an image of himself as a model parent at the convention.

"We have done everything we can and now we have no alternative but to take action," he said. "Loretta Sanchez will not be speaking at the Democratic National Convention next week."

Democratic sources said the party also was considering removing Sanchez from her leadership role at the Democratic National Committee unless she pulled the plug on the Playboy mansion event.

Committee members would have to vote on any bid to remove Sanchez as general co-chair of the Democratic National Committee, a position she holds together with Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer.

Sanchez said Thursday that Hispanic Unity had selected "a high-profile venue to highlight the important work" it is doing, and added that the event was sold out.

A Playboy spokeswoman said the organization was deeply disappointed.

"We are very saddened that it came to this, surprised and saddened. Portraying the mansion as a bad place is really a misinterpretation of what the mansion is," the spokeswoman said.

Spokeswoman Cindy Rakowitz said the mansion is used for events ranging from corporate parties to political fund-raisers. Over the years, it has staged events for "Rock the Vote," the National Women's Political Caucus, former California Gov. Jerry Brown and Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, both Democrats.

In a hotly contested race in 1996, Sanchez beat conservative Republican Bob Dornan for her Orange County congressional seat, and beat him again in 1998.

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