It’s time again for Take Five, when HOH  talks with a member of Congress about topics relatively unrelated to legislative work.  

This week, Rep. Linda T. Sánchez talks about her family, baseball and her favorite movie.  

Q: You grew up in a family of seven. What’s that like? A. Do you watch “Game of Thrones”? [Laughs.] It’s sort of “Game of Thrones”-esque in that we’re always shifting alliances based on what people are trying to get, or what they wanted or needed. So you might be allied with one of your brothers or sisters one day on one thing, and one day you might be fighting them over something. I think it’s good preparation for life in Washington.  

Q: Is there any sibling rivalry between you and your sister, Rep. Loretta Sanchez? A: We always have a little bit of sibling rivalry. … I tease Loretta because she got here first. She’s got seniority. I always tease people when I talk about us and say she is my much, much, much, older sister. She hates when I say that.  

And one year … I got a piece of mail sent to my office, addressed to me from AARP asking if I wanted to become a member. I was, like, really offended because I was 36 or 37, so instead I put a sticky note on it and sent it up to Loretta’s office and it said, “Clearly this piece of mail was mis-delivered and belongs to you.” [Laughs.] I don’t think she appreciated it.  

Q: As a baseball fan from Southern California, who do you support: Dodgers or Angels? This causes me great pain. It grieves me because I grew up in Anaheim, and when I was a kid we went to Angels games and we cheered for the Angels through every losing season. We cheered for the Angels through every series where it looked like they were going to clinch the pennant, and in the last series of the year they’d choke and end up not winning the pennant. But then they sent Nolan Ryan packing to the Astros and I became a Dodgers fan and never looked back. Now I’m Dodgers all the way.  

Q: Do you have a favorite book or author? A: I know this is really nerdy, but we read “Moby Dick” in high school and I’m a really big “Moby Dick” fan. I know that’s, like, really old school. I read so much, and like many different genres. … I know I’m reading a good book when it makes me laugh out loud, like cackle, and people look at me like a crazy woman. There was a book that did that to me recently and I can’t remember what it was. Books to me are kind of like chewing gum, you read them and extract all the flavor, then you set them aside and don’t think about them ever again.  

Q: I heard that you have a favorite movie. A: I have many, but if someone put a gun to my head and asked me it would most definitely be — well, it’s either “Nacho Libre” or “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.”… [Staffer Jeff Sanchez] and I are sick in that we’ll quote “Nacho Libre” lines to each other in the office when I’m having a bad day. … It’s like a classic. It’s hilarious end to end. The references to Mexican culture, they make it hilarious.

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