Pubdate:  September 24, 1997
Source:   Los Angeles Times Letters & Opinion
Contact:        2132374712

Hernandez's Plan to Return to Council Seat

We "Stand Tall With Hernandez,"
by Fabian Nunez and Juan  Jose Gutierrez, Commentary, Sept. 24:

   The problem that L.A. City Councilman Mike Hernandez
grapples with is not illness, but lack of character. Any city or state
employee would be fired for the same behavior. This man is an
elected official who sets an ugly, morally bankrupt example, and to
excuse him because you share his political ideology is utterly
selfserving.

   I am sure there are many honest, nondrugusing individuals who
could effectively serve as a representative of his current district.
Rather than supporting Hernandez, his constituents should be calling
for his resignation and searching for a replacement who possesses
character and sound judgment.

   MARTE AMATO
   Huntington Beach

         * * *

   I live in the 1st District and Hernandez is my councilman. I,
also, deeply regret that Mike made the same mistake that millions of
Americans have made, and became a user of cocaine. But he
deserves a second chance to prove that he can rehabilitate himself.

 It is wonderful to know that so many people in the district are so
perfect that they can scream for his resignation. I want him to
continue as my councilman because he has been good and caring
about the district and its problems. He has fought harder for the
district and its people than anyone has fought for a very long time.
You folks who are howling for blood do not speak for me!

   MARCIA D. KELLOTAT
   Los Angeles

         * * *

   To consider allowing Hernandez to return to his post indicates
that we, as a community, still have not come to terms with the sad
reality and consequences of drug abuse. Drug abuse affects the
addict's community, friends and family in painfully direct ways. An
addict lies and cheats and eventually steals to support a habit, no
matter how wealthy or poor, public or private he is. The desires and
needs of an addict supersede any momentary question of morality,
virtue or compassion toward family, friends or community.
Addiction does not happen overnight, it is a result of longstanding
emotional conflicts that the user unsuccessfully tries to conceal
through drug use.

   The compassion and support Hernandez has received in his
decision to enter a drug rehabilitation program are commendable,
but we should not forget how he got there, with the prospect of a
felony and jail time hanging over his head.

   VICTORIA CASASCO
   Venice

PERSPECTIVE ON LOS ANGELES
Hernandez Must Step Aside

The councilman's cocaine addiction has undermined his ability to represent
the special needs of the 1st District.

By FRANK DEL OLMO

When Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Hernandez first ran for public
office in 1986, I took an immediate liking to him and wrote that he
was "in the truest sense of the words, a community leader." I still
feel that way, which is why I was happy to learn that he has begun
treatment for the cocaine addiction that led to his recent arrest.
But that is also why I've come to the conclusion that he must resign
from office. It is the only way to close a sad episode that has
troubled and embarrassed his constituents as much as it humiliated
him. Last week, Hernandez made his first public comments regarding
his arrest for cocaine possession on Aug. 21.

He apologized to his City Hall colleagues and his 1st District
constituents, but also expressed a determination to beat his addiction
and remain in office. The councilman said he will return to work Oct. 7.
Later, when he is due to be arraigned in court, Hernandez will plead
guilty to cocaine possession. As a firsttime offender, he will ask for
a courtordered referral into a drug treatment program. A final judgment
against him would then be deferred until he completes
rehabilitationanywhere from 18 to 36 months.

Hernandez considers his dependency on cocaine and alcohol an illness,
and said the recent deaths of his mother and an uncle pushed him over
the edge. "I chose inappropriate ways to deal with my grief and stress,"
he added. It was a classy and courageous performance. It reminded me of
the briskly efficient businessman Hernandez once was and could easily be
once again if he steps away from the harsh and unforgiving light of
political life. It is easy to forget the younger Hernandez, especially
now that local TV has broadcast the grainy videotapes undercover police
made of the councilman before his arrestshuffling into darkened alleys
to buy cocaine, then apparently snorting it in the front seat of his
city car. The younger Hernandez was quite a guy. He had a successful
bail bond company, was active in the Jaycees and even helped organize
the annual Lincoln Heights Christmas parade.

When he first ran for the Assembly, Hernandez was a refreshing contrast
to so many other candidates for public office then emerging on the
Eastside. They were mostly uninspiring hacksclones of career
politicians they slavishly served as staffers. Few had even held jobs in
the private sector, much less run a business. Despite being a political
neophyte in 1986, Hernandez almost beat Richard Polanco, then an aide to
City Councilman Richard Alatorre and now a state senator. Hernandez
finally won public office in 1991, when he was elected to finish the
City Council term of Gloria Molina after she was elected to the county
Board of Supervisors. Since then Hernandez has established a track
record as one of the hardest working members of the council and a
staunch advocate for the poor and workingclass residents of his
innercity district and the needy throughout Los Angeles.

I have rarely disagreed with any stance Hernandez has taken in all that
time, but must do so now. Because the issue underlying the controversy
over Hernandez's future is the abuse of illegal drugs. And that one
overarching problem is arguably at the root of most of the other
problems facing Hernandez's 1st District. Think for a moment about all
the problems associated with the socalled inner city: violence, theft
and other property crimes, the lack of jobs and economic opportunity.
Almost every one can be traced, at least in part, to the scourge of
illegal drugs. Under the circumstances, it is little wonder that
Hernandez's arrest so discombobulated his constituents. They looked to
him to be part of the solution and found he was part of the problem.

A small part of a very big problem, to be sure. Perhaps even a largely
blameless part of it. But as terrible as the inner demons were that
drove Hernandez to cocaine, they have not driven all the other residents
of his district to drug abuse. And if the death of loved ones was
especially painful for him, then what of the pain of those Angelenos who
have lost loved ones to drug overdoses (as I have) or to drugrelated
gang violence? And what of Hernandez's constituents who, almost
inevitably, will lose loved ones to drugs in the future?

Can they look with real confidence to a city representative while
wondering if he is still clean? I am not suggesting that Hernandez can
no longer be a leader in his community. He can be and should be. At the
very least, his own rehabilitation can inspire others trying to fight
their way out of druginduced hells. But in this particular case, in
this particular district, I see no way a man who has undermined his term
in public office through drug addiction can be truly effective as a
councilman. Hernandez would do his district and himself a favor by
stepping aside with the same courage and candor he admirably displayed
last week.

Frank Del Olmo is Assistant to the Editor of The Times and a Regular
Columnist

Copyright Los Angeles Times