A Matter of Perception : Activist Hernandez’s Work for Sanchez Still Under Scrutiny

He’s low-key and religious, sits on the Anaheim school board and volunteers for at least 20 community groups. Friends describe him as earnest and responsible, almost to a fault.

Benny Hernandez, they say, is as likely to encourage vote fraud as he is to rob a bank.

But attorneys for former Republican Rep. Robert K. Dornan paint a starkly different picture of the 40-year-old social worker. They describe Hernandez as an unscrupulous campaign staffer and the link between alleged illegal voting and the campaign of Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove).

Sanchez defeated Dornan last November by 984 votes, and Dornan complained that massive vote fraud cost him the election.

Several members of Congress investigating the election have taken Dornan’s charges seriously enough to mail questions about Hernandez’s role to seven people this month.

Most recipients were familiar names in the nearly yearlong dispute between the Dornan and Sanchez camps--including the candidates themselves, Sanchez’s campaign manager and chairman, and the leader of an immigrant rights group accused of registering noncitizens to vote.

But Benny Hernandez, little known outside a circle of community activists, stood out for his low public profile.

Sanchez campaign chairman Wylie A. Aitken says Hernandez was not a key strategist in the campaign and was far from being the No. 2 staffer Dornan’s attorneys characterize him.

The congressional task force has asked Hernandez 14 questions, including one regarding his purported relationship with an immigrant rights organization under criminal investigation for allegedly registering noncitizens to vote.

Hernandez said he had no relationship with the group, Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, during the campaign, although he respects its work.

Hernandez supporters said he should have had the opportunity to clear his name long ago, since the allegations were raised in April. They said the clouds hanging over Hernandez could have been cleared up months ago, if the committee had aggressively pursued the facts.

“Had they done their homework, they would have realized there is nothing to this,” said Alfredo Amezcua, who offered to represent Hernandez for free after reading about the contentions.

Several Latino community leaders said they were so offended by attacks on Hernandez that they paid for him to take a polygraph test last week. Hernandez said the test showed he was telling the truth. The results will be released at a news conference this morning.

“Benny is as straight as an arrow, and there was never any question in our minds about his character,” said Amin David, who helped organize the news conference. “We considered him worthy of our efforts.”

The allegations against Hernandez appear to be based entirely on a story told to the task force in April by Nelson Molina and his wife, Jana Carty. They testified Hernandez advised them to vote illegally as he was installing a campaign sign on their lawn shortly before the election. Molina was not a citizen. Carty said she already voted by mail but was told to vote again.

Hernandez and a church friend who was in his car at the time denied the story. They said Hernandez merely thanked the couple for allowing him to put up a sign for his school board campaign and said, “Remember to vote Nov. 5.”

Hernandez said the story could be connected to a job-related dispute Molina has with the Anaheim Unified School District, of which Hernandez is a board member. Molina conceded he has asked Hernandez for help in the matter and was refused but said there was no connection.

Dornan attorney William Hart also said Hernandez has evaded his questions. “Since April, we were unable to locate Benny Hernandez,” he said. “We staked out his house for three weeks to serve a subpoena [for a deposition at Hart’s office], and then he never showed.”

Hernandez denied he was hiding and said he was eager to give his side of the story, but his attorney, wasn’t available at the time Hart set. Amezcua said he asked for another date but “Hart never called me back.”

Hernandez, who is running for the Anaheim High School District board following a failed campaign for a seat last year, said he’s been mystified by all the fuss. “I don’t let it stress me out,” he said. “People who know me know I would never do something like this, and I know the truth will come out. I’m not a bit worried.”

The son of Mexican-born university graduates, Hernandez said he was raised in Norwalk in a devout Seventh-day Adventist home. “We did family worship every morning and evening,” said Hernandez, who later performed with his brothers in a church trio, the Little Angels.

“My culture was not a Mexican culture,” he said. “It was mainly a church culture.”

Hernandez said he spoke little Spanish before studying the language while attending Loma Linda University. But after graduation, he became involved with a number of Latino professional and community groups as he pursued a career in social work.

His volunteer activities range from mentoring Latino students to coaching parents through the Child Abuse Prevention Council of Orange County.

After he took a job in Anaheim in 1991 as a social worker, Hernandez joined Los Amigos of Orange County, a broad-based group of Latino activists who meet every Wednesday morning. He moved to Anaheim in 1995.

At a Los Amigos meeting, Hernandez met Loretta Sanchez, a political neophyte who was asking for support for a run for Anaheim City Council. Hernandez was running for the Anaheim elementary school board. He said he and Sanchez agreed to work together.

Sanchez lost her race; Hernandez won his.

The two kept in touch and attended leadership training classes through the United Way. Hernandez said when it became apparent that Dornan’s congressional seat was vulnerable, he was among those who encouraged Sanchez. “I told her then if she decided to run, I would commit to covering all of Anaheim for her,” he said.

For three months of Sanchez’s campaign, Hernandez worked as field director, organizing volunteers to walk precincts. He left a month before the election to concentrate on his own, ultimately failed, bid for the high school board.

He said he was shocked when his stint on the campaign was pulled into a congressional investigation six months after Sanchez’s narrow victory.

“I just hate to see them spending so much time on this,” Hernandez said. “There are other important national issues that Congress needs to focus on. That’s why they were elected, not to do this.”