Hernandez Question Splits Angry Council

Los Angeles City Council members traded unusually angry public attacks Friday--including charges of racism--after two council members called on their colleague Mike Hernandez to resign.

Council members Laura Chick and Mike Feuer said Thursday that they believe Hernandez should step down because his arrest on a felony charge of possession of cocaine has undermined public trust in City Hall. On Friday, both council members introduced motions to amend the City Charter so that any future council member who admits committing a felony would be removed.

“This has nothing to do with politics,” Chick said, tears welling in her eyes. “This is a very painful decision for me. This is about my own personal conscience. . . . In the final analysis, I had to do what I thought was right.”

But the intervention of Chick and Feuer bitterly divided the council, provoking openly hostile exchanges within a body where peace is a chronically fragile commodity.

Councilman Nate Holden charged that the calls for Hernandez’s resignation by Chick, who represents a San Fernando Valley district, and Feuer, who has both Westside and Valley constituents, were “racist” and politically motivated.

“They act like Westside Ku Klux Klansmen,” Holden said, surrounded by television cameras. “I kind of wonder if they would do this if it was one of their own.”

Chick said she wouldn’t “dignify” Holden’s comments with a response.

“I think it’s very unfortunate and irresponsible to make any aspect of this issue racial,” Feuer said, “particularly in Los Angeles.”

But because the council has no authority over whether Hernandez remains in his job, Councilman Richard Alatorre said, he questions his colleagues’ motives.

“I think people could conclude it’s racist,” Alatorre said. “I think it’s very divisive.”

Hernandez reiterated that he will remain in office despite being asked to resign by colleagues whom he labeled “opportunistic.” He also said he now questions their previously expressed support for his drug and alcohol rehabilitation efforts.

“Maybe they haven’t been in the media enough lately,” Hernandez said, swarmed by a jostling crowd of television camera crews and reporters as he attempted to make his way to the council chamber. “I don’t think they’re trying to help me rehab. . . . It’s not easy to rehab in a crisis mode. I’m dealing with it on a day-to-day basis.”

Hernandez is scheduled to return to court Monday, when he is expected to plead guilty to felony cocaine possession and enter a special drug diversion program. Under that arrangement, the councilman will be spared a felony conviction and a jail sentence if he successfully completes a treatment program.

In an unusually tense council session Friday, members let their emotions rise to the surface in a fashion seldom seen. Hernandez appeared ashen and shaky. Feuer looked visibly upset. Holden was angry and hostile. Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas managed to avoid the scene, excusing himself from the meeting. Council members Jackie Goldberg and Ruth Galanter tried to ignore the whole thing.

“I have nothing printable to say,” said Galanter.

“You know how I feel,” said Goldberg, who has steadfastly supported Hernandez.

At one point, Hernandez presented a commendation to a guitarist who played a Latin love song while Chick and Feuer watched intently.

“It was filmic,” said Councilman Joel Wachs, who occupied the council president’s chair because John Ferraro was out of town. “It would have taken a great director to have captured that . . . Fellini maybe.”

Hernandez received a chilly reception from most of his colleagues when he returned to the council two weeks ago. With council mail and telephone calls running strongly against Hernandez, his relations with many colleagues have been uneasy.

“I didn’t think people were going to hold for very long against the steady drumbeat of constituents citywide saying there is an unnecessary double standard,” Ridley-Thomas said in an interview. “But whether people agree or disagree with Hernandez’s returning and not choosing to resign, I don’t know a single member with whom I’ve spoken who didn’t express concern and/or compassion for him.”

Still, the strands that hold the council together in the best of times are weakening, City Hall observers say.

“Relations among council members are nothing to get excited about most of the time,” said one member who declined to be identified. “Most of us don’t like each other very much.”

Mayor Richard Riordan believes Hernandez’s decision to remain or resign rests with “his constituents and his conscience,” said Noelia Rodriguez, the mayor’s spokeswoman.

Feuer’s motion seeks a code of conduct for council members, with penalties ranging from censure to expulsion for violators. Chick’s proposal asks that the City Charter be changed to require council members to face removal from office for admitted felonies--not just for felony convictions, as the charter now states.

Both proposed charter amendments will go to the council’s Rules and Elections Committee and, if it signs off on them, they must be approved first by the council and then by the voters. Both Chick and Feuer say they hope to see the measures on the June 1998 ballot.

Rudy Tenoria de Cordova, leader of an effort to recall Hernandez, said: “This sends a positive message to the citizens of Los Angeles that there are two members who are not afraid to stand up and say what they believe.”

Although Cordova said the council members’ efforts will help his campaign, Chick and Feuer denied that was their intention.

“It’s not part of the calculation here,” Feuer said.

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City Council Showdown

In a rare public outpouring of animosity, Los Angeles City Council members squared off Friday over a call for Mike Hernandez to step down.

“I don’t think they’re trying to help me rehab.”

--Mike Hernandez

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“This has nothing to do with politics. This is a very painful decision for me.”

--Laura Chick

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“[Chick and Feuer] act like Westside Ku Klux Klansmen.”

--Nate Holden