Hernandez to Leave Politics After Council Term

City Councilman Mike Hernandez said Friday that when he completes his current term, he will return to private life rather than seek another public office.

The attraction such obscurity might exert on the two-term lawmaker was clear Friday morning: television cameras once again followed him into the council chamber, reporters asked him painful questions and his colleagues just shook their heads.

This time, Hernandez, who was arrested last summer on a felony cocaine charge, confronts an allegation that he sexually harassed a member of his staff, Pauline Mendoza. The complaint involves conduct that sources say is alleged to have occurred before his arrest last August.

The beleaguered councilman, who appeared to take the complaint stoically, said he did not want to discuss the allegations publicly, preferring to allow the investigation by a newly staffed city panel to maintain whatever confidentiality it could.

“I’d like to keep it as private as possible,” Hernandez said.

But the councilman, who has admitted addictions to alcohol and cocaine and is currently attending regular recovery meetings, said he looks forward to regaining his own privacy when his term ends in three years.

“I’m looking forward to having a private life,” Hernandez said. “I’m really enjoying my life now. I think I’ll enjoy it more as a private citizen.”

For the first time Friday, Hernandez blamed some of his addiction problems on public life. He said he believed he “could change the world” when he was elected to office, but, predictably, found that an impossible goal.

“Being able to deal with sobriety has reconstituted my life,” Hernandez said. “It’s allowed me to reflect a lot. I believe part of my problem was also being in public office.”

While he did not say specifically what he will do when he leaves office, Hernandez said he would return to private business. He ran his family’s bail bond company prior to his council election.

Hernandez’s friends and colleagues say the lawmaker, elected in 1991, has immersed himself in his recovery program and that he is focused completely on remaining sober and drug-free. (The councilman typically greets associates and colleagues with “It’s Day 295,” for example, referring to the length of time he has been sober.)

City Council members, many of whom were unaware of the latest allegation against Hernandez, said he has been much more focused on his work since his return to the council last fall.

Council President John Ferraro said a city attorney informed him of the sexual harassment complaint. Shaking his head, Ferraro said that Hernandez today is much different from the man who was living out of his car and office and using cocaine even before council meetings.

“Mike’s been doing a great job representing his district,” said Ferraro. “I think he’s made a great recovery and I’m really proud of him.”

Another council member said Hernandez has regained the trust and respect of his colleagues. One said: “I feel like I know two men named Mike Hernandez: this one and the one before.”

The council on Wednesday activated a committee it had created nearly two years ago to investigate sexual harassment and discrimination complaints against council members and city department general managers. The committee, comprising law professors and former judges, will be convened to discuss its procedures and to review the allegations against Hernandez.

Neither city personnel nor city attorney officials would discuss the allegations Friday. The complaint is considered confidential to protect the woman who filed it, officials said.

Mendoza, who was formerly Hernandez’s scheduling secretary and who now works in his field office, was unreachable for comment Friday.

When police followed Hernandez during their investigation, they watched the councilman visit her apartment several times, where he allegedly used drugs. Police subsequently searched her residence and found a small quantity of marijuana.

She was never arrested and never a target of the investigation, law enforcement officials said.

For his part, Hernandez refused to discuss specifics Friday except to say that he was told of the complaint by a city attorney.

Hernandez, who says the recovery road is tough and filled with temptation, says he is actively rebuilding his family relationships, badly strained by his addictions.

He also faced two recall attempts, the second of which failed to secure enough signatures to qualify by Thursday’s deadline.

“I just want to do my job each day,” said Hernandez, adding with a smile: “until the end of my term.”