Councilman Alarcon Urges Hernandez to Resign

Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon on Friday became the fifth council member to call publicly for the resignation of colleague Mike Hernandez in the wake of Hernandez’s guilty plea to a felony cocaine possession charge.

“As a Latino political leader, it is particularly difficult to part company with you,” Alarcon wrote Hernandez in a letter that he made public after the two met.

“But I must send a different message to our community, especially our children, and to our city as a whole.”

Alarcon, who represents portions of the San Fernando Valley, said he does not expect Hernandez to heed the call to step down. “He reaffirmed his belief that he has the right to stay in office,” Alarcon said.

Alarcon said that for some time he had privately held the view that Hernandez should resign. He said he reluctantly decided to go public only after giving up hope that Hernandez would reach the same conclusion--that resignation was in the city’s best interest.

“Every day, the issue arises at community meetings,” Alarcon told reporters he had invited to his City Hall office. “Yesterday, I was at Sylmar Juvenile Hall and the question came up. It’s very difficult for me to look into the faces of these kids who have been incarcerated and not have a public response. . . . I can’t . . . portray this as something that should be excused.”

Council members Mike Feuer, Laura Chick, Hal Bernson and Rudy Svorinich Jr. have also publicly called for Hernandez to step aside, as has Mayor Richard Riordan. Under the City Charter, the council can remove Hernandez only if he is convicted of a felony.

Although Hernandez pleaded guilty to a felony, he was placed in a so-called drug diversion program that will allow him to avoid a felony conviction if he successfully completes rehabilitation. He faces a recall campaign in his 1st District, however.