In a statement to CalWatchdog, Rendon, a Paramount Democrat, condemned domestic violence, but said he will not seek action at this time against Hernández, a Democrat from West Covina. 

It was just last month when Rendon announced his leadership team, which included Hernández atop the Labor and Employment Committee, the same leadership role he was in under Rendon’s predecessor, Toni Atkins, D-San Diego. 

“Since the temporary restraining order was filed against Assemblymember Hernández last week, there have been several conversations about what the next steps should be,” Rendon said. “If the allegations are more fully validated, I will be prepared to take further action.”

Calls to step aside

On Thursday, the Democratic chair and vice chair of the women’s caucus, Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson of Santa Barbara and Asm. Cristina Garcia of Bell Gardens, issued a statement calling for Hernández to step down until the matter with his estranged wife, Baldwin Park City Councilwoman Susan Rubio, is resolved.

“In the wake of the serious allegations against Assemblymember Roger Hernández, we believe he should step down from his committee assignments and his position as chair of the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee while his case is pending in court and take a leave of absence,” Jackson and Garcia wrote.

“While a determination is still pending on these most recent allegations and we respect his right to due process, it’s important that the Legislature send a strong and consistent message to victims about our commitment to confronting domestic violence and demonstrate that we take allegations seriously when they occur among one of our own,” Jackson and Garcia added. 

Rendon did not expand on what would constitute “more fully validated,” but no charges have been filed against Hernández. The situation places the new speaker in an awkward position between being cautious and appearing to set a soft behavioral standard for members.

“(Rendon) should have anticipated that such a problem would come up,” said John J. Pitney, Jr., a professor of American politics at Claremont McKenna College. “It is not exactly unprecedented for California legislators to face accusations of bad behavior.”

What’s been alleged

Rubio is alleging that Hernández — who is seeking a seat in Congress — pushed, shoved, hit and choked her during their marriage, according to the Los Angeles Times. The couple is 16 months into divorce proceedings.

After an April 5 divorce hearing, Rubio alleges that Hernández “came ‘aggressively’ toward her and began shouting in her face,” prompting her to seek a restraining order. In the filing, Rubio included pictures of a bruised and scratched arm, the Times reported.  

Hernández denied the allegations to the Los Angeles Times on Thursday and other outlets and said he will not take a leave of absence or step aside from committee responsibilities.

Hernández was re-elected to a third and final term in 2014, beating his opponent by 9 points. 

Mostly quiet 

Besides Jackson, Garcia and one Republican assemblyman who has been calling for Hernández to be stripped of his chairmanship since he had security forcibly remove the Republican’s microphone at a committee hearing, other lawmakers have been quiet, as have outside groups.

In a long statement condemning domestic violence, the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence issued a statement of “concern” about the situation, but refused to take a position “(b)ecause the case at hand is open and ongoing, we do not have all the facts and cannot presume the nature of the evidence, nor the legal implications thereof.”

Troubles in the other chamber

Not that long ago, several Democratic senators ran afoul of the law. All were eventually convicted, unlike Hernández, who has not been charged. Although some were removed from leadership roles at the first sign of trouble. 

Sen. Roderick Wright of Inglewood was convicted of multiple voter fraud felonies, according to the Los Angeles Times. During the appeals process, he was removed from his committee chairmanship. 

Sen. Ron Calderon of Bell Gardens was removed from the executive board of the California Latino Legislative Caucus and from his legislative committee assignments after allegations of bribery surfaced. He had not been charged with any crimes at the time, but eventually took a leave of absence after federal corruption charges were filed. 

The apex of trouble was when Sen. Leland Yee of San Francisco was indicted on charges of gun trafficking and public corruption (while in cahoots with a gangster named Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow). Yee was immediately stripped of all of his committee assignments. 

At the time, Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, had had enough. “Every indictment, every arrest, every arraignment and even every suspicion or allegation reflects very poorly on each of us and all of us,” Leno said at the time.

Leno did not respond to requests for comment on Friday about whether those feelings remained and if they applied to Hernández.

History

It’s not the first time Hernández has been accused of wrongdoing. In 2012, an ex-girlfriend accused him of domestic violence, although charges were never filed due to insufficient evidence. 

That same year, Hernández was arrested for drunk driving in a state vehicle, but was acquitted by a jury on one charge, while the jury was hung on another. 

In 2015, allegations of political money laundering against Hernández were dropped by the Fair Political Practices Commission after two key witnesses were unable to testify — one had serious medical issues while the other had passed away. 

I had a chance to talk with Garcia about her experiences as a political reformer, and her recent call for a fellow Democrat, state Sen. Ron Calderon of Montebello, to resign amid FBI allegations of corruption.

Garcia has a solid record fighting political decay. She took on the corruption in Bell, volunteering her time with the city’s recall campaign, which ended with every Bell council member being voted out of office.

Garcia said her co-volunteers then wanted her to run for office.

Running as a government reformer, Garcia beat Democrat Tom Calderon, a former Assemblyman and Sen. Ron Calderon’s brother, in the June 2012 primary. She then went on to win the general election against Republican Patricia A. Kotze-Ramos, 71 percent to 28 percent. Garcia’s Assembly District 58 covers Bell Gardens, Downey, Pico Rivera and Cerritos.

It’s interesting to note that Tom Calderon earlier this year  announced plans to run in 2014 for state Senate to replace his brother Ron Calderon. But following the recent Al Jazeera story about the FBI case against Ron Calderon, Tom Calderon announced Oct. 23 he was dropping out of the race.

Federal authorities appear to be looking into Tom Calderon’s consulting practice and his clients. The FBI subpoenaed the Central Basin Municipal Water District and raided the Pacific Hospital of Long Beach — both clients of Calderon.

Garcia may take a long, hard look at that Senate seat.

Garcia and her district

Garcia was the spokeswoman for BASTA, the Bell Association to Stop the Abuse. Basta means “enough” in Spanish. The group was formed after the salary scandal in the neighboring city of Bell broke.

BASTA organized community forums, voter registration drives, and signature-gathering efforts to recall council members. Today Garcia said things in Bell are different. “In Bell, I’m still very engaged — very hands on,” Garcia said. “But I remember my jurisdiction.”

“I have a vision,” Garcia said. “Bell is now how to do it right — it’s the right model. They are in the right direction, with five all-new council members.”

Garcia said Bell now has its bank accounts online. The city council holds town hall meetings on the budget, and all meetings are televised and online. “There is still a long way to go. These people pay a crazy amount of taxes, and there are still 40 lawsuits against them,” Garcia said. “But I can take my position and help them — teach them to advocate for themselves.”

The conscience of the Democratic Party

It took guts for Garcia to call for Ron Calderon’s resignation from the Senate, even if she has her eye on his Senate seat.

I asked her how political corruption affects the public’s faith in elected leaders.

“Think about how our amazing country works,” Garcia said. “It’s based on trust.” Garcia said we enter into social contracts with the government for services, and in exchange we give up some of our freedoms.

“But when people in government deliberately break the rules, it corrupts the way our country and government works,” she said. “It’s not just about sending people to jail, it’s about the line of trust. Broken trust, from the top, teaches people they can do it too.”

If there are more legislators implicated in the Calderon scandals, Garcia said she would stand firm and speak out then as well.

“When this pledge is for any reason jeopardized, an officeholder has the duty to step away,” Garcia said.

What Cristina Garcia is doing differently

In my reporting from the floor of the Assembly, I’ve observed that Garcia doesn’t speak often during bill debates, but when she does, she adds to the debate and conversation. “I don’t need sound bites,” she said. “I don’t raise my microphone just to be heard.”

Garcia said she instead mixes it up in committee hearings, where the real debate is supposed to take place. “That’s where I’m feisty and confrontational. On the floor, I only speak if I can add a different perspective to the story, and how it impacts my district.”

Garcia said there were enough of the new Assembly members “who went against the grain” and got elected. They challenged longtime Democrats. “We are more emboldened,” she explained.

But she was warned about being too active. “I heard stories before I got here, but decided to do things my way.”

Garcia said the freshman class Assembly members has already changing the way things are done.

Educating voters

Garcia said she thinks elected officials need to be much more accessible, and mindful of their districts.

And she said, “People also need to be more educated about government’s process.” She said she just visited her parents yesterday. They talked about local political races and the hit pieces coming in the mail. “They believe it’s true,” she said.

And that bothers Garcia. “Stories like the Calderon situation add to that,” she added. “I try to be a role model for the locals in my district, the behavior I want to see in the future.”

Black cloud over the Capitol

“As the unsealed FBI affidavit and subsequent news reports have revealed a legal whirlwind surrounding Senator Ron Calderon, I must speak out,” Garcia said in a press statement on Nov. 1. “It is with mixed feelings, but with strong conviction that today I ask Senator Calderon to step down from his office to allow this black cloud to be removed from over the Capitol and over the State of California.

“I fully realize that we must respect the presumed innocence of Senator Calderon, but the distraction caused by this case, in my own backyard and its long term implications are detrimental to the fabric of government and to the citizens that the Senator represents.”

She made an important point there about Calderon’s criminal case, in which he must be presumed innocent; and his seat in the state Senate, which has been compromised so much that he no longer adequately can represent his constituents.