CONSIDER THIS: It’s Time to Exorcise San Benito’s Demons

By MICHAEL RODRIGUEZ
Managing Editor
editor@sbnewspaper.com

Michael Rodriguez

Make no mistake; what’s currently transpiring with Mayor Joe H. Hernandez cannot be dismissed as a political vendetta that’s gone too far. This is something more.

Understand that by stating this, I’m neither passing judgment nor finally convicting the mayor – in the court of public opinion, anyway – on any of the allegations that have recently been levied upon him. I dare not do such a thing, lest I be burned in effigy. What cannot be denied, however, is the cluster of predicaments that have tormented Hernandez since January 2010.

That’s right, folks. It all started then, when the San Benito News broke the story about the mayor owing back taxes to the city – over two years before the raspagate scandal led to his indictment on a charge of abuse of official capacity, before he was accused of making terroristic threats against two people while parked outside one of the alleged victims’ homes taking pictures.

The day our story exposing Hernandez’s then-unpaid back taxes hit the streets, city officials prepared and posted an addendum to a regular city commission meeting to discuss and take possible action on declaring his mayoral office forfeiture. Their reasoning? Language in San Benito’s city charter states that an elected official forfeits their office if, at any time during their term, they owe taxes to the city.

The rest, as you know, is history. The office of mayor was eventually ruled automatically forfeit. Hernandez sued twice and was painfully unsuccessful in both attempts, that is until he won reelection the following year. What’s occurred during and since all this hoopla has been a division, if you will. This issue has indeed acted as a wedge that’s divided the community unlike any controversy since Tommy Roberts was fired as the head coach of the San Benito Greyhounds. Still, understand that this divide has not come as a result of the exposure to these matters but because of the political football being played by the parties involved.

Unconditional supporters of Hernandez have done their part in dividing the community by never rationally seeking resolve or compromise; they instead wallow and point fingers at everyone but the mayor. Even today they continue to do this by blaming people such as former commissioner Jack Garcia, who – as mayor pro-tem – assumed the office of mayor in Hernandez’s absence. In fact, many of the mayor’s supporters have stubbornly refused to acknowledge Garcia as ever being the mayor yet conveniently accepted his call for an election when it came time for Hernandez to run. All this has served no purpose other than to perpetuate a myth that “everyone’s out to get poor Joe.” Humor me for a moment and assume that Hernandez never fell behind on his city taxes as mayor, never circumvented city utility fees when he allowed a snowcone stand to operate on his property and share his water, never participated in the city commission’s discussion of mobile vendors despite acknowledging a conflict of interest existed, and never parked outside a man’s house for the bizarre purpose of taking photographs of the person’s residence.

Would we be here today?

Then, there are the unrealistic alarmists who believe that Hernandez is the epitome of all things evil. If you don’t agree with nearly everything they say, then you’re somehow in cahoots with him. These are the same folks who believe “everyone is in on it,” from city administrators, the local police and fire departments to yours truly. Perhaps one of the more unsettling aspects concerning many of Hernandez’s opponents is that they often object to affording him the opportunity to defend himself. At least two people in positions of influence have – on more than one occasion – tried to convince me that I or my lead reporter should omit comments the mayor makes that are in his defense, primarily because of his propensity to blame other people. It goes without saying that I felt the need to shower after engaging in such dialogue.

The one thing these two groups of people have in common is the harm they’ve caused the community. What’s left is a bloody battle that will never be won by any side; there will only be losses, and the biggest loser will be San Benito.

So what’s the conclusion I’ve come to? I say let it all play out, every sleazy detail. Let us see exactly what everyone involved is truly capable of, because this – my gentle snowflakes – is a reckoning we must allow to happen.

Does the city have its demons? Absolutely, but ignoring them would be fatal. The only thing that can save San Benito now is an exorcism.

Read this story in the Nov. 18 edition of the San Benito News, or subscribe to our E-Edition by clicking here.