October 11, 2023 12:32 PM UTC

What the Hell, Tim Hernandez?

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

A former school teacher named Tim Hernandez was selected by a vacancy committee on August 26 to serve the remainder of the term of former Rep. Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, who resigned her seat after winning election to the Denver City Council in June. Hernandez will serve in the state legislature for one session because of the support of 39 voters in a vacancy committee largely made up of some of the more liberal members of a very liberal House District. 

An enthusiastic Hernandez immediately got to work stepping on rakes. Last weekend, he stumbled into an entire display of rakes. 

Hernandez is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), but denies Republican claims that he is a “Marxist.” To be fair, Republicans often interchangeably (and inaccurately) toss around words like “Marxist,” “Communist,” and “Socialist” in describing Democrats in general. 

Nevertheless, since being selected by that vacancy committee, Hernandez has continued to act like the far-left activist that he was before his selection in August. This came to a head in the last week following the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel. Hernandez attended a pro-Palestine rally outside of the State Capitol on Saturday where he stood in support of (in his words) “the liberation of Palestine.” 

In a video that has since gone viral online, a defiant Hernandez is shown verbally sparring with an unnamed person behind the camera. Inexplicably, Hernandez refuses on several occasions to condemn the violence perpetrated by Hamas, which the United States has long considered to be a terrorist group.

“You can’t condemn women, children and elderly people being murdered in the streets.”

Leftist Denver state rep. @_timhernandez (he/him/his), a Democrat, says: “What about it?”pic.twitter.com/ZULFBSPPlJ

— Andy Ngô 🏳️‍🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) October 10, 2023

On Monday, Hernandez issued an official statement about his growing controversy that was heavy on flowery gibberish but light on substance — which is basically how he got into hot water in the first place. One particular sentence in that statement stands out for its remarkable irony:

There must be more room in this conversation for nuance, rather than political attacks for partisan gain, if we are going to make progress toward peace.

If Hernandez heeded his own words, perhaps he wouldn’t find himself in such a political quagmire already.

How to (Not) Make Friends and Influence People

The next legislative session is still three months away; Hernandez has already rankled the rank-and-file as well as House leadership. Here’s the joint statement from House Speaker Julie McCluskie and Majority Leader Monica Duran issued on Tuesday:

We’ve had several conversations with Representative Hernandez over the last few days and are deeply disappointed that when there was doubt, he chose not to explicitly condemn the violent Hamas terrorist attacks on innocent Israelis. [Pols emphasis]

Serving as a state representative means bearing the weight of responsibility for how our actions and words impact others, and we are called upon to lead with compassion, sensitivity, and humility in the most painful of moments. 

The murder of nearly 1,000 innocent people so far is an atrocity that demands unequivocal condemnation. We should be denouncing, not promoting, hateful rhetoric on social media. We stand with the people of Israel and the Jewish community in Colorado as we continue to mourn the loss of life and reel from the shock of the still unfolding horrors of this violent terrorist attack on innocent Israelis.

[mantra-pullquote align=”right” textalign=”left” width=”50%”]“As a member of the Colorado House of Representatives, appointed by a few members of a committee to fill a vacancy, his words and actions carry the weight of his constituents.”

— The Denver Post (10/11/23)[/mantra-pullquote]

Today, the editorial board of The Denver Post weighed in on Hernandez: 

Newly appointed Colorado state Rep. Tim Hernández clarified that he was rallying for support of Palestinians and not for Hamas on the west steps of the Colorado State Capitol only a day after Hamas militants murdered, raped, and kidnapped hundreds of innocent Israelis near the Gaza border.

While we appreciate the clarification, and while we also pray for the hundreds of innocent Palestinians who were killed in recent days as casualties of the war sparked by Hamas, we cannot help but note what Hernández has refused to do – condemn Hamas’ terrorism. [Pols emphasis]

“I condemn war for any loss at all,” Hernández wrote in a prepared statement responding to both accusations that he was tacitly endorsing violence by his presence at the rally, and to a video recording a conversation he had with a counter-protester where he appeared to refuse to condemn the violence. “War threatens the dignity of life for citizens in all of Gaza, in all of Israel, and across the Earth, and I hope one day soon we may build a world free from war entirely.”

Dallying with violence and terrorism and acts of pure evil by mincing his words makes us realize that Hernández considers this an abstract exercise in political gamesmanship – perhaps the type of contrarian debate a freshman philosophy major would engage in during class as an exercise, not the real-world response needed in the face of beheadings and torture. [Pols emphasis]

Of course, Hernandez has every right to say whatever he wants about this and any other topic. But as we often point out in this space, just because you CAN doesn’t mean that you SHOULD. 

A good example of the latter can be found in the response from Sen. John Hickenlooper:

State Rep. Tim Hernandez (D-Tim Hernandez)

A few days after that Aug. 26 vacancy committee, the 26-year-old, t-shirt clad Hernandez sat down for an interview with Kyle Clark of 9News in which he seemed to condone political violence (CLICK HERE for the full 17-minute interview). Here’s a telling excerpt:

CLARK: Here’s the deal. You’re on the Fox News homepage because people think you are advocating for some kind of violent cultural revolution. And you said, ‘Violence isn’t MY bag,’ but do you think [violence] is necessary or acceptable?

HERNANDEZ: I’m not here to police protest [sic]. You know, I think that folks who choose to relegate [sic] towards violence – it is a personal political decision for themselves…That is never people’s first choice, right? Martin Luther King said that the riot is the language of the unheard, and I think that as a state legislator, I’m looking forward to hearing, to creating opportunities to hear communities, because hopefully we can prevent any form of forceful political violence.

If you watch the interview, you will hear a lot of clicking noises coming from Hernandez’s various bracelets. What you won’t hear is him actually condemning political violence.

When we first saw this interview, we didn’t give it too much thought; we were reluctant to overstate the first big interview from the newly-appointed State Representative. In hindsight, Hernandez’s words appear to have been as intentional as his ultra-casual appearance. He may be concerned about staying true to his principles as an ultra-lefty political activist, and that would be fine if he wasn’t now the voice of an entire House District.

It would be a shame if Hernandez isn’t able to adjust to the reality that his new position requires a different approach to political issues, because his perspective could absolutely be useful as the first Gen Z lawmaker in Colorado. For example, here’s how Hernandez responds to a question from Clark about the benefits of a younger outlook:

HERNANDEZ: Young people are now the adults in the room. And now we’re asking the critical questions of, ‘Are we going to uphold the same unjust society that we just lived through? Are we going to keep asking students to prepare to die in a classroom because adults won’t be bold enough on gun violence?’ For folks like me, it’s unacceptable.

Once you get past the first sentence, it’s hard to disagree with the rest of his answer. Politicians absolutely DO need to better understand how just the threat of school shootings is impacting the lives of young people.

Performative Politics or Something More?

Tim Hernandez is an appointed member of the State House of Representatives, but not an elected official; if he seeks a full term in office, he will have to be a candidate in 2024 just like every other member of the State House. In the meantime, Hernandez still represents the roughly 77,500 people in House District 4 – including, but not inclusive, of the 39 people who supported him in a vacancy committee election. 

This is an important point, and one that Hernandez has thus far failed to internalize. 

As The Post concluded in its editorial today:

Hernández doesn’t have to be perfect in his fight against injustice, but he cannot be a state legislator and tacitly support the murder, rape and torture of innocent people as part of a philosophical question of how to stop injustice in the Middle East.

This is the heart of this entire episode. Hernandez can be an activist and political performance artist, or he can be a lawmaker. He can’t be both – at least not effectively. 

If Hernandez chooses to continue his current path, he will be no different from someone like Congressperson Lauren Boebert (R-ifle). Making a lot of noise and accomplishing nothing is not an act solely reserved for right-wing MAGA types. If you think of the political spectrum as a circle, then Hernandez and Boebert are, frankly, closer to each other than to the center. With his recent actions, Hernandez has weakened his own political power before the next legislative session even begins.

In nominating Hernandez for the vacancy in HD-4, State Sen. Julie Gonzales said, “I believe that Tim has demonstrated his willingness to ensure that we all live up to our democratic values.”

The critical piece is more about how Gonzales and Hernandez define “democratic values.” There is plenty of room for different opinions in what has become a very large tent in the House Democratic caucus. What everyone needs to remember is that nobody has a monopoly on what constitutes “democratic values.”

When you go too far down that path, you end up where Republicans are now in Colorado: Fighting endlessly amongst themselves about what it means to be a “real Republican” versus a “RINO” (Republican in name only) and accomplishing absolutely nothing of value in the process. 

We can appreciate the youthful exuberance of Tim Hernandez and also be concerned that he is viewing the world from only one perspective. He doesn’t have to stop being Tim Hernandez…but he does need to understand that the words he uses (or doesn’t use) no longer sound the same now that he is a State Representative. 

Do better, Rep. Hernandez. We’ll all be better for it.