Community Leaders Support Hernandez

While acknowledging that recovery from drug or alcohol addiction isn’t always successful, members of several East Los Angeles community-based organizations expressed their support Friday for Councilman Mike Hernandez.

Hernandez, arrested in August after a two-month undercover law enforcement surveillance operation, plans to return to the City Council on Tuesday. Hernandez has admitted addictions to cocaine and alcohol and has spent more than a month in a rehabilitation center.

Richard Zaldivar, founder and executive director of The Wall-Las Memorias Project, an East Los Angeles AIDS outreach project, said people in recovery programs need support--not criticism and attacks.

Meanwhile, some neighborhood activists are gearing up for a recall campaign against the councilman, whom they believe can no longer adequately represent the district.