Cassandra Hernandez & Hypocrisy

Nothing makes people hate politics more than politicians that say one thing and do another. Its almost a political caricature. Whether its some ultra conservative religious nut who advocates for anti LBGTQ legislation only to be outed as having paid male escorts for sex, or members of congress advocating against corruption only to find out they are on the take - its the hypocrisy that drives voters nuts, makes them hate politicians, and lose faith in our system. 

Most elected officials are guilty of at least some low-level hypocrisy from time-to-time, but there was an editorial in El Paso Matters recently that was written by City Rep Cassandra Hernandez that represents some ninja-level mastery of hypocrisy. 

The article was written about International Women's Day and Hernandez discusses some strong points about the under-representation of women in elective office in El Paso County is reversing. 

As the prototypical "girl dad", this is something I am particularly excited about. 

Hernandez goes through a litany of outlining how many members of city council are women, how many judges are women, etc. 

It was comments she made about the state delegation that caught my attention the most - because the hypocrisy on Hernandez's part is fucking legendary. I mean she makes the most hypocritical statement - without batting an eye. 

Absolutely no shame in her black-belt level hypocrisy. 

But hell, someone around here has to call it like it is, so I guess thats me. 

Hernandez makes a very solid point about women in our state delegation. Rather than paraphrase what she said, let me just quote her directly lest there be any allegation that I'm misquoting her or taking her out of context...

"Our state delegation currently has three women serving as state representatives, or 60% of our representation in Texas. As El Paso is physically isolated from the rest of the state, it is crucial that we have women representation at the Capitol."

I'm glad she said that. I'm in 100% agreement with her. El Paso IS physically isolated from the rest of the state and it IS crucial that we have women representation. 

Those are SOLID points that I think El Pasoans need to know and understand. 

So if Hernandez really believes her own words, then riddle me this Batman...

How are you going to talk about how "crucial" it is for physically isolated El Paso to "have women representation at the Capitol", when just days - literally days - before the publication of this Op-Ed, Hernandez was actually working AGAINST El Paso having more women representation in Austin? 

This is the political bullshit that needs to be called out. Its easy to write an editorial and state the obviously important points about how critical it is to have more women representation - but Hernandez's record shows she cares more about something a little different. 

She's all for more women leaders - so long as they are the people SHE wants - not the electorate. So her article isn't only hypocritical but it also demonstrates how self-serving she can be. 

Oh wait, some of you probably don't know what I'm talking about. My bad - let me demonstrate the Hernandez Hypocrisy. You see just days before International Women's Day - the predicate for her opinion piece - Hernandez was actively working to try to ensure that a women would LOSE her bid to be one of those "critical" voices that Hernandez espoused in her Op-Ed. 

If Hernandez had her way, women would't make up the majority of El Paso's legislative delegation to the Texas House. 

Because Hernandez was supporting a man over a qualified woman in the HD 79 race - and not just quietly in the background. Nope, she was on a mailer for the man - against a qualified woman. 

Here's mailer I'm talking about - and it was sent out during the last week of the election, which concluded just exactly one week before the publication of this editorial. 

Now when politicians engage in this level of political hypocrisy, they do it because they think you're stupid. They think you'll forget or that it doesn't matter to you. They think you're Boo Boo Tha Foo and they are content to treat you accordingly. 

And let me underscore something very important that absolutely needs to be pointed out - Hernandez was not just supporting a man over a qualified woman - she was supporting a man that had actually ENABLED anti-women legislation over a qualified woman! 

Whatever the equivalent of an Uncle Tom that is, it fits Hernandez perfectly. And to my knowledge this was Hernandez's ONLY endorsement of this election cycle.

State Rep Claudia Ordaz Perez was punished by Art Fierro's Republican buddies in the state house by being drawn into the same district as another woman - because they fought the oppressive legislation that Fierro enabled passage of. 

And yes, Hernandez wasn't the only women that is on that mailer. So is Iliana Holguin - who sent a mailer out talking about how Commissioner's Court needed a woman's voice...and then turned around and supported a man who enabled restrictive Republican legislation AGAINST women. 

City Rep Annello is also on that list, community college trustees that are women, and even the County Attorney. 

They deserve their fair share of criticism from women about supporting a man that enabled Republican anti-women legislation over a qualified woman - and the level of mental gymnastics they each performed to support a candidate who enabled repressive, regressive, Republican legislation over a qualified woman is astounding, but none of them wrote an editorial talking about the need to elect more women. 

That level of hypocrisy was reserved only for Cassandra Hernandez. 

And its downright embarrassingly shameful that she was the audacity to talk about women's political empowerment a week after doing her level best to ensure that El Paso women had less of a voice in Austin.