Oregon lawmakers will hear tonight about the experiences of a third woman whom investigators said faced unwanted advances from Rep. Diego Hernandez, D-Portland, and reasonably feared he might undermine her work at the Capitol if she declined.
On Tuesday night, the four-member House Committee on Conduct voted that Hernandez violated the Legislature’s human resources rules against sexual harassment and creating a hostile workplace in his treatment of two other women. Both of those women work in Oregon politics and both had consensual relationships with Hernandez, one longer-term and one relatively brief.
The latter woman, known in investigation files and committee discussion as Subject 1, testified on camera Tuesday, giving a detailed account of Hernandez’s relentless and aggressive efforts to reengage her in a relationship, including a specific veiled threat to get her disciplined or fired from her Legislature-linked job.
Hearings are scheduled tonight and Thursday night starting at 5:30 p.m. and will stream on the Legislature’s website. A hearing is also now scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday. The House Committee on Conduct, which is composed of two Democrats and two Republicans and includes two lawmakers of color, is making determinations as it goes on the facts of the case and after completing that work, will decide whether to impose consequences on Hernandez. In recent days, a number of groups and individuals including elected officials have called for Hernandez to resign or be expelled by a vote of the House. He easily won reelection in November.
On Monday night, the woman who had a long-term relationship with Hernandez submitted a statement that described Hernandez’ pattern of controlling and abusive behavior and accused him of “gaslighting my experience.” The victim had another woman read the statement during the live hearing, although the reader was not pictured on camera.
The woman who had a brief relationship with Hernandez in early 2017 she said she felt compelled to testify to the committee on live video in order to defend her credibility because of how Hernandez publicly downplayed and otherwise mischaracterized his behavior. Hernandez said when accusations first surfaced that House Speaker Tina Kotek tried to get women to complain about him to punish him for a vote on trims to public employee retirement benefits.
“He’s created a completely fantastical story about angry ex-girlfriends who were recruited in a coordinated effort to push him out of the Legislature because of a single vote he took, a narrative that is nothing but a couple of bad breakups and dating when you’re young is hard,” the woman said, referring to Hernandez’ various explanations for the situation over the last year.
Hernandez did not appear at the Monday or Tuesday night hearing but was represented by his lawyer, Kevin Lafky. Hernandez said in a statement read by his lawyer on Monday that it was a violation of his rights for only him or his lawyer, but not both, to be allowed to participate in the hearings.
The woman who testified Tuesday night was a lobbyist when she briefly dated Hernandez at the start of 2017, after meeting him in a professional capacity in 2016, she said. She soon told Hernandez she no longer wanted a romantic relationship, a decision she made in part because “his behavior was possessive and manipulative,” including going through her phone without her permission, the woman told lawmakers.
In subsequent months, the woman said, she remained in touch with Hernandez but he consistently shifted conversations from professional and legislative matters to personal topic and his continued desire for them to spend time together.
“He wasn’t taking no for an answer, which was making me nervous and uncomfortable,” she said.
One day, an anonymous gift package arrived at her home. Soon after, she left work at the Capitol and found flowers — again anonymous — on the windshield of her car. “The anonymous gifts arriving at my home and my place of work made me feel very exposed and vulnerable, like someone was watching me,” she said. Hernandez eventually confirmed he left the flowers and sent the gifts.
The woman repeatedly told Hernandez she did not want a relationship, but he continued to pursue her, according to her testimony Tuesday night and findings of independent investigators hired by the state.
In the summer of 2017, the woman agreed to meet Hernandez before he was scheduled to attend an event with the intent to again make clear she was drawing a line she did not want him to cross. “Honestly, I felt worn down by his continued requests and I was striving to maintain a professional relationship,” she said. He suggested they meet up again after the event and the woman said she neither agreed or disagreed. Near dusk that evening, she said, Hernandez showed up at the entrance to her apartment building and phoned for her to let him in.
“It was clear to me at that point that I had completely lost any measure of control over the situation,” said the woman, who lived in a first-floor apartment with many windows. She hid in her closet until Hernandez left, she testified.
Yet Hernandez continued to push to spend time with her and when the woman accepted a job as executive director of the House Democrats’ political organization, he suddenly had more access and power over her since he was a leader in the caucus, she said. He became less requesting of her time and more insistent upon it, she testified.
She avoided him when they were both at a professional conference in October 2017, the woman said, but after the conference she received a text message from him that she perceived to be a veiled threat.
“While telling me that I was the perfect fit for the position, he openly criticized my work performance at the conference that weekend and accused me of drinking too much,” she said. “He offered that the was sharing this with me and no one else, but that he and I should meet in person to sort out how to work together better moving forward. … I felt like this was an attack on my credibility from someone who had influence and power over my job … I was feeling cornered …”
The woman said that lawmakers’ response to the case will set a precedent for the type of behavior that will be tolerated at the Capitol in the future. She said that if Hernandez does not resign, lawmakers should seriously consider expelling him.
