San Fernando gets more interesting

After this week's flurry of bad publicity, city of San Fernando Mayor Mario Hernandez is expected to face a crowd calling for his resignation at next week's City Council meeting. The council member he blurted out that he's been having an affair with, Maribel De La Torre, won't be there. She'll be on her way to the Middle East (from one of the smallest and most obscure cities in the L.A. region) to "improve the relationship between the United States and Israel," says the San Fernando Sun. The paper also gets into Mayor Hernandez's surprise announcement about his affair while his wife looked on at last week's meeting.

But people are still puzzled: Why did he decide to make the pronouncement and fall on his sword?

It appears that when his wife went to the council meeting to see what was going on for herself, looking squarely in the eyes of Hernandez and De La Torre, he became so unnerved by her presence and what she might reveal, that he decided he would control the message with his own admission and stab himself. He clearly feared that his wife could stand up and provide her rendition of "San Fernando Valley PTA."

Why the city attorney didn't stop him when he said he had a "personal" announcement is also anyone's guess.

The drama continued as the Mayor's wife attempted to leave through the side door. De La Torre was hostile and told the wife she would have to go through her first if she wanted to use the exit typically used by city staff. Officer Irwin Rosenberg intervened, asking De La Torre to be respectful and allow her to pass. He walked the Mayor's wife to her car.

The Sun also suggests that former San Fernando elected official Cindy Montañez, the ex-assemblywoman, has moved back to the northeast Valley to prepare to run for the Tony Cardenas seat on the Los Angeles City Council. She is De La Torre's sister and is also expected to make the trip to Israel.

Photo: Hernandez walking away from a Sun reporter.