Ray Bogan: Sen. [John] Cornyn announced this morning that the FBI is willing to assist Texas law enforcement in locating your group. What’s your response to that?
State Rep. Cassandra Garcia Hernandez: Well, I think you’re also aware of the governor of Illinois had indicated that he will do everything in his power to make sure that we are safe. And we are so thankful for his gracious hospitality here, as well as the other elected officials as well. And so we have been coordinating with the governor and making sure that we are safe, not only from.
you know, whatever it is that either Trump or Cornyn or Paxton or Abbott are intending or wanting to do, whether it’s legal or not, but also making sure that we’re safe from any potential threats as well, because I’m sure you’re aware just on, just this week that we had a bomb threat.
Ray Bogan: Yeah, I want to ask about that bomb threat in a second, but let me just ask you real quick. Have you been briefed on what the FBI could do or has the authority to do? And have you been told at all what to do if you’re approached by the FBI?
Cassandra Garcia Hernandez: yeah, we, obviously are constantly in contact with our counsel. Of course, I unfortunately will not be able to provide you any of the information that was provided to us just for safety reasons. but, I certainly believe as well as all of our other members, as well as the governor that, you know, we are safe in this state.
from any overreach from Texas in regards to taking us and moving us back to the state of Texas. So obviously if we decide on our own free will to go back to the state, we are able to do that. But we have no intentions on leaving, at least I would say I can say today, but just full disclosure, know we are making decisions as a group.
what’s the best path forward, literally by hour, by day.
Ray Bogan: So, yeah, I want to talk about that bomb threat. Can you describe what it was like when you informed there was a threat against your group?
Cassandra Garcia Hernandez: So it was very early morning. Our group was obviously still some sleeping. Some of us were awake. I personally was awake answering emails and just catching up with family and also with my staff and making sure that everything is business as usual back in the district as well as in the capital. And so we got an announcement over the the PA system,
indicating that there had been a bomb threat and that we needed to essentially leave the building, get outside the building. And so it’s a pretty big facility. So of course, all of us kind of popped out wherever, what area of the facility that we were in. And then we moved to an area that we felt was a little bit more safer.
Just because we were, there was some concerns from law enforcement that it could be a situation where, you know, bomb threat to essentially encourage people to get out in the open. And so they were concerned that there might be somebody who say, for instance, like a sniper or something like that. And so they moved everybody because it wasn’t just us that were staying in that facility, but everybody to.
an area that was a little bit more safer, a little more secure. And law enforcement moved very quickly and were very appreciative on their efforts as well as the governor’s office to very quickly go into the center and go section by section and making sure that that bomb threat in fact was not a valid bomb threat and that everybody was safe. And we’re thankful for the facility as well keeping us informed and getting everybody back into the building quickly once it was over.
Ray Bogan:
What kind of security does your group have? Do you have 24-hour security with you now?
Cassandra Garcia Hernandez:
Just, you know, for safety reasons, unfortunately, I can’t really disclose what kind of security we currently have right now. But I am thankful to our law enforcement and the governor’s office and affiliated partners that are working together to make sure that we are safe and that we’re doing everything, you know, by the book and legal as well.
Ray Bogan: Can you say whether you think your current security posture is adequate?
Cassandra Garcia Hernandez: I believe it is.I certainly think that we obviously increased security protocols after the bomb threat happened. But we also have a situation where there has been individuals on social media that have disclosed addresses of some of our of some of my colleagues. And we are aware of certain individuals.
showing up to some of our, some of my colleagues homes, you know, not with permission. And so there’s certainly some concern as well as making sure that our homes, as well as our loved ones that are back home are safe and protected as well. So I can certainly say, you know, what we are doing right now is very important, but we want to make sure that everybody is able to exercise.
their constitutional rights. Quorum break is, quorum breaking is something that us as legislators have a constitutional ability to utilize in obviously very extreme situations, which we believe that this is one of those. And so for us being able to do that, that should not subject us as well as those that we love and our family members to any kind of
political violence, but unfortunately we’re seeing some rhetoric getting kicked up. And unfortunately, some of that rhetoric is getting kicked up by some of our Republican leadership back in the state of Texas, as well as, you know, some of our colleagues that I know have been putting out some videos that I’m just very disappointed that they would put, you know, obviously ourselves in any kind of danger, but
quite frankly, also could potentially put our loved ones in danger as well.
Ray Bogan:Gov. Abbott and Attorney General Paxton are trying to go to court and they’re arguing that because you left the state of Texas, you abandoned your office and therefore your seat should be vacated. What’s your counter argument to that?
Cassandra Garcia Hernandez:
Sure, well, I can let you know and you know one of the ones that they filed was in fact against our chairman, Chairman [Gene] Wu, and I certainly can say on behalf of all of our caucus that we stand in solidarity with Chairman Wu. We do believe that what has so far been filed does not have merit. Clearly we have not abandoned our offices. We are still doing business even though we are not in the state of Texas.
I can only speak for myself, but I know that my colleagues as well, you know, are in district. Folks are still showing up to events, still answering constituency emails, phone calls. We’re still holding virtual town halls. I just had one yesterday with one of my colleagues, Rep. Rose, and our Austin staff as well is still taking visitors, answering phone calls and emails too. So business as usual for all of us here in Chicago. And a lot of us have already announced our reelections. I personally announced my reelection once we got out of moratorium because I intend on running again. It was an honor to serve House District 115. I hope that they will reelect me once again, but.
That is, I think that’s what we need to make sure that we’re focused on. What they’re doing right now is essentially taking away our positions, our duly elected — we are duly elected officials. We’ve been elected by the people. We have no, know, House District 115 seat is not my seat. It is the people’s seat of House District 115. And they decided that I was the best person for the job. Ultimately,
if whether they believe that me quorum breaking was a, you know, me going against my oath and also my duty to them as their elected official, well, there’s a mechanism for that and that’s not reelecting me. And so, but I can say as far as somebody who constantly stays up to date and looks at the emails coming in and gets updated by the staff about as far as what it looks like and calls.
and information that we’re getting from back in the district. I can tell you overwhelmingly my district is thankful for what we’re doing right now.
Ray Bogan: This could potentially come at a great expense to you personally, not just the logistics of being there, but also the potential fine of $500 a day. So I’m just curious, how do you plan on paying for this?
Cassandra Garcia Hernandez: Each one of us individually understand that this is our own financial responsibility. We have accepted that. We are going to pay those fines legally pursuant to what the rules that were put in place from the last quorum break. You know, before we decided ultimately to do this, we were very much well advised about what the infractions were going to be.
We were advised and for some of us like myself, who’s a freshman member who didn’t have the opportunity to be with my colleagues the last quorum break, they definitely made sure that we understood exactly what kind of toll it takes on you emotionally as well to be away from your family. It’s not natural for us to not be back in our districts right now and being able to directly in-person connect
with our constituency. And so, you know, a lot of this stuff is stuff that we knew was gonna be a sacrifice, that was gonna be a sacrifice for our families as well, and our employers and our constituency with us being away, but still being able to do business from here. But this is just, like I said, this is something way bigger than us.
Ray Bogan:
The governor and the attorney general have made accusations that some in your group may have either accepted or solicited donations to pay for your stay in Illinois, and they allege that that could potentially be bribery. Have you or anyone you know in your group either accepted or solicited donations to help pay for your stay?
Cassandra Garcia Hernandez:
You know, I personally, I can’t really comment on as far as what maybe somebody else in the group may have done. Quite frankly, we’ve had discussions already and at least what we are aware of, there isn’t any indication that any of us would be subject to that. Quite frankly, we’ve made this decision with not knowing.
to what level that we were going to be having any type of financial support. We were advised about the fines as well as the the potential punishment of if we don’t pay the fines, the reduction of our accounts and what we essentially pay our staff and those type of things. as far as what we have decided to do, and by that I mean denying quorum,
We weren’t promised, we didn’t enter a contract.Nobody said, ‘Hey, I’m going to give you this money and pay for all of these things if you break to us.’ This was a decision that we made that it was the right thing to do. And anything that flowed from that after the fact was just essentially people just willing to chip in if they could in anything,
you know, whether it was like campaign contributions, cause they thought, you know, that we were just fighting the good fight and they want to make sure that we’re able to run our campaign after the fact and those types of things. But nothing has been essentially given to us with the condition that we core on bright.
Ray Bogan: If any of you were sued by the attorney general or the governor to vacate your seat, you obviously could not go back to Texas to defend yourself in person because if you did, you would be arrested and brought back to the Capitol. So logistically, has any thought gone into how you would defend yourself if you needed to do that in court?
Cassandra Garcia Hernandez:
Just a little bit of background I practice in civil and immigration law. But we have had also the opportunity to connect with legal counsel about these type of things. Just because you’re sued and served does not necessarily mean that you as your body itself needs to be present to defend as long as you’ve got legal counsel.
They can represent, they can file your response on your behalf and all of those things. And so obviously that would be our situation. We’ve got the deadline tomorrow. As I’m sure you’re probably aware, the Supreme Court has requested that Chairman Wu essentially respond to the suit that Governor Abbott has filed. So of course, on behalf of Chairman Wu, we will have legal counsel that will be filing that response.
Ray Bogan:
OK, and then finally, please correct me if you think I’m wrong in this, but it would seem there are 51 of you in Illinois and they need 100 to make a quorum. So correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems as though they would only need one of you to return to be able to create that 100 person quorum. Has there been any thought into that? How it doesn’t need to be all of you. It just needs to be one of you.
Cassandra Garcia Hernandez:
I believe we currently have around 56 that are currently out right now. So they need a couple more members than just one member in order to make quorum.
Ray Bogan:
But point being is that you don’t need all 50 of you to return. It only takes a much smaller number.
Cassandra Garcia Hernandez:
Yes, you’re correct about that. Once they reach that threshold, whether say for instance, maybe a couple of people here decide, you know what, I’m going to go ahead and go back and make quorum. You know, that’s always a possibility. so, but we’re, you know, making sure that we’re having conversations every day. And I feel pretty confident in being able to say that everybody who is currently here right now understands the gravity of the situation and obviously have made the sacrifice thus far, you know, with that recognition. And so I don’t anticipate anybody necessarily from here intending on going back in order to make quorum. But of course, like I said, things always will, you know, we’re constantly discussing and taking things in as they’re happening and they’re happening very quickly right now. But I feel pretty confident in being able to say that everybody here is pretty united and recognizing that we need to continue to keep doing what we’re doing right now.
