Black Coalition Takes On Mayor Over School Board

A coalition of African American leaders blasted Mayor Richard Riordan on Tuesday for launching a political campaign to oust Barbara Boudreaux from her seat on the Los Angeles Board of Education, saying that they resent his efforts to influence election results in their neighborhoods.

“Thank you, Mayor Riordan, we appreciate your thoughts,” the Rev. Robert Holt, chaplain for the Black American Political Assn. of California, said at a news conference. “But we object to your colonial mentality and your unmitigated gall in trying to select our leader.”

Riordan announced last week that he had convened a special task force of business and education leaders to identify candidates prepared to challenge each of the four board members who are up for reelection in April. The effort to replace the incumbents--who include two whites and an Asian--could result in a new school board majority because the panel consists of seven members.

Contacted in Washington, Riordan said in a prepared statement, “It’s unfortunate that people have decided to introduce the race issue into this matter.

“The bottom line is that the children of Los Angeles are not being given the tools to compete in our schools,” he said. “And anyone who does not believe that this is evil is choosing to ignore the facts.”

Riordan’s task force has endorsed Boudreaux’s challenger, Genethia Hayes, head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s Los Angeles chapter.

Boudreaux accused the mayor of “race baiting” by trying to “to run another African American against me.” Others at the news conference suggested that Hayes was a Riordan pawn.

“I’m not anybody’s puppet,” Hayes said in an interview Tuesday, “not the mayor’s, not LEARN’s, or the community’s. But I do have a constituency and you’ll see that as the race unfolds.”

Hayes added: “I don’t play race politics.”

If Riordan’s campaign touched off anger in some parts of the community, it sparked surprise in Supt. Ruben Zacarias.

Zacarias, who was out of the country when Riordan made his announcement, said Tuesday that Riordan had not discussed his thoughts on the board with him. “I have no idea what the mayor’s motives are. We haven’t talked.”

In explaining why he felt the board should be replaced, Riordan argued that it has micro-managed the district in a manner that prevents the superintendent from doing his job.

“With all due respect to the mayor, who I believe sincerely cares for the students of this city, the board has been very supportive,” Zacarias said. “If there’s any role I can play in building bridges of cooperation between the mayor and board members, I’ll be glad to do so.”

The mayor’s task force has not endorsed candidates in any of the other races.

Hayes, who like Boudreaux is a former educator with deep roots in the city’s African American community, says she hopes to develop a broad base of support.

Boudreaux, 64, said the downtown business establishment opposed her when she first ran for the office.

“They called their forces down on me in 1991; there were eight candidates and I won with the least amount of money,” she said. “I’ll do it again. You cannot buy the vote.”

She also chastised Rordan for turning his back on her after supporting her in earlier political efforts. “Now, he has personally attacked me, my integrity and my position,” she said. “It reveals that he’s a very rich man with a child’s mentality who crushes toys when he’s tired of them and then moves on to new toys.”

Boudreaux, who went to work for the Los Angeles Unified School District 38 years ago, is lining up her own support and financial backers from across the district.

Among them is Celes King III, head the Congress of Racial Equality, who plans to host a $50-a-head fund-raiser Wednesday night for Boudreaux at a local restaurant.

She can also count on developer and African American activist Danny Bakewell, who said, “We’re prepared to take Riordan on. And we’re going to meet behind closed doors to ask Genethia to get out of the race.”

Hayes said she is not about to yield. “I’m absolutely running for the 1st District,” she said. “I’m talking about a school district that is failing our children. I’m talking about a complete overhaul of that system.”