Assembly Race Jolted by Controversial Mailer

The sleepy special election for the Assembly seat from Los Angeles’ Eastside got jolted awake this week by mailers charging that one candidate released child molesters, murderers and rapists from jail--and a warning that Mayor Tom Bradley does not approve of those charges being associated with his endorsement in the race.

A series of mailers, sent by Democrat Richard Polanco, were aimed at rival Democrat Mike Hernandez, whose family for years has owned a bail bond business. Thousands of 55th Assembly District homes received the mailers in recent days.

9 Candidates in Field

Polanco and Hernandez, along with seven other candidates, are running in the April 8 special election for the seat in the Legislature vacated by former Assemblyman Richard Alatorre, who was elected last December to the Los Angeles City Council.

Hernandez is president of Los Angeles-based Bea Hernandez Bonds and Insurance Agency Inc. Although his mother, Bea, is in the bail bond business, Hernandez said he personally stopped providing bail bonds four years ago and now writes immigration bonds instead. But the Hernandez family’s longtime bail bond business has become what a Polanco strategist calls “a major theme” of Polanco’s campaign.

One mailer, sent by Polanco this week, included a brochure headlined “Lewd and Lascivious Act Upon the Body of a Child Under the Age of 14.” On an inside page, the brochure said those were the words officially used to describe the crime “committed by a man that Political Candidate Mike Hernandez bailed out of jail.” That particular brochure did not specifically state that Hernandez was a bail bondsman. But others did identify Hernandez as a “political candidate/bail bondsman.”

Included with the brochure headlined “Lewd and Lascivious . . .” was a letter from Bradley endorsing Polanco, saying that, among other things, Polanco, as a former aide to Alatorre, had “helped protect young schoolchildren and bring child molesters to justice.”

But Bradley, who is running for governor, never saw the brochure that was included with the letter, Bradley campaign press aide Ali Webb said Thursday. “The mayor does not condone those kind of campaign tactics,” Webb said. “Polanco called the mayor personally yesterday (Wednesday) to apologize. Since we were assured this sort of thing would not happen again, it does not affect our endorsement. Should it continue, we would have to think again.”

‘A Legitimate Issue’

Polanco said Thursday it was a “mistake” at the mailing house or by campaign workers to include the brochure with the Bradley letter. But he maintained that “it is a legitimate campaign issue to let people know what a candidate does for a living.”

“I chose to be a public servant, he chose to be a bail bondsman,” added Polanco, who at various times has worked for Alatorre, Los Angeles County Supervisor Ed Edelman and former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr.

Hernandez, however, said that Polanco is “engaging in the dirtiest of campaign tactics. He’s attacking me for what I did as a professional. It’s like attacking attorneys for what they do, or judges. Everyone has the right to bail, and that is determined by the judge, not a bondsman who provides a professional service for anyone who might need it.”