2 on Riordan’s School Slate Declare Victory

Mayor Richard Riordan’s unprecedented campaign to shake up the Los Angeles school board drew to a close Tuesday with two of his candidates declaring victory, and two others locked in close races.

Challenger Caprice Young, who enjoyed substantial financial support from the mayor, claimed victory first after establishing a strong lead over two-term incumbent Jeff Horton in the 3rd District, which stretches from Silver Lake to North Hollywood. Mike Lansing also declared victory over incumbent George Kiriyama in the 7th District, which runs from Watts to San Pedro.

With about three-quarters of the vote counted citywide, Riordan-backed challenger Genethia Hayes appeared to have forced incumbent Barbara Boudreaux into a runoff. David Tokofsky, the only incumbent on Riordan’s slate, was in a tight race with challenger Yolie Flores Aguilar.

Riordan expressed satisfaction as his candidates held their own in the early returns, and said the campaign had helped send a message to the Los Angeles Unified School District, which he has so witheringly criticized.

“No matter what the outcome, the fact that education is now on the public’s radar screen is a win for our city,” the mayor said in a statement. “I urge all Angelenos--whether they have children in the [L.A. Unified] system or not--to join me in making sure the next school board is accountable, responsible and focused on shaking up Los Angeles’ dysfunctional system of education.”

On the same ballot, voters chose from among 18 candidates seeking four spots on the Los Angeles Community College board of Trustees. Only one candidate, Georgia Mercer, had established a sizable lead in early returns.

In the most highly charged school board race since the anti-busing movement of the late 1970s, the slate backed by Riordan sought to ride a wave of public dissatisfaction with the quality of public education, which stands as the No. 1 issue for the state’s voters.

Riordan collected $2 million from many members of the city’s business elite, giving his candidates as much as a 3-1 spending edge, while also churning up bitter accusations that he was trying to take control of the $6.6-billion district budget for his wealthy friends.

The huge expenditures generated a stream of mailers and the first TV ads in the history of school board campaigns here.

By late evening, though, it appeared that the unusual level of electioneering had not inspired an increase in voting. The Los Angeles city clerk predicted a turnout of less than 20%, which has been typical of non-mayoral primaries.

Young declared victory shortly before 11:30 p.m., and Horton conceded just after midnight.

At his campaign headquarters, Lansing popped champagne corks and announced, “I’m declaring myself the winner.” Aguilar, who challenged Tokofsky in the heavily Latino district that arches from Lincoln Heights to San Fernando, had remained calm as her opponent jumped to a lead that she attributed to absentee ballots.

As polls were closing, Boudreaux lashed out at Riordan for backing Hayes in the 1st District, which covers much of South L.A. She said the mayor’s involvement had helped her by angering voters.

“I feel the voters understand the issues and the power plays that have taken place as well as the slanderous remarks that have been made about me,” Boudreaux said.

With two lightly supported candidates in that race, it was possible that neither Boudreaux nor Hayes would win a majority, forcing a runoff in June.

As the first batch of absentee results arrived, 3rd District candidate Young’s staff whooped and hollered on the patio of Sitton’s Restaurant, a 24-hour diner downstairs from her campaign headquarters in North Hollywood.

Virtually all of the 30 or so supporters who turned out were local high school students or people in their 20s.

Yet, as if to underscore the widespread lack of interest in the school board races, customers inside Sitton’s were glued to a Dodgers game on the television behind the counter--all but ignoring the jubilant Young supporters.

Earlier Tuesday, a high-spirited Riordan joined his candidates for some last-minute campaigning. He walked precincts with Lansing and Young and rode a sound truck with Tokofsky, shouting “This is the mayor” in Spanish.

The mayor set the stage for the historic campaign when he announced in September that he would back and finance challengers to unseat all four incumbents. In a district where test scores are in the bottom third nationally, he said the board had failed the children.

Among the “multiple sins” of the district, Riordan cited the board’s unwillingness to let Supt. Ruben Zacarias have freer rein to run the schools, particularly to fire employees.

Riordan and his candidates said they aim to shift the seven-member board toward the business model of management by setting broad goals, demanding accountability and staying out of day-to-day details of running the 700,000-student district.

Riordan’s candidates have a variety of backgrounds. Lansing, 42, operates the Boys & Girls Club of San Pedro; Hayes, 53, heads the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Los Angeles; and Young, 33, is an IBM manager and former assistant deputy in the mayor’s administration.

Unable to field a challenger against Tokofsky, Riordan eventually took him on the slate. Incumbents Boudreaux, 65, and Kiriyama, 67, are former school principals, and Horton, 51, and Tokofsky, 39, are former high school teachers. Tokofsky’s opponent, Aguilar, 36, is a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Education.

The three incumbents whom Riordan hoped to oust strongly rebutted his criticisms. They said they had already initiated significant reforms that are working, as evidenced by a slight rise in test scores last year and continuing improvement in the dropout rate.

They argued that the best way to sustain those reforms, which include the massive program to end the practice of promoting students who are performing below grade level, is to stick with the people who started them.

Far less attention went to the voting for the Los Angeles Community College District board, which oversees nine campuses with a total of about 100,000 students. The district has been beset with financial difficulties in recent years.

Last year, after cutbacks in response to a severe financial shortfall, state auditors faulted the district for poor management, overspending and lack of planning.

Since then, the trustees have been carrying out a plan of reforms, and the district is again running in the black.

But many onlookers complain that the pace of change has been slow. It remains to be seen whether the district will achieve long-term financial stability.

Sixteen challengers and two incumbents ran for four open seats on the board.

The largest campaign contributors in the college trustee elections are the system’s various unions, particularly the American Federation of Teachers College Guild, which represents faculty.

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Times staff writers Duke Helfand, Jill Leovy, Caitlin Liu, Solomon Moore, Jim Newton, Louis Sahagun and Joseph Trevino and correspondent Monte Morin contributed to this story.

* OTHER RACES: Councilman Nate Holden may face a runoff, while police and fire bond issue trails.A20

* ELECTION TABLES:A20