Boudreaux Says Foe’s Camp May Be Involved in Beating

In the final days of her reelection campaign, Los Angeles school board member Barbara Boudreaux has alleged a possible political motive behind a recent act of vandalism at her home and an assault on her granddaughter--a charge that her opponent called absurd and police investigators dismissed as unfounded.

At Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting, Boudreaux told supporters, a few board colleagues and a reporter that the attacks may have been concocted within the campaign of her challenger, Genethia Hayes, executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Hayes, who has the support of the 40,000-member United Teachers-Los Angeles and Mayor Richard Riordan, won enough votes in the April 19 primary to force the incumbent into a June 8 runoff.

In an interview, Boudreaux, who is seeking a third term, said: “This is real sleazy politicking. The worst ever seen in this nation. It’s the pits!

“But I will not stoop to fear. I’m not afraid of her. And I’m still in the race,” she said. “The people in my campaign will protect me, but they aren’t vicious--Genethia’s people are vicious.”

Hayes vehemently denied the allegations.

“I hardly know how to respond; I can’t for the life of me imagine what’s going on in her mind,” Hayes said.

“I’ve run one of the most moral and ethical campaigns ever in this city,” Hayes said. “I’m a person of moral and ethical character.”

Hayes’ campaign manager, Parke Skelton, said: “We can’t imagine why she’s making such allegations except for the fact that she’s in a lot of grief over her granddaughter and she’s not handling it very well.”

The first incident occurred last Thursday, when someone threw a few flower pots at Boudreaux’s home and left pieces of campaign posters on her doorstep. On Monday, Boudreaux’s 17-year-old granddaughter was beaten up on her way to school.

The girl was treated at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and released. Later that day, 33-year-old Keith Bodway was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon.

“The Thursday incident was definitely politically motivated,” Boudreaux said, “and there is a grave possibility that the assault was too--all you have to do is give people money and they will hurt someone for you. It’s called in-your-face politics.”

But Los Angeles Police Department investigator Lester Slack flatly denied any connection between the attacks.

“The vandalism at Mrs. Boudreaux’s home has nothing to do with our investigation into the assault,” he said.

“The suspect just jumped on her for no reason; that’s the honest truth,” Slack said. “There are no indications that the assault was connected to any other crimes, or any ulterior motive.”

Nonetheless, Boudreaux said, word of the attacks has spread and generated new support for her in the school board’s 1st District, which runs from blue-collar South-Central Los Angeles to the middle-class neighborhoods of the Crenshaw district.

“I’ve gotten calls from people saying: ‘We heard what happened to you. This has gotten low and dirty. How can I help?’ ” she said.

Boudreaux acknowledged that she cannot raise anywhere near the $400,000--at least $150,000 coming from the mayor--that Hayes plans to accumulate by the runoff.