Blitz of Lawn Signs Heats Up Schools Race

Lawn signs are as ubiquitous at election time as politicians kissing babies. But these harmless campaign props are kicking up a fury in the runoff election between Los Angeles school board member Valerie Fields and wealthy challenger Marlene Canter.

More than 5,000 signs slamming the incumbent have appeared in the district, which stretches from the Westside to the West San Fernando Valley. “L.A. School Board Member Valerie Fields has FAILED,” they scream in neon orange and green.

The signs are a gift to Canter from a campaign committee run by Mayor Richard Riordan. They are part of an aggressive campaign to paint Fields as an entrenched incumbent who bears responsibility for the district’s many woes, including dismal graduation and dropout rates.

Canter--who has loaned her campaign more than $1 million, creating the most expensive campaign in L.A. school board history--has hammered that message home in mailings and television commercials of her own. One mailer highlights the district’s significant dropout rate, saying: “That’s a crime. . . . Incumbent school board member Valerie Fields must share the blame. . . . Don’t sentence our kids to four more years of failed leadership.”

Three school board challengers endorsed by Riordan in 1999 won election. In this April’s primary, two of his three candidates lost. A win by Canter would increase the number of Riordan-funded candidates on the seven-member board to four. (Another board member, David Tokofsky, won reelection in 1999 with Riordan’s endorsement but less financial help.)

Canter, a former teacher and businesswoman, is unapologetic about her strident tone.

“Our schools are failing our kids,” she said. “I really feel there needs to be a wake-up call.”

Fields is counterattacking by claiming the moral high ground. She has scheduled a news conference today to protest the tone and substance of Canter’s campaign. School board President Genethia Hayes, City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas and at least two prominent rabbis are expected at the event in Westwood, about a mile from Canter’s home.

“I want to discuss the issues in a rational way,” said Fields, who insists that she has tried to tackle the problems for which she is being criticized.

Fields has engaged in her share of negative campaigning. In the weeks leading up to the April primary, her staffers focused on Canter’s poor voting record.

The Fields team issued a press release at one point saying that Canter failed to vote in all but three of 15 elections dating back to 1993--an assertion Canter did not dispute. New mailers being planned by Fields’ camp may again highlight her opponent’s voting record, staffers say.

The race in District 4 also is notable for its shifting alliances.

Riordan originally had endorsed Fields but dropped her before the primary because of a disagreement over a pay hike for teachers that Fields supported. The mayor then endorsed his own handpicked candidate, developer Matthew Rodman.

At the time, Riordan’s campaign committee, Coalition For Kids, launched an aggressive attack against Canter. The group sent out a scathing mailer listing all of the elections Canter had failed to vote in, calling her record “appalling.”

But all seems forgiven now that Riordan has endorsed Canter, calling her the best-prepared candidate for the job because of her experience as a teacher and the head of a teacher training business for 25 years.

The mayor’s committee is expected to spend about $200,000 on Canter’s campaign. The money will pay for the lawn signs and at least two mailings on her behalf.

‘It Takes Two to Tango’

Deputy Mayor Ben Austin said Riordan is not troubled by the tone of the campaign because Canter is sticking to issues rather than maligning Fields.

Austin said he expected both camps to run hard at each other in the days leading up to the June 5 election. “It takes two to tango,” he said.

But Riordan’s committee is ratcheting up the heat this week with a mailer that criticizes Fields for missing school board meetings--an issue first raised by Canter--and blaming her for everything from the district’s high rate of uncredentialed teachers to the low graduation rates.

Fields has the powerful Los Angeles teachers union in her corner. And like Riordan, the union is pulling no punches.

It has raised the issue of Canter’s voting record and has assailed the challenger for sending her two grown children to private schools.

The union has raised about $530,000 for Fields and is using its considerable membership to mount an aggressive get-out-the-vote effort on her behalf.