When prosecutors filed campaign finance charges against L.A. school board member Ref Rodriguez last month, many charter-school supporters rallied to his defense in hopes of saving not just his seat but their pro-charter school agenda.
They said that Rodriguez, a political novice, had made mistakes and that the amount of money involved, about $24,000, was too small for so much fuss.
But new conflict-of-interest allegations that came to light Monday focus on significantly more money — about $285,000 — and on Rodriguez’s actions as co-founder of a charter school network, his area of expertise.
Now the prospects of keeping him on the board, as the linchpin of a narrow 4-3 pro-charter majority, have suddenly become politically perilous.
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