Holden wants investigation into mailer

• By SCOTT DYER
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Aug 1, 2008 - UPDATED: 5:12 p.m.

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Mayor-President Kip Holden on Friday said he is calling for a criminal investigation into a political mailer that alleges he had an affair with a married woman and was beaten up by her husband.

The mailer was in the form of a letter signed by the Rev. Charles Matthews, who Holden said does not exist.

The mailer includes a photo of Holden with a “black eye and busted lip” that he said is actually a doctored version of the picture on the mayor’s Web site.

Holden acknowledged that he did sustain a black eye last year when he tripped over a piece of carpet, but noted that he did not get a busted lip from the accident.

The mailer claims that the woman’s husband punched Holden in the mouth and eye, and that police have refused o serve as his bodyguard “on moral grounds and a strong belief that someone is going to get injured or worse, die.”

Holden said the allegations are ridiculous, and are obviously the handiwork of his one of his opponents in the mayor’s race and their operatives.

“I have had the same four police officers with me since I took office. The only one that is no longer working with me is Eugene Smith, who said he needed additional time with his family after his father was killed in an accident,” Holden said.

Holden said he thinks that criminal charges may be filed as a result of the smear tactic. He said he’s contacted city police, the state Attorney General’s Office and the FBI.

Because the mailer was sent via U.S. mail and contained false information, federal mail fraud charges could be pending against the perpetrators, Holden said.

Holden also suggested that Metro Councilman Byron Sharper may be involved because he called the mayor’s office earlier this week and warned that “we’re going to drop a bomb on you.”

Sharper could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.

The mailer also noted that the Metro Council recently defeated Holden’s “attempt to pass a blank declaration as to Baton Rouge being a sanctuary for homosexuals through his One Baton Rouge resolution.”

The largely symbolic resolution, offered last year on behalf of a group of community leaders, pledged to accept people of “all races, sexes, creed, colors, religions, ages, ancestries, disabilities, sexual orientations, nationalities, marital status, political affiliations and people of all walks of life.”