Peter Mathews, the Democratic candidate running to oust Rep. Laura Richardson from her 37th Congressional District seat, is having to overcome some ugly obstacles as Tuesday’s primary election draws near. Mathews’ silver Volvo convertible was vandalized during the early morning hours of June 1, and just a few days prior, on May 25, the candidate’s big blue campaign bus was severely damaged by a hit-and-run driver of a pickup truck, which smashed the bus’ left rear wheel, breaking an axle, and breaking the left rear window. And just before that, the FBI requested that the postal inspector general investigate how 1,300 pieces of Mathews’ campaign mail to Compton absentee voters went undelivered, while identical mailings to voters in Carson and Long Beach were delivered.

The driver’s side window of Mathews’ Volvo was smashed and although the police recorded the incident as a burglary, apparently nothing was taken. Mathews said he believed it was possibly related to his campaign and was an intentional act to send him a warning — a tactic with which he is familiar. Mathews said that when he ran for office in 2008 he received what could be interpreted as a death threat when a photo cutout from a flier was found taped to the door of his campaign office.

“Someone had drawn crosshairs within a circle over my face, and what looked like bullet holes were drawn around it,” Mathews said.

The Long Beach police investigated the 2008 threat and is dealing with Tuesday’s vandalism. An eyewitness to the crashing of his campaign bus followed the driver who hit it and wrote down his license plate number when the fleeing pickup truck was forced to stop when its tire went flat. Since he was caught, the driver eventually called Mathews about the accident, so I guess they’re working that out.

Members of Mathews’ campaign team confronted the Compton postmaster about the undelivered mail on May 14 and was shown log entries detailing the date and time the mail was received into the post office and when it was “distributed/dispatched/or delivered” from it. Dissatisfied by that, the team went to the Long Beach FBI office about the problem. The FBI looked into the matter and requested that the federal Inspector General’s Office investigate the missing mail. Mathews has five more days to go. Be careful out there.

DATEBOOK — Bishop Charles E. Blake, founder, chairman and CEO of Save Africa’s Children, will speak on the importance of global advocacy and volunteerism in addressing world crises at Friday morning’s Urban Issues Forum at the California African American Museum from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. A panel discussion will follow. Admission and the breakfast are free.

The daylong “Knock at Midnight” HIV prevention summit will be held Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Holman Methodist Church, 3320 W. Adams Blvd. … The “Stay in School — Empower the Youth” organization will hold a youth celebration Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Crenshaw Christian Center auditorium, 7901 S. Vermont Ave. Live bands will perform and local students will be honored for their commitment to education. The purpose of the celebration is to motivate and reward at-risk youth for staying in school and striving to achieve academic improvement.

State Sen. Curren Price will host his 26th Senate District Summer Youth Resource Fair Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Rancho Cienega Park, 5001 Rodeo Road. Joining Price in sponsoring the event are Councilman Herb Wesson, UCLA, the Urban League and Hot 92 JAMZ. This event, with more than a dozen participating agencies, is expected to provide a fount of information about the opportunities for youth that exist in the 26th District.

GONE HOME — Los Angeles lost another one of its Black political elite last week. Frank W. Terry, the man who coordinated the recall campaign that paved the way for Mayor Tom Bradley’s election to the City Council, died of natural causes on May 29 at age 91. His funeral will be held Saturday at 2 p.m. at Angelus Funeral Home. Terry provided strategic input for Bradley for his first political victory and remained a close associate of his throughout the years. Bradley appointed Terry to the Library Commission, on which he served for four terms — twice as president. He grew up on Los Angeles’ fabled Eastside during the period when Central Avenue was all that, and he dated Billie Holiday! Terry was extremely active in the community and was a mainstay to such organizations as the Jazz Heritage Foundation, YMCA, NAACP, Urban League and Crenshaw Neighbors. He is survived by his wife, Evelyn Terry, and several children, including son Mike Terry, former L.A. Times sportswriter, and Mike’s wife, my good buddy, Gayle Pollard-Terry, also formerly of The Times. May he rest in peace.

THIS AND THAT — Hundreds of people crammed into the Dorsey High School cafeteria Tuesday night to discuss what has become ground zero for South L.A. activists opposed to MTA’s Expo Line street-level rail crossings next to community schools. The meeting, convened by the California Public Utilities Commission, rehashed an old and believed settled issue, to wit: A street-level rail crossing at Farmdale Avenue and Exposition Boulevard is unsafe for school children and other living things.

You wouldn’t believe the insults being flung upon Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas because his vote resulted in Los Angeles County choosing to boycott Arizona over that state’s immigration law! It’s awful. They’re calling him the N-word all over the Internet. In fact, the three supervisors who voted for the boycott — Zev Yaroslavsky, Gloria Molina, and Ridley-Thomas — are being lumped together by angry White people in an unholy troika they call “The Jew, the Mexican and the N----- who did this thing.” Heck, Ridley-Thomas is a former director of SCLC, which was founded by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. for cryin’ out loud! Acts of civil disobedience, boycotts, marches and protests are Ridley-Thomas’ bread-and-butter. He can no more reject a boycott to uphold civil rights than he can speak in simple sentences. He just can’t do it.

POLITICAL STUFF — The Rev. Jesse Jackson came to town on Memorial Day and endorsed Karen Bass for Congress, and the Los Angeles County Firefighters Association hopped aboard Holly Mitchell’s bandwagon and endorsed her to replace Bass as Assembly member from the 47th District. … And here are my endorsements for Tuesday’s primary:
Governor, Edmund G. “Jerry” Brown; Lieutenant Governor, Janice Hahn (Although I’d rather endorse her for Los Angeles mayor because we really need her here.) Attorney General, Kamala D. Harris; Insurance Commissioner, Hector De La Torre or Dave Jones (Either one will do nicely.); U.S. Senator, Barbara Boxer; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Gloria Romero; Assessor, Charles J. Hahn (Because his name is “Hahn”); Proposition 13, yes; Proposition 14, no; Proposition 15, yes; Proposition 16, no; Proposition 17, no; Measure E, hell no!