Re “Is It Race? Why Don’t People Care What Happens in Compton?”
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Mr. Perrodin
Dateline Compton – When Eric Perrodin, a grin always at the ready, became the mayor of slightly less than ethically clean Compton 12 years ago, he said he had one admirable objective:
To clean up the corruption that surrounds City Hall like a fat man’s bursting belt from his younger days.
As a former Compton police officer, now serving as a Deputy District Attorney in downtown Los Angeles, the matinee idol-handsome Mr. Perrodin seemed, at a glance, perfectly positioned.
A faultless dresser, looks are critical to the mayor. No amateur, he could give GQ tips for its 10 issues.
Sharp on the outside, mentally qualified on the inside, corruption, to the naive of Compton, was a dead dog.
The dog not only lives but thrives as Mr. Perrodin, already a recordholder after three terms, runs for No. 4 in the city election on Tuesday, April 16.
He said that, by golly, he wanted to scrub away the corruption but he could not round up enough votes. So he retreated.
[img]1802|left|Ms. Deloatch||no_popup[/img] When Jacquelyn Deloatch, one of his 11 rivals, heard that statement, she couldn’t help herself. She broke into a laugh, even thought townspeople agree there isn’t anything funny about this election.
Speaking with emphatic deliberation in the office of her bail bonds business, she couldn’t believe he still was spinning that yarn.
Ms. Deloatch was coldly furious.
“He has had 12 years, and unfortunately, for whatever reason, his attention has not been in Compton,” she said.
“His attention has been on Perrodin, to make money for Perrodin, to make friends for Perrodin.
“What about the other 98,000 people who live in this city?
Frequent Absences
“Everybody knows he has missed ‘several’ City Council meetings. When he comes in, he is late because he has this other (D.A.’s) job that obviously is more important, putting people in jail rather than helping people, prosecuting people, giving them plenty of time, filling pockets with bonuses.
“The City of Compton is not a priority him, in my opinion.”
KCET television reported last week that in a one-year period, Mr. Perrodin skipped 59 of 162 meetings.
If there is outrage over that widely gapped performance, it is localized because there doesn’t appear to be any citizen movement to impede or penalize him – except for the fact half of the town is competing for his office.
Isn’t it strange that Compton keeps a person with Mr. Perrrodin’s Swiss cheese record?
“That is not what is happening,” Ms. Deloatch said. “The people are not going to the polls.
“Two people told me a few minutes ago, ‘I am not voting. It’s not going to do any good.’
“Between 36,000 and 44,000 are eligible to vote here. Less than 10 percent turn out for elections.”
(To be continued)
