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Ms. Brown
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Mr. Bradley
Dateline Compton – As America heals from its latest fatal bout with Muslim terrorists, it should turn its lonely eyes toward the most appealing mayoral race in the land:
- In this corner for the June 4 runoff for CEO of Compton, a culturally dynamic community, historically lodged on the jagged edge – if not in the bosom – of corruption, demure 31-year-old urban planner Aja Brown.
- In the opposing corner, onetime prison inmate, onetime mayor known for his tough – some would say crude – talk, Omar Bradley, who turns 55 years old next month. At an unknown future date, Mr. Bradley is scheduled to be retried on corruption charges.
Hairdressers, by a huge margin, favor Ms. Brown’s glamourous and generous black tresses vs. Mr. Bradley’s trademark shaved head.
- In the third corner, with his ever-groomed nose sadly pressed against a steamed window is the disappointed incumbent mayor, Eric J. Perrodin, who was officially knocked out of contention this morning for a fourth consecutive four-year term.
In last week’s citywide election, Ms. Brown, Mr. Bradley and Mr. Perrodin finished a closely bunched 1-2-3.
This morning’s counting of the final 1,084 ballots, before a large crowd in Council Chambers, took 2½ hours to determine the players in the runoff:
Ms. Brown, 1,887 votes, 27.8 percent.
Mr. Bradley, 91 votes back – 1,796, for 26.5 percent.
Mr. Perrodin lost ground to his rivals from last week, and finished with 1,663, 133 behind Mr. Bradley, 224 behind Ms. Brown, and 24.5 percent of the vote.
With 12 persons running for mayor, 15.3 percent of Compton’s 45,000 registered voters went to the polls.
Dozens of ballots were not marked at all for the mayor’s chair. Sadly, several precincts showed virtually invisible numbers, one, the 300th, with only a total of 5 votes for mayor.
Some residents have said, openly, that City Hall is so dishonest there is no reason to vote because change is impossible.
One of the reasons the dapper Mr. Perrodin, a Downtown deputy district attorney, was scuttled by voters may be that his boss, new District Attorney Jackie Lacey, is investigating Mr. Perrodin and a pack of his Compton City Hall cronies for possibly treating taxpayer money as if they won it in a game of Monopoly. While the peeling buildings and people throughout the community look as if all of them could use a fresh paint job, Mr. Perrodin, according to KCET television, is paying the city’s videographer an awesome $20,000 a month.
