Seventh in a series
Re “Exactly Why Bradley Is Running – to Show His Persecutors/Prosecutors”
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Mr. Bradley, in his favorite pose. Photo, John Youngblood.
Dateline Compton – On the eve of one of the most compelling municipal races in the country – pitting a blank check novice, with no discernible record or philosophy, against a former mayor who has done time but had the conviction reversed – Omar Bradley, the latter option, spoke plainly but carefully, as he usually does.
Pertinent issues on Closing Day of the campaign:
• The downtown District Attorney’s office knows Mr. Bradley better than family, a coin with two sides.
• Further, the DA has a shadowy link to Compton since the just-beaten mayor, Eric J. Perrodin, works there wearing a permanent smile.
• According to Mr. Bradley, last winter the DA tried to prevent him from running for his old office.
Coincidence?
Even though observers said that smelled like intimidation, “I don’t want to call it that,” Mr. Bradley said after prosecutors told him they plan to re-try him. The date is unknown, but they may move as soon as this month.
Until 8 o’clock Tuesday evening, Mr. Bradley, 55 years old, an educator by vocation, a politician the past 20 years by avocation, is running against Aja Brown, whom one Bradley supporter referred to as Pretty Woman:
- Pretty face.
- Pretty hair.
- Pretty empty record.
The 31-year-old urban planner, who has turned her temper on strangers, declined to be interviewed.
Worried or Not?
Confident her mysterious powerhouse downtown connections will overcome her scant record, Ms. Brown does not appear to have perspired during the six-week run-up to the runoff.
Laid off from her planning position two years ago by the City of Compton, she seeks to execute the quintessential turnaround.
Hoping to lead the community that dumped her, Ms. Brown told the Los Angeles Times she merits voter support because “I know what it takes to move cities forward…it takes relationships.”
Without missing a beat for subtlety, that is exactly what she has done this spring. Without detectable recommendations, she managed to forge relationships with muscular forces downtown.
The Times, hoping to favorably characterize her abundance of seasoning, described her “near-decade” of professional experience.
Still, with an empty bucket, she attracted the backing of one of the heavyweight politicians in Los Angeles, County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, and an influx of funding from labor unions.
Contending Anyway
Win or lose, Mr. Bradley’s imminent future is clouded by the DA’s demand of him, which he later defied on the grounds he has not done wrong.
“I want the DA to know,” Mr. Bradley said, “that I pled not guilty (to corruption charges a decade ago) because I believed I was not. A Supreme Court ruling applies to my case. They said ‘you must explore a defendant’s state of mind,’ and (prosecutors) knew my state of mind when I went in there.
“I am not guilty of misusing ($7500 in) funds intended for another purpose. They have to understand that all of the times I spent money (during my 2½ terms as mayor) I was doing city business.
“We have a system in Compton, believe it or not, whereas I just don’t spend money. It has to go through a process. It goes to the city manager. He approves it. It goes to the controller. She approves it. It goes to the city attorney who checks it for legality. Then it goes to the city treasurer for payment.
Isn’t This Logical?
“If no one in that process said it was wrong, then everyone who understands Compton’s charter says ‘yes, this is a viable expenditure,’ how is it that the DA steps in and says, ‘We think otherwise’?”
Mr. Bradley was asked if the ousted Mayor Perrodin, an assistant DA by day, and no pal of the candidate’s might have had a hand in the attempt to stop him from running.
“I sure hope not,” he said, “because now he has his own troubles. I don’t wish for him to experience the things that I have gone through.”
Alluding to his gravelly speaking voice, “my voice is not the same as it used to be because of the harsh conditions in County Jail,” Mr. Bradley said. “People in County Jail beg to go to prison. That is how harsh Los Angeles County Jail is.
“I mean, you hear people yelling at the deputies, ‘Send…me…to…prison.’ They will do things there that are not right. The deputies will turn the boilers up to where the water is about 125 degrees. They will keep the air conditioning on in your unit where you are doing 45 to 50 degrees.
“When you walk into the shower and turn the water on,” Mr. Bradley’s face suddenly seemed to expand, “boy, boy, boy, boy, boy!”
He faulted “the system” rather than Sheriff Lee Baca.
“The system has no respect for the basic condition of man. If I were working in the Sheriff’s Dept., my main focus would be to be as humane as I can be because you already have tenuous circumstances lying ahead of you.
“If I were a deputy, it would not be my job to torture.”
The careening dimensions of Mr. Bradley’s comeback – his career volleying from top to bottom and, he hopes, back to the pinnacle, will be known in a little more than 24 hours.
During the “near-decade” Ms. Brown was launching her career, Mr. Bradley was on the outside, while actually on the inside.
“For five months (before being dispatched to state prison), I was in a cell for 23 hours and 45 minutes a day. I got out 15 minutes a day. The light in solitary confinement in County Jail never goes off. So the darkness deprivation is a form of torture.
“When the toilets flush, the feces from the entire jail comes out onto the floor, which also is packed with urine,” Mr. Bradley said.
Can he make it all the way back to the top of the mountain?
