Compton Official, Political Aide Indicted

As a result of a bitter election last spring, Compton City Councilman Floyd A. James and an aide have been indicted by the Los Angeles County Grand Jury on three counts including alleged election fraud and conspiracy.

The indictment alleges that the defendants authored a fraudulent political mailer and tried to buy votes by giving record albums of a Jesse Jackson speech to constituents who pledged their support.

James and Roderick Wright, a political consultant with the Inglewood firm of Wright/Lester & Associates, were indicted on three felony charges that each carry a penalty of up to three years in prison.

Although the indictment was returned Dec. 11, it had been sealed until Friday, when James appeared before Superior Court Judge Robert R. Devich. Arraignment was postponed until Jan. 6.

The 44-year-old James, a dry-cleaning businessman who won a second term in the spring balloting, was unavailable for comment, his attorney, Kenneth E. Roberson, said.

But Roberson declared that the charges “are groundless and politically motivated. . . . He’ll enter a plea of innocent, if any plea at all.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Candace J. Beason, who had advised the grand jury, responded that she was “surprised” by Roberson’s accusation. If James believes that the charges are baseless, the prosecutor said, “all he has to do is plead not guilty and ask for a jury trial as soon as possible.”

Wright could not be reached for comment.

The grand jury charges, including one count of illegally inducing people to vote, another of committing fraud in a municipal election and a third claiming conspiracy to violate mass mailing requirements, are similar to allegations raised in a civil suit that was filed in July by James’ unsuccessful challenger, Patricia A. Moore, who is seeking to have the election results nullified.

In the city primary April 16, Moore narrowly missed unseating James, capturing 49% of the vote to James’ 43% and forcing a runoff.

On June 4, James won by a convincing margin of almost 2 to 1. In her suit, Moore charged that her defeat was triggered by political dirty tricks played by the James campaign.

The first alleged dirty trick involved a campaign mailer that purported to carry an endorsement letter written by the Rev. Jesse Jackson. The letter quoted Jackson as saying that he was “deeply troubled” to learn that James was involved in a runoff. It offered to give any voter who “pledged to support Councilman James” a free copy of a record album bearing Jackson’s emotional 1984 speech, “Our Time Has Come,” which he delivered at the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco.

A spokesman for Jackson later denied that James had been given any endorsement. And a few days before the election, a Superior Court judge issued a restraining order to stop the album giveaway after Moore argued that it was tantamount to vote-buying.

At the time, Wright claimed sole responsibility for the mailing in comments to reporters, but said he was unaware that such an offer was illegal. James denied that he had any knowledge of it until after the mailing had been sent.

However, the grand jury disagreed, charging that both Wright and James “did offer or promise to pay or contribute valuable consideration to voters to induce the voters to vote for a particular person.”

A second last-minute mailer was sent out by the James campaign, bearing the official-sounding title of “June 4th Election Notice.” The mailing accurately stated that Moore had been disqualified as a candidate on March 4 because of a question involving her legal residence. However, it failed to add that Moore had been reinstated two days later when the city clerk determined that the post office had incorrectly listed her address.

The grand jury charged that the second mailer was an attempt at election fraud. And the conspiracy charge alleged that the notice was illegally sent in the name of United Campaign Task Force, when it was actually mailed under a bulk rate postal permit registered to James.