Wilson Trial to Start Tuesday : Esteem Is Still High for Indicted Official

Though federal prosecutors accuse Councilman James Wilson of defrauding this city’s residents of their right to honest government, his constituents and a number of prominent community leaders have rallied behind him in the final days before his trial.

Wilson, the only black ever to serve on the Long Beach City Council, was indicted Jan. 23 on charges of taking $53,500 from a fireworks manufacturer in exchange for his support of fireworks legislation.

His trial in federal court in Los Angeles is set to begin on Tuesday, but the defense has asked for a hearing to argue for a delay because of Wilson’s ongoing heart problems.

Contributions Solicited

Two weeks ago, representatives from more than a dozen of the black community’s churches called a special meeting to thank Wilson for his 16 years of council service and to solicit contributions for his legal defense. Supporters said $2,000 was raised.

Four days later, another $15,000 was donated at a reception by the newly formed Black Business and Professional Assn. of Long Beach, sponsors said.

Mayor Ernie Kell and Councilmen Thomas Clark and Marc A. Wilder were there to lend their support. So were City Atty. John R. Calhoun, City Prosecutor John Vander Lans, City Auditor Robert Fronke, Police Officers Assn. President Douglas Drummond and many of the community’s top business leaders.

“Jim Wilson has been a plus for the city of Long Beach,” said Kell, a friend since 1975. “Overall, I would rate him one of the top council members, one of the most effective. He gets along well with his colleagues, and he’s able to get his agenda through.”

Wilson, who has strongly supported downtown construction projects and an array of human-rights issues, has voted consistently, the mayor said, “in the best interests of this city. People can be accused of something, but that doesn’t mean they’re guilty.”

To some supporters, the guilt or innocence of Wilson, a one-time City Hall janitor who directed anti-poverty jobs programs before capturing the District 6 council seat in 1970, makes little difference in how they see him.

“Whether he wins or loses, it really doesn’t influence the way people who know him perceive him,” said William Barnes, dean of the Pacific Coast Campus of Long Beach City College, who has known Wilson for 40 years.

“They would lament that he had broken the law,” said Barnes, “but they wouldn’t be involved with any of that. They’d talk about all the contributions and sacrifices he’s made in order to represent the people.”

It was not until Wilson’s election that the black community started to believe that “our system really does work,” Barnes said. “So, the important thing about Jim Wilson is what he represents to this community.”

Efforts to Legalize Fireworks

Wilson, 58, is accused of taking the $53,500 from political corruption figure W. Patrick Moriarty from September, 1978, to March, 1983, while leading unsuccessful efforts in 1979 and 1981 to legalize “safe and sane” fireworks in Long Beach.

Prosecutors say that most of the money was paid with 22 checks sent through the mail. Wilson is also charged with illegally concealing those payments on four statements of economic interest mailed to the state. In all, Wilson has been charged with 26 counts of mail fraud.

If convicted, the councilman would be removed from office and face a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment and a $1,000 fine on each count.

The indictment also said that Wilson used his council position in 1982 to try to persuade state legislators to vote for a bill that would have taken away from cities and counties the power to ban the safe and sane fireworks.

Wilson’s attorney, Terry Amdur, has argued that his client was merely a consultant to one of Moriarty’s companies, and that Wilson supported the sale of fireworks before meeting Moriarty.

In a recent interview, Wilson said part of his trial defense will be that he first voted for safe and sane fireworks in 1970, shortly after being elected to the council and years before he met Moriarty.

Profits to Other Cities

He voted for the sales of fireworks because the main effect of Long Beach’s ban was to allow organizations in nearby cities such as Signal Hill to monopolize profits, Wilson said.

“In my district, a very poor district, we had organizations just trying to survive, but nobody made any money off fireworks,” he said.

Wilson would not discuss his role in supporting fireworks measures before the council in 1979 and 1981.

Kell, Clark and Councilman Wallace Edgerton all said that Wilson did not lobby them on those votes.

“It’s not Jim’s style to lobby,” said Kell of the low-key Wilson. Clark, an opponent of fireworks, said that he and Wilson had debated before the 1970 vote, and that Wilson knew where he stood.

And Edgerton, who voted with Wilson, said: “I’m confident Jim’s position on fireworks was sincere. . . . And I certainly have not seen anything that would lead me to believe he is anything but an honorable guy.”

Voted His Conscience

Wilson said that he voted his conscience in both 1979 and 1981. He has had second thoughts about those votes and his Moriarty employment only because of the indictment, he said.

“I didn’t do anything wrong with that relationship,” Wilson insisted. “But if you end up indicted, you’d think twice.”

Moriarty, who founded Pyrotronics Inc., once one of the nation’s largest fireworks manufacturers, was sentenced to seven years in prison Jan. 31 after pleading guilty to seven counts of mail fraud in connection with bribing and corrupting political figures and bankers.

Moriarty is expected to be a witness against Wilson. He has cooperated fully in the Wilson investigation, a Moriarty attorney said in January.

Wilson’s attorneys, in an attempt to delay the trial, have filed a motion for a hearing “to determine whether his cardiac condition is endangered by the stress of the upcoming trial.” The motion is set to be heard Tuesday.

Wilson has been hospitalized “several” times for heart problems during the last four years, most recently in late January, he said. “I feel good, . . . but my doctor has had some different feelings about it,” said Wilson. Dr. Murray Menter of Long Beach, Wilson’s physician, could not be reached for comment.

Seen as Important Figure

Regardless of the trial’s outcome, Wilson should be seen as an important figure in Long Beach history because he is the council’s first black member, said several friends and constituents.

“When the white councilman was there, we couldn’t even get him to come down and talk to us,” said Hildren Cheatham, a longtime political ally of Wilson, who said he has know Wilson for 37 years. “We didn’t have a swimming pool, we didn’t have any parks, we didn’t have any contact with the City Hall.”

Well-qualified blacks, including an attorney who became a municipal judge, had sought election to the council before Wilson, said Barnes, the community college dean.

But it was not until Wilson was elected that the black community had its first prominent city leader.

Long Beach, 11% black in 1980, still has elected no blacks to its school district or community college boards. Consequently, Wilson has been “asked to wear a great number of hats. He has become a spokesperson for a great number of things . . . and has developed a tremendous knowledge of overall community needs,” said Barnes.

Born in a small Texas town in 1928, Wilson moved to Long Beach at age 13, attended Hamilton Junior High School and Poly High School, then entered but dropped out of Long Beach City College.

City Hall Janitor

He married his wife, Audrey, when both were 18, and worked for the next four years as a dishwasher at restaurants, Wilson said. In 1950, he got a job as a City Hall janitor and worked at it until 1965. Then, in a succession of jobs, he was an insurance salesman, a laborer for Union Oil Co., and an administrator of two federal jobs programs, he said.

During those years, he became a director of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and was chosen president of the NAACP’s local youth council.

Wilson continued to work for federal anti-poverty programs after prevailing in the 1970 council race. By 1975, when he was elected vice mayor, Wilson had a job as a phone company community relations specialist.

At the same time, he was becoming known as Long Beach’s representative at the Southern California Assn. of Governments. He became president of that planning council’s executive board, then was chosen president of the affiliated National Assn. of Regional Councils.

In the late 1970s, Wilson said, he became a consultant for Financial Loan Consultants, a company half owned by Moriarty. He received monthly checks of $500 from September, 1978, to May, 1981, when his fee was increased to $1,500 a month, the indictment says. The payments ended in January, 1983, it says.

In addition, Wilson received $2,500 from another Moriarty-owned company in 1981 and $4,500 directly from Moriarty in March, 1983, the indictment says.

Wilson would not comment on what he did to earn the money.

Only Reported Income

Moriarty-related consulting fees and his council salary were Wilson’s only reported income during 1979 through 1983. His annual salary as a part-time councilman was about $9,000 in 1983 and is $12,600 today.

Through the succession of non-public jobs, Wilson remained an effective councilman, friends and colleagues maintain.

To illustrate that point, James Gray, president of Harbor Bank, recalled Wilson’s response to a tense racial situation in 1971.

Following weeks of unrest and after a number of fights between whites and blacks at Poly High, Wilson joined Gray, then a school board member, in meetings at parents’ homes in both the black and white communities. Wilson’s calm assurances helped dissipate the “semi-hysteria,” Gray said.

“In 16 years of experience I have found Jim to be a fine public servant,” said Gray. “In an era of changing demographics, he has had a consistency in not overreacting on behalf of causes.”

Clark, a councilman since 1966, said Wilson has successfully championed a string of proposals that have brought new housing, recreational facilities and jobs to the central city. The city’s first redevelopment zone was established in Wilson’s district in 1974.

Though often quiet in council debate, Wilson has backed a variety of civil rights issues. In an impassioned plea last year, and in the face of stiff opposition, he argued for a two-day gay pride festival in a public park.

In recent months, he has persuaded the city to change the name of a street to Martin Luther King Boulevard, helped bring a bronze bust of King to an inner-city park, and argued for the divestiture of city funds from companies doing business with South Africa.

“We feel Jim has done a good job,” said Frank Berry, president of the NAACP’s local chapter. “He’s a good person and, as far as his guilt or innocence, that really hasn’t been the topic of conversation.”

Unfairly Singled Out

The black community has reacted to the Wilson indictment not with embarrassment but with a suspicion that the councilman has been unfairly singled out for prosecution because he is black, Berry said.

Berry said he was not aware that Wilson was the 10th defendant and the fourth city councilman to be indicted in connection with local and federal investigations of Moriarty’s activities. So far, the investigation has produced eight convictions and one acquittal.

Wilson is aware of those statistics.

“I know (the trial) is going to be tough, it’s going to be hard,” he said. “And maybe I’m naive, but I believe with all my heart I’m going to walk out of there a free man.”