Bradley Backs Broome for 10th District Seat

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley on Tuesday endorsed Homer Broome Jr., a longtime friend and political ally, to fill the 10th City Council District seat that Bradley himself once held, setting up a potentially heated election next April.

With five months to go before the election, Broome won the twin endorsements of the mayor and former Councilman David Cunningham, who resigned the 10th Council office on Oct. 1. The district in Southwest Los Angeles is a racially mixed, largely residential area extending from Koreatown on the east to the Palms community on the west.

Words of Praise

At a City Hall news conference, Broome, vice president of the Board of Public Works, won lavish praise from Bradley and Cunningham as the candidate needed to combat the soaring crime and decay that has scarred neighborhoods in the largely black district.

Bradley, who has known the 55-year-old Broome for nearly 40 years, told reporters that the man he named as a public works commissioner in 1981 had served the city “with distinction” and had the “intellect, the skill, the dedication and the devotion” to serve on the City Council.

“I hope that we will have a hard-fought, spirited but clean campaign,” said Bradley who gave his friend a personal check for $500 as a political contribution at the news conference. “I know that we can expect that from Homer Broome.”

Former Police Officer

Cunningham, who left office to join an investment banking firm, called Broome, running for his first elective office, “one of the finest gentlemen to enter the political scene in many a year.”

Broome, like Bradley, is a former Los Angeles Police Department officer who also served as a deputy administrator of the U.S. Justice Department’s Law Enforcement Assistance Administration under President Jimmy Carter. Citing that background, Broome promised to make the fight against “crime, drugs and street violence” and the “rehabilitation and renovation” of the 10th District the cornerstones of his campaign.

Broome said he would resign his $60,357-a-year public works job after his candidacy is certified. He is expected to face a formidable challenge from a field that may include school board member Rita Walters; former State Sen. Nate Holden; Myrlie Evers, the widow of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers; Kenneth Orduna, an aide to Rep. Mervyn Dymally (D-Compton) and businessman Earl (Skip) Cooper.

About 20 people have filed papers with the city clerk to begin raising funds for a possible council campaign. Broome, however, is the first to formally announce his candidacy.

In announcing his support for Broome, Bradley said a number of candidates had sought his backing but he refused to identify them. The mayor added that he decided to back Broome after an endorsement committee he had formed failed to reach a consensus.

Tuesday’s carefully orchestrated news conference was heavily covered by the media, but Bradley insisted it was “not designed to serve as a means of eliminating anybody. Everybody has a right to run.”

Several of Broome’s likely opponents conceded that the endorsements should help his candidacy but will not sway most voters.

“I don’t think people are going to be fooled,” said Holden. “People are going to choose their own candidate.”

“I think it’s more helpful to him than it is harmful to me,” said Walters, who said she plans to give up her school board position to run.