Local Elections : Well-Known Names Run Low-Key Races in Compton Election

Four of this city’s best known political figures are among the candidates set to square off Tuesday in a City Council election that follows one of the quietest local campaigns in years.

Veteran Councilman Maxcy D. Filer will try to retain his seat against the challenge of John Steward, a Compton Unified School District trustee making his first run at municipal office.

And Councilwoman Jane D. Robbins will face long-time school board member Manuel (Manny) Correa and a field of three others, including businessman Richard Bonner, civic activist Edward S. Loney and political newcomer Andrew Manley. Candidates must live in one of two council districts, but voting is citywide. If Robbins’ race is not decided Tuesday, a runoff will be conducted on June 5.

Unlike the last council race in 1985, when one incumbent spent a record $89,000 to retain what essentially is a part-time, four-year post paying $14,400 annually, none of the current candidates has spent more than $6,000.

Also absent is the acrimonious tone that accompanied the last election when council incumbents fought a bitter race--amid charges of political dirty tricks and election fraud--against a bloc of challengers supported by Rep. Mervyn M. Dymally (D-Compton). This year, there is virtually no debate, although city leaders continue to confront some of the most dramatic and difficult problems in urban America.

“I think it’s been low key,” Robbins agreed, “but then I don’t believe there are that many true issues to make it anything else. We are doing everything in our power to take care of the drugs and crime and get jobs for our people and raise our tax base.”

Not everyone agrees, however.

Jobs Is Biggest Need

“I can’t say one good thing about one single politician in this city,” said challenger Manley, 41, founder of a fledgling soft-drink manufacturing company based in Compton. “We have an administration here which is totally unsympathetic to the needs of the people.”

With unemployment at a staggering level, he said, “people are crying for jobs. However, that is the one thing that nobody (on the council) wants to deal with . . . Dope and gang violence in Compton are not the problem, they are the symptoms.”

Manley, frustrated last year when the council declined to loan $500,000 to take his Americola Beverage Co. into production, complained that city leaders are too close to private developers. And at a time when city revenues are declining, he noted, “the mayor can vote himself a $36,000 pay raise.”

“You have a city that is just dying. Men can’t be men because they can’t hold their heads up,” Manley said.

If elected, Manley said, he will do more to promote the development of local businesses, and “lobby to get the Sheriff’s Department in here” on a contract basis to replace a Compton police force that he said is understaffed and suffering from low morale.

This is Manley’s first attempt at public office, having moved to Compton only last December in part to run against Robbins. In an interview last week, he said he expects to spend about $6,000--more than any other candidate--mostly to purchase posters and literature and pay rent on his campaign office.

Bonner, a 45-year-old Compton beauty salon operator and partner in a trade show, said he does not blame Robbins for what he regards as the council’s failure to take a more active role in business development.

But Bonner said, “On the business side, I think I have more experience than Mrs. Robbins. Maybe she’s justified in taking the actions she has, but I think it’s time for a change.”

If elected, Bonner said he would try to have the city “play a part in” getting local businesses to supply more of the products and services that Compton residents consume. He said he would try to foster growth by stepping up city beautification efforts and supporting police crackdowns on crime.

“People are not going to move into an area that they have a lot of reservations about,” he said.

Through the first week of this month, Bonner’s campaign had spent about $3,000 on what will be his first attempt to seek election since being defeated in 1976 by Councilman Floyd A. James.

Tried to Withdraw

Loney, a 49-year-old operations engineer for the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, is making his third attempt to win city office, having been defeated by Filer in 1983 and losing to Mayor Walter R. Tucker in 1985.

When he saw the size of this year’s field challenging Robbins, Loney tried to bow out. But after discovering that he had missed the deadline for removing his name from the ballot--Loney said he was out of town that day--he decided to press on with a campaign.

“Mrs. Robbins has a tendency to vote ‘no’ for the things the citizens want,” Loney charged, “like the (proposal to appoint a) police commission.”

“I would lobby my colleagues one by one if necessary and work with the city manager to bring in industry, Loney said.” He said he also favors lowering taxes and license fees in order to stimulate business development. And he added that, “Unless we can cut the crime we’re not going to have progress.”

Loney said he has spent little money in his campaign and has yet to file a financial report with city election officials.

Crime His Biggest Issue

Name recognition alone might give Correa, a 22-year school board member, the best chance of defeating Robbins. Although he remains interested in school affairs, the 61-year-old former Compton police commander said he has always wanted to take part in city politics. He said he chose to run now because this is the first time Robbins’ seat has been up for election since he retired from the police force in December, 1983, after 31 years.

“I am not a great campaigner,” Correa said, in explaining why he was the only candidate not to have offered a statement to voters on the sample ballot sent out by election officials. He said he has spent about $1,000 on the race and has no plans to exceed that amount.

Correa said he believes that crime is the city’s most pressing problem, one the council could attack with “a lot more resources.”

“Who in the world wants to move into a city where the odds of being robbed are this heavy?” he asked. “Our department is undermanned . . . People are complaining that they can’t walk the streets without being offered drugs.

“The establishment of businesses in the city, the establishment of a tax base, all of these are important.” But, Correa said, “If you don’t take care of the crime situation, how in the world do you make it enticing for (businesses) to move in?”

Correa acknowledged that he and Robbins do not necessarily disagree on their approaches to city problems. “I’m hard-put to say she and I oppose each other on any of these issues.”

But Correa said that, to some extent, he might be more willing to compromise on construction of the Los Angeles-to-Long Beach light rail transit system, which city officials vigorously oppose on the grounds that the tracks would impede downtown traffic. Correa said transit officials might revise the rail plans if city officials become more conciliatory.

Although he underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery in 1985, Correa said doctors have since pronounced him fit enough to stand the pace and pressures of public office.

Backer of Redevelopment

Incumbent Robbins, a 67-year-old retired Compton public school teacher, has served on the council 11 years and helped shape much of its downtown redevelopment.

“I would certainly like to be able to complete our (Compton Boulevard) north side business district, the revitalization of that,” Robbins said. “I would like to see our hotel in place and going, I would like to see the complete renovation of Long Beach Boulevard” where it cuts north through the east side of Compton.

“The more redevelopment we do the more jobs we give to our unemployed,” she said. And that, she said, has an effect on other city problems, such as crime.

Robbins has spent about $1,500 on the campaign and reported receiving a non-monetary contribution worth $345 from local developer Danny Bakewell, who paid costs related to a campaign fund-raiser.

“I think that the people of the City of Compton are far more sophisticated than when Maxcy (Filer) and I started running,” Robbins said confidently. “They know what we’ve accomplished . . . I haven’t had too many complaints from my constituents.”

Often Casts ‘No’ Votes

Filer, a 56-year-old law clerk working in his son’s legal office, also has held his council post for 11 years and for much of that time has been an outspoken critic of the council majority. Other council members have openly characterized him as a constant naysayer.

“I think the people now realize that it isn’t just a ‘no’ vote for the sake of a ‘no’ vote,” Filer said, “It’s something that I’ve studied and gone over. I think the people realize that when I vote ‘no’ they (should) look at the issue that much harder.”

Over the past few weeks of his campaign, Filer said he has found that many citizens are upset about the level of crime in the city, but most of them don’t hold the council responsible.

There is “general criticism,” he said, “but the question usually is ‘what can we do about it?’ They realize it can’t be done by the police (alone) . . . It has to be a community effort to clean it up.”

Filer said he believes the council should concentrate more on firmly enforcing the city’s building and land-use codes. “You attract businesses that way because they look to see what type of neighborhood it is,” he said.

Filer has reported spending about $1,600 on his campaign, mostly to pay for literature and posters that he has taken door-to-door. While the campaign seems lackluster to some observers, Filer quipped, “it hasn’t been quiet to me because my legs are just about worn out.”

Leadership Style

Meanwhile, Steward, a 44-year-old deputy probation officer and two-term school board member known for his occasional confrontations with Supt. Ted D. Kimbrough, is offering himself as an alternative to Filer based on what he describes as “leadership style.”

“I don’t know that there is any real difference, I think, in terms of the voting patterns,” Steward said. For example, both men believe that the light rail system should include the diversion of freight trains onto tracks away from the passenger line, he said.

“The thing that I will bring to city government is a leadership style” and “my traits of character as a public servant,” Steward said. “People who have watched me know that they can depend on John Steward.”

Steward said he favors more commercial development in the city, but “won’t accept just anything that comes down the tube,” such as a waste-to-energy plant.

And in keeping with his past school board campaigns, Steward said, most of the nearly $5,000 he has spent has come out of his own pocket.

In recent months, Steward has been a vocal supporter of school district teachers who have been striking to obtain higher pay. His repeated clashes with Kimbrough have endeared him to some parents and teachers who also dislike the school administrator. But Steward is unsure whether that will help or hurt him in the council race.

“Many voters,” he said, “may feel that they don’t wish me to leave the school board.”