Lame Duck Quits Compton Council to Try in Another Race

Councilman Floyd A. James, defeated in his bid for reelection last month, has unexpectedly resigned to wage a write-in campaign against another councilman in a June 6 runoff election.

In a move that may trigger a political free-for-all, James resigned Tuesday from his 2nd District council seat to run against incumbent Councilman Robert L. Adams in the 3rd District. James’ move stunned the city’s political leaders and drew immediate fire from Adams and Bernice Woods, the Compton School District trustee who forced Adams into the runoff.

James’ resignation clears the way for the council to appoint Patricia Moore to finish his unexpired term. She defeated James in the April 18 election and was to have taken the seat on July 1. The council is expected to appoint Moore next Tuesday.

Adams called James’ write-in campaign an act of vindictiveness that will be repudiated by the voters. Woods accused James of trying to deceive Compton residents by suddenly declaring his residence to be in the 3rd District.

Latest Chapter in Feud

“The people of Compton are not so unintelligent that they will fall for this,” she said.

The election contest marks the latest chapter in a feud between Adams and James that began late last year when Adams’ son, Laurence, was fired as the city’s redevelopment director by City Manager James Goins. Laurence Adams serves as his father’s political strategist and chief campaign fund-raiser,

In announcing the write-in campaign, James said Robert Adams is not “capable of being a fair and impartial representative” because he is consumed with helping Laurence Adams regain his job.

James said he rebuffed entreaties from Laurence Adams to try to force the city manager to rehire him. Robert Adams and James were part of the council majority that consistently supported developer interests and received financial backing from the same contributors.

However, Adams apparently began actively working against James’ reelection in last month’s election. The morning after his defeat, James cited Adams’ support of Moore as the most important factor in his defeat.

At a press conference Tuesday in the City Council chambers where he announced his resignation in order to oppose Adams, James said he wants to continue several projects he started as a councilman and that he is running against Adams because the councilman “has become so emotionally involved due to the firing of his son . . . that he is no longer objective in making decisions which affect the city.”

James decided to resign after City Clerk Charles Davis confronted the councilman about moving his voter registration address earlier this month from a 2nd District address to 519 Corlett Ave. in the 3rd District. James said he owns a house at the Corlett address.

Council members are elected citywide, but must run for a council seat in the district in which they are registered to vote.

Davis said he made an inquiry to the county registrar of voters about James’ registration after hearing reports last week that campaign workers were handing out absentee ballots and asking residents to write in James’ name.

The registrar confirmed on Monday, Davis said, that James had switched his voting address.

Told Him He Could Resign

Davis said he called James and told him the councilman could resign, or that Davis would notify the council that James had vacated the seat. A council member who moves from one district to another automatically vacates the council seat, Davis said.

At his press conference Tuesday morning, James said he did not announce earlier that he had moved out of his council district to run against Adams, “because I did not want my strategy known to the public.”

James dismissed suggestions that he wanted to be a spoiler in this year’s election, mounting a write-in campaign just to see Adams defeated. James said he is in the race to win.

An elected official, who asked not to be named, said James has paid political workers on the streets handing out hundreds of absentee ballot requests. “He is in to win,” said the official. James said he is paying the workers but refused to say how much.

Adams said he was confident he would still be the winner in the runoff. “I was the front-runner in a field of eight,” he said, referring to the April election. “I feel I will repeat that performance in a field of three.”

Adams got 30.4% of the primary vote, with Woods garnering 19%. Only 19% of the city’s 40,113 voters went to the polls in the April election.

Woods, who showed up uninvited for James press conference, said she was equally confident of victory even with James in the race.

At the same time James was announcing that he would run against Adams, another runoff campaign was heating up. Mayoral candidate Chuck (E. Boyd) Esters Jr. called Tuesday for a “clean sweep” of city government with the firing of City Manager Goins and Police Chief Ivory Webb.

Under Goins, Esters said in a written statement, Compton’s government has become “rudderless,” neighborhoods have deteriorated and redevelopment has been mismanaged. Webb’s tenure, Esters said, has been “mostly one of public relations gimmicks” and hand-holding for the mayor and council. Drug and gang activity, Esters said, have not been reduced.

Declined to Comment

Goins and Webb declined to comment on Esters’ statements.

Incumbent Mayor Walter R. Tucker declined to comment directly on Esters’ call for the removal of the city manager and the police chief. Reiterating one of his campaign themes, the mayor questioned whether Esters’ comments were credible.

“The man hasn’t been in the city for years,” Tucker said. Esters, 37, worked on the East Coast and in the Midwest before returning to Compton in 1985 and setting up his business, VIP Transportation Co.