ELECTIONS COMPTON : Attorney Succeeds Father as Mayor : Government: Walter R. Tucker III gets 36.7% of the mayoral vote. Two City Council seats will be contested in a June 4 runoff.

Walter R. Tucker III is the city’s new mayor, defeating six candidates Tuesday in a special election to succeed his father, who died of cancer last fall.

The 33-year-old attorney is expected to take the oath of office next week.

Runoff elections will be held June 4 for two City Council seats on the ballot because no candidate received more than 50% of the vote Tuesday.

District 1 council candidate Pedro Pallan became the first Latino ever to make it into a runoff for a Compton council seat, according to political observers. He will face Omar Bradley, a 32-year-old Lynwood High School teacher, who led six candidates, receiving 31.2% of the vote. Pallan received 21% to finish second.

Incumbent Councilwoman Jane D. Robbins received 38.1% of the vote in District 4, but it is not yet certain who her opponent will be in June. Jean Sanders leads Richard Bonner by 11 votes, but 30 ballots are in contention. The Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters must determine which of the 30 are valid, City Clerk Charles Davis said.

Those 30 ballots belong to people who voted, but were not listed on the voter rolls. The registrar will determine if the 30 are legitimately registered to vote.

In the special election for mayor, the top vote-getter was declared the winner. Tucker, making his first bid for public office, captured 36.7% of the vote. He easily defeated his nearest opponent, Councilwoman Patricia A. Moore, and two other council members, Maxcy D. Filer and Bernice Woods.

“I want to dedicate this victory to my late father,” Tucker said as well-wishers showered him with congratulatory cheers and hugs after the vote total was announced in the City Council chambers.

“He’s the one who laid the foundation,” Tucker said of his father, who was mayor for nine years. “He showed true caring for the community.”

Moore, who has been on the council only two years, tried to wrest control of the city from the political forces that supported the elder Tucker and now support his son. However, Moore was able to capture only 27.8% of the vote.

Councilman Filer, whose council term expires in June, received 23.8% of the votes cast. The defeat leaves the veteran politician out of elected office for the first time in 15 years. Filer had planned to retire from the council this year, but decided to run for mayor after the elder Tucker died.

Overall turnout in the election was 20.3%.

Tucker said he believes he can work with Moore, though he said that she conducted a smear campaign against him. “The ball’s in her court,” he said.

Campaign mailings directed against Tucker pointed out that he was fired from the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office in 1988 and sentenced to a year’s probation for falsifying evidence in connection with a case he was prosecuting. The State Bar Assn. recently put him on a year’s probation as a result of the case.

“It’s time to take the high road,” Tucker said in a brief interview Tuesday night. His victory, he said, proved that the people of Compton want new vision and new ideas.

The new mayor’s first municipal crisis will be a financial one. Dwindling revenues have forced the city in the last two budget years to decrease services and the work force. A $10-million deficit is projected for next year.

Tucker said it was too soon to say how he will deal with the deficit. He said he will meet as soon as possible with the city manager and staff to assess the budget situation.

Tucker also said that bringing job training programs to the city will be one of his priorities. He said labor unions have promised to set up training centers in the city.

Moore said Tuesday night that, although she was disappointed in the election results, she will try to work with the others on the council.

Both District 1 council candidates, Bradley and Pallan, said they would seek the endorsement of Filer, who held the council seat for 15 years.

“I will ask for Maxcy’s endorsement,” Bradley said. “If he doesn’t give it, I will understand. He is a very independent thinker.” Bradley said he is confident that he will win in June.

Pallan praised Filer, describing him as “a very strong and tough incumbent. I will ask for his help.”

Filer said he has not decided whether to endorse either candidate.

Pallan, a 57-year-old bakery owner who is president of the Latino Chamber of Commerce, attributed his showing to an aggressive walking campaign directed at both Latino and black voters. “I walked the streets and I talked to everyone,” he said.

In District 4, Robbins, 71, is seeking her fourth term. Sanders, the wife of the city’s treasurer, Wesley Sanders Jr., predicted that her vote edge will hold and that she will beat Robbins in June.

Sanders said she will continue to stress that Robbins lacks the energy to tackle the city’s problems and is out of touch with the voters.

Sanders, who manages a cemetery in the city, received 19.2% of the votes to 19% for Bonner, a beauty salon owner who was making his fifth bid for a council seat. In 1987, he came within 34 votes of winning.

“I’m waiting to see what the results will be,” Bonner said Wednesday morning. “It would be nice to be in the runoff.”

THE NEW MAYOR Walter R. Tucker III

Born: May 28, 1957, in Compton

Education: BA in political science from USC, law degree from Georgetown University Law School

Occupation: Attorney

History: No previous political races; managed several campaigns for his father, the late mayor, Walter R. Tucker Jr.

ELECTION RETURNS

* COMPTON

* Mayor*

34 of 34 Precincts Reporting

(Absentee Ballots Not Included)

CANDIDATE VOTE % Patricia Moore 1,624 27.0 Bernice Woods 357 5.9 Maxcy D. Filer 1,430 23.8 Walter R. Tucker III 2,207 36.7 Lisa C. Weir 97 1.6 Floyd James 193 3.1 Saul Lankster 109 1.8

*Winner serves remaining two years of unexpired term.

* City Council

34 of 34 Precincts Reporting

(Absentee Ballots Not Included)

District 1*

CANDIDATE VOTE % Omar Bradley 1,909 32.5 Walter Goodin 1,010 17.1 Pedro Pallan 1,231 21.0 Stephen Randle 365 6.2 R.J. Gray 250 4.2 John Steward 1,114 19.0

*Top two finishers will meet in runoff.

District 4*

34 of 34 Precincts Reporting

(Absentee Ballots Not Included)

CANDIDATE VOTE % Richard Bonner 1,121 19.1 Basil Kimbrew 1,000 17.0 Jean Sanders 1,170 19.9 Ethel Young 329 5.6 Jane Robbins (i) 2,265 38.5

(i) incumbent

*Top two finishers will meet in runoff.