Voters Facing a Slate of 32 Candidates for 5 City Offices : Elections: A new mayor, two City Council members, a city treasurer, city clerk and city attorney are scheduled to be chosen April 20. If needed, runoffs will be held June 1.

The City Council meeting had just started. The cable television camera was rolling, the weekly proclamations were issued and then, like clockwork, they arrived. Kenneth Tucker stepped up to the podium and, with a couple of glances into the camera, fired off a round of questions. Yvonne Arceneaux demanded to know why the council wouldn’t rent Rep. Walter R. Tucker III, the city’s former mayor, an office in the transit center. At another meeting, Kellie Irving said she was glad a new education program is coming to the city, and Chuck Esters wanted to know what the noise was that woke him up at 1 a.m. Until recently, most of them had rarely appeared at a council meeting. For the next seven weeks, they and others will come, to ask questions and demand answers under the unwavering eye of the camera. Another campaign season has arrived in Compton. On April 20, this city of 35,000 eligible voters will be asked to elect a new mayor, two City Council members, a city treasurer, city clerk and city attorney. According to the final tally released by the city last week, 32 people are running for office--one of the largest groups in at least 10 years, said City Clerk Charles Davis, himself a candidate. The field includes many familiar faces--three current council members, two former council members who say no one has done the job as well as they did, sons and daughters of past city leaders hoping to carry on a tradition, and perennial candidates who say that this time they will win. Also running are several newcomers who are calling for an end to dynasties and business as usual. As one young candidate put it: “Vote for our future, not our past.” All seats are elected at large, but City Council seats represent a particular district. Candidates must receive 50% plus one vote to win on April 20. If necessary, runoff elections will be held on June 1. The winners will take charge of a city still reeling from last spring’s civil unrest. Many buildings still lie in rubble, stores have yet to reopen, joblessness is chronic. And the city, where two police officers recently were shot to death, must contend with what many residents have said is an undeserved national reputation as a gangland ghetto. Several issues have already emerged, but perhaps the hottest is the City Council’s recent decision to approve a vast entertainment complex, including a card casino. Council members Omar Bradley, Bernice Woods and Jane D. Robbins, who passed the measure, argued that the city needs the money, but many residents were outraged that Compton leaders refused to place the issue on a ballot. Like past elections, this one is expected to be expensive and hard-fought, particularly among the candidates vying for the mayor’s seat--left vacant when Tucker was elected to Congress. The campaign started with a bang when Tucker backed his brother, Kenneth, 29. The announcement shocked Councilwoman Patricia A. Moore, who said Tucker had promised her his endorsement. Although Walter Tucker and Moore were once political enemies, during Tucker’s congressional campaign they blazed the campaign trail together--appearing side-by-side at churches, in newspaper photos and press conferences. But Tucker said that although he and Moore had resolved their past differences, he never promised to back her for mayor. Moore’s recent comments at the funeral of one of two slain Compton police officers also are sure to become campaign fodder. At the funeral, attended by hundreds of police officers, Moore implied that police and prosecutors were responsible for the incarceration of hundreds of innocent African-American men. Her colleagues on the council, including Bradley, one of her chief rivals in the race, have called for Moore to make a public apology. She has refused. Here is a brief look at the candidates:

MAYOR * Robert Adams Sr., 61, a mortician and a resident since 1950. Adams served on the City Council from 1977 to 1989 and is president of Adams Funeral Home. He is a member of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People and the Chamber of Commerce. * Omar Bradley, 35, city councilman. Bradley is a lifelong resident of Compton and was elected to the council in 1991. He received his bachelor’s degree in television communications from Cal State Long Beach and is now chairman of the English Department at Lynwood High School. * John Clark, 41, businessman. A lifelong resident of Compton, Clark is founder of a nonprofit organization that counsels disabled people and at-risk youth and has been active in other programs for the handicapped. * Kellie S. Irving, 26, businesswoman. A lifelong resident, Irving is a graduate of Compton Community College. She also attended USC and Cal State Dominguez Hills, where she studied public administration and Spanish. * Patricia A. Moore, 44, city councilwoman. Moore was elected in 1989 after two unsuccessful tries. She ran unsuccessfully for State Assembly last year and has been active in several high-profile cases involving African-Americans, including the shooting of a black teen-ager by a Korean grocer in Los Angeles and more recently the case of four black men charged with the beating of truck driver Reginald O. Denny during the April riots. * Johnny Randle, a local minister. Randle did not file a candidate’s statement and could not be reached for comment. * Kenneth Tucker, 29, engineer and lifelong resident. Tucker is the son of the late Mayor Walter R. Tucker II and the younger brother of Rep. Walter R. Tucker III. He studied mechanical engineering at Howard University in Washington and for the last two years has worked as an engineering analyst for Nissan Motor Corp. He also owns a small publishing company and a nonprofit foundation that helps at-risk students.

COUNCIL: 2nd District * Lynn Dymally, 34, Compton Unified School District board member. Dymally is the daughter of retired Rep. Mervyn Dymally and ran unsuccessfully for his seat last fall. She was elected to the school board in 1983 and received her law degree from Whittier College in 1988. In January, she became vice president of Dymally International Group Inc., an Inglewood-based consulting firm specializing in projects in Africa and the Caribbean. * Floyd James, 52, developer. James is a lifelong Compton resident and was a member of the City Council from 1977 to 1989. He attended Compton Community College and Cal State Dominguez Hills and is past president of the Compton Lion’s Club. * Vernell R. McDaniel. McDaniel did not file a candidate’s statement and could not be reached for comment. * Marcine Shaw, 62, retired senior deputy county supervisor. Shaw was the senior deputy to former county Supervisor Kenneth Hahn for 17 years. She now chairs numerous boards, including the Compton Unified School District personnel commission.

COUNCIL: 3rd District * Yvonne Arceneaux, 46, senior personnel clerk for Compton Unified School District. A lifelong Compton resident, Arceneaux studied business administration at Compton Community College. She has been a member of several education task forces. * Lugene R. Brooks, 50, real estate broker. Brooks, who has lived in Compton 28 years, graduated from Pepperdine University. * Fred Cressel, 55, owner of Cressel’s Stationers, Mr. Presto Printing and the Moon-Lite Chinese Restaurant in Compton. A Compton resident for 33 years, he is the outgoing president of the Chamber of Commerce and a member of the city gang task force and the Democratic Club of Compton. * Haywood James, 60, retired manufacturing design engineer. A Compton resident since 1958, he designs evening wear. * Bernice Woods, retired teacher, councilwoman and Compton resident since 1951. Woods was elected to the council in 1989 after12 years as a member of the Compton Unified School District board. She is a member of numerous organizations including the NAACP and the National Council of Negro Women.

CITY TREASURER * Richard Bonner, business owner. Bonner is a 25-year resident of Compton and owns a local beauty salon. He is executive officer of the Black Gold Trade Show, a barber and beauty salon trade show, and is past president of the Compton Rotary Club. He has served on the boards of the Compton YMCA and the Parks and Recreation Commission. * Patricia Moore Dees, 37, business license inspector. Dees has been a resident since 1968 and a license inspector for nine years. She graduated from Compton Community College with a business degree and is a member of the NAACP. * Chuck Esters, 41, businessman. Esters, who has lived in Compton since 1962, owns an import-export firm. He graduated from American University in Washington with a bachelor’s degree in political science. * Royce Esters, 55, tax consultant and bookkeeper. Esters has been a tax accountant in Compton for more than 30 years. He is president of the Compton chapter of the NAACP. * Edward Hicks, 54, businessman. A 28-year resident of Compton, Hicks owns a group home for emotionally disturbed and abused children. A former Compton police officer, Hicks has a bachelor’s degree in public administration from Cal State Dominguez Hills. He is a member of the NAACP and is on the board of directors for the Compton Youth Services Center. * Saul E. Lankster, 48, television producer. A Compton resident since 1963, Lankster is the producer of his own cable television show, which features African-Americans. He holds a law degree from Pacific Coast University. * Douglas Sanders, 36, financial and accounting assistant. Sanders is a lifelong resident of Compton and is the son of the late City Treasurer Wesley Sanders Jr. He is an accounting student at USC and expects to graduate in May. * Earlean B. Sanders, 55, retired teacher. Sanders has lived in Compton for 25 years and was a teacher for more than 30 years, much of that with the Compton Unified School District. She has a master’s degree in public administration from Pepperdine University. * John Steward, 50, deputy probation officer. Steward, a Compton resident since 1966, works for Los Angeles County and has been a member of the Compton Unified School district board for 12 years. He has a master’s degree in public administration from Pepperdine University. * Dolores Zurita, 56, administrator. Zurita, a 44-year Compton resident, is the chief financial officer for Dickison Community Lighted Schools, which serves meals to needy seniors.

CITY CLERK * Charles Davis, 48, city clerk. Davis, has lived in Compton since 1971 and was elected city clerk in 1973, making him the city’s senior elected official. He graduated from Cal State Los Angeles with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and owns a Compton travel agency. * Deborah Gayles, 34, student and administrative assistant. Gayles is a 32-year resident of Compton and recently worked for Hughes Aircraft as a library technical coordinator. She is now a full-time student studying business administration at Cal State Los Angeles. In 1991, she received the YWCA Outstanding Women in Our Community Award. * John Gomez, 47, retired administrator. Gomez has lived in Compton since 1976 and for 12 years was the administrator of the 132nd Engineers Unit of the National Guard. He plans to set up a day-care center for Alzheimer’s patients. * Veronica Spellman-Powell, 34, secretary and substitute teacher. Powell, who has lived in Compton for 28 years, has teaching credentials from Cal State Los Angeles and has 17 years’ experience in office work.

CITY ATTORNEY * Frank Bazadier, 58, attorney. Bazadier received his law degree from the now defunct Van Norman Law School in Los Angeles and has practiced criminal and civil law for 23 years. He is legal adviser for the Compton chapter of the NAACP and is chairman of the board of the Compton Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation. * Wesley Fenderson Jr., 46, city attorney. Fenderson grew up in Compton and attended Occidental College, Pepperdine University Graduate School of Business and USC School of Law. He has been city attorney for 12 years.