Mudslinging Increases as Mayoral Race Nears End : Campaign: Omar Bradley and Patricia Moore trade charges of improprieties. He threatens to sue for defamation. She accuses him of destroying her placards.

Almost every pole and fence in this city is coated with election placards and flyers. Candidates crisscross the town in their door-to-door search for votes. And as the hours tick down to Tuesday’s city runoff election, the campaigning seems increasingly personal.

Mayoral hopeful Omar Bradley has been accused of sneaking out in the dead of night to rip up the signs of his rival, Patricia A. Moore. She, in turn, has been charged by him with sending out inflammatory campaign mail. Both have threatened court action against each other.

On Tuesday, voters will decide the mayoral race between Moore and Bradley, both of whom now serve on the City Council. Bradley was the top vote-getter in the April primary, receiving 35% of the vote to 26% for Moore. He also has raised more money for his campaign. But Moore, who has a higher profile outside the city, has been running an aggressive campaign.

Voters also will decide two City Council races and elect a city treasurer in the runoff.

In the City Council race for the 2nd District seat, which covers city territory north of Compton Boulevard and east of Willowbrook Avenue, Compton Unified School District Trustee Lynn Dymally faces Marcine Shaw, onetime deputy to former county Supervisor Kenneth Hahn. Moore gave up the seat to run for mayor.

In the 3rd District, which includes city territory west of Willowbrook Avenue and south of Compton Boulevard, Councilwoman Bernice Woods is being challenged by Yvonne Arceneaux, a Compton School District personnel clerk.

For the open seat of treasurer, Douglas Sanders, son of the late treasurer Wesley Sanders, is competing with Delores Zurita, the chief financial officer of a small nonprofit food program for the elderly.

Council candidate Dymally and mayoral candidate Bradley have been the leading fund-raisers during the runoff campaign, and have filled mailboxes with expensive, colorful brochures announcing plans to bring jobs to Compton. Dymally said she has raised $17,000; Bradley said he has garnered $12,000.

Moore said she has raised $5,500 for her runoff campaign. She and most of the other candidates have opted for a signs and a lot of door-to-door canvassing to put across their messages.

By far the most contentious race has been for mayor, where Moore accused Bradley late last week of destroying some of her campaign signs. Bradley then threatened to sue Moore for defamation of character.

Moore claimed she saw Bradley and a campaign worker tearing down her campaign signs just after midnight Wednesday. Moore and a campaign aide gave chase in her car, eventually getting help from a police helicopter, she said. Moore said Bradley pulled over into a hotel parking lot after he saw three squad cars waiting for him at an intersection. She also said police took a statement from Bradley, searched his truck and allowed him to leave.

Bradley said he did not tear up Moore’s campaign signs and was never chased by police. He said he did not know who was following him and tried to get away because he thought he was being pursued by a possible carjacker.

Police would only say they are investigating Moore’s allegations about sign destruction. In a police report on the incident, officers said they found Moore’s campaign signs ripped up in 12 locations along the route that she claims Bradley took.

Earlier in the week, a group of Bradley supporters bought a full-page ad in a local newspaper with the headline “Tucker Refuses to Endorse Moore” beside a photo of the former mayor, Rep. Walter R. Tucker III (D-Compton).

The ad angered Moore’s campaign because the congressman hasn’t endorsed either candidate in the runoff. The ad contained excerpts of a letter written by Tucker last December, explaining why he had endorsed his brother, Kenneth, for mayor in the primary. Kenneth Tucker trailed Bradley and Moore in the primary vote and has since endorsed Moore.

On Thursday, a group of Moore’s supporters put out a mailer urging voters to call Bradley at home or in his car and ask him “how much money he got” for voting in favor of a controversial card club proposal passed by the council last December. The mailer listed both phone numbers.

Bradley countered that the implication he got money for his vote was “ridiculous.” Bradley said he has received $2,500 in campaign contributions from the casino’s developers, Compton Entertainment Inc., but said he received the money about five months after the council’s vote.

A Moore mailer that included a petition on the casino issue has drawn criticism. The mailer urged voters to sign the petition, which seeks a ballot measure requiring voter approval of any card club proposal.

The initiative petition was mailed in an envelope with the city’s emblem next to the words “Official City of Compton Election Petition Enclosed.” Only small print on the bottom corner of the envelope stated that the piece was paid by a political organization.

“The gambling decision should not have been decided by three people on the City Council,” Moore wrote in a cover letter. “Omar Bradley and his supporters arrogantly decided what is good for us.”

Bradley said the mailer was misleading. “She’s using her position to make it look like this is official business,” Bradley said. “But all this is is a political hit piece, aimed at me.”

Moore said she can use the city’s official seal on her mailer because she is a council member.

Moore took no position on the card club during the public debate last year, and did not vote on the matter. She said she abstained because a casino partner had contributed $10,000 last spring to her unsuccessful Assembly campaign.

Three council members--Bradley, Bernice Woods and Jane D. Robbins--approved the casino proposal Dec. 10, saying the city needed the revenue and needed to decide quickly because of possible competition from casino proposals in other cities.

Moore said she and the voters can still stop the card club, but City Clerk Charles Davis said she might have submitted the proposed ballot measure too late. Proposals aimed at overturning a council decision must be filed with the city clerk within 30 days of the council vote, Davis said.

Residents also want to deal with crime, jobs and cleaning up the tattered image of Compton, candidates said.

Both Bradley and Moore have promised to expand the 128-officer police force by 70 to 80 officers, bringing the department in line with state guidelines of two officers for every 1,000 residents.

In all the election contests, candidates have unveiled various plans to bring more jobs to the city, where the unemployment rate hovers around 20%.

Woods, who won 41% of the primary votes to challenger Arceneaux’s 27%, takes credit for starting a program that offers part-time summer jobs to 1,000 city youths, who clean up graffiti and trash.

Arceneaux has made her anti-casino position the centerpiece of her campaign, but adds that job training will be a priority if she is elected.

In the 2nd District race, Dymally and Shaw have vowed to bring jobs and prosperity to the city. Both candidates have also attempted to seize on each other’s ties to the troubled Compton Unified School District, which is facing a state takeover because of poor financial management.

“Lynn knows she is one of the board members and they have to take responsibility for screwing things up,” Shaw said. Dymally said that Shaw, who is a member of the district’s Personnel Commission, also should accept some of the responsibility for the district’s troubles.

Shaw gathered 40% of the primary votes, compared to 35% for Dymally.

The race between Sanders and Zurita for city treasurer has been the most low-key, with both candidates running fairly low-budget campaigns to convince voters they have the experience to run the city’s finances.

Sanders topped a field of 10 primary candidates with 20% of the vote. Zurita finished second, with 19%.