Compton Considers Trash Deal With Bribery Figure

Five years ago, Michael V. Aloyan caused the Compton City Council no small amount of embarrassment. In federal court, the businessman admitted passing bribes to two council members on behalf of the trash and casino corporations for which he worked.

Now the City Council--minus the two bribe-taking members, who went to prison--is on the verge of awarding Aloyan a no-bid contract to collect Compton’s trash, worth about $25,000 a month. Four of five council members have said they support Aloyan.

With their support as a backdrop, a public hearing tonightpromises a bitter look back at Aloyan’s past and a messy period that many in Compton would rather forget. Opponents are expected to raise concerns about future rate hikes and criticize the council’s traditional willingness to grant second chances.

The resulting debate could create headaches for Aloyan’s strongest supporters: Mayor Omar Bradley and his probable challenger in next year’s election, City Councilwoman Marcine Shaw.

“This deal is an example of how nothing ever changes in Compton,” said former Councilman Fred Cressel, who will run for mayor next year. “In this, we’re seeing the same people and the same sort of dealing that created trouble before.”

Aloyan, 40, was never charged with any crime. He testified against former Councilwoman Patricia Moore and former Mayor Walter Tucker III in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

Reached Friday by telephone, Aloyan said the trash deal was good for the city. When questions turned to his past, he hung up. Aloyan has said that any talk about his past testimony is unfair.

“Mike is a good man, and that trial was a few years ago,” said Shaw. “If I waited for contractors to come along that didn’t have controversy or a past attached to them, I probably wouldn’t vote for a damn thing.”

Earlier this year, the city ended its contract with a private waste hauler and issued $6 million in bonds to build a municipal trash operation.

But Compton officials said Aloyan’s newly formed Hub City Solid Waste Services Inc. has made an offer too generous to refuse. According to a proposed contract obtained by The Times, Aloyan would pay a $2-million fee to initiate the contract. In 2003, Aloyan would begin monthly payments starting at $20,834. He would have to cover debt service on the city’s $6 million in trash bonds.

In exchange, Aloyan would have exclusive rights to collect the city’s residential, commercial and industrial waste for the next 15 years. He would use the city’s trash equipment under a lease arrangement. Aloyan anticipated making “no less than $25,000 a month” on the trash business, according to his filings earlier this year in his slander suit against a community activist.

City spokesman Frank Wheaton defended Aloyan. “When you look at the real facts of his past, you’ll see he was an intermediary at best. In fact, he was a victim.”

In 1987, Aloyan emigrated from Armenia, and a year later landed a job at Murcole Inc., a trash firm with a contract in Compton.

By 1991, Aloyan had become Murcole’s general manager. The company was seeking a rate increase from the Compton City Council. According to his court testimony, Aloyan, through an intermediary, passed a $5,000 check from Murcole to then-Mayor Tucker in exchange for his vote in favor of the rate hike. Aloyan also testified that he arranged for a $2,500 contribution to Tucker’s congressional campaign in return for a vote in favor of extending Murcole’s contract.

In 1992, Aloyan joined another trash company owner in a bid to open a casino in Compton. To soften the opposition of City Councilwoman Patricia Moore, Aloyan passed checks from the gambling corporation, Compton Entertainment Inc., to Moore’s campaign manager, Basil Kimbrew, according to court testimony. (Kimbrew is another likely candidate for mayor next year.)

The bribes were uncovered during a broader federal investigation of Compton.

Prosecutors granted Aloyan immunity in exchange for his testimony. Tucker was convicted of bribery and tax evasion in 1995 and sentenced to 27 months in federal prison. In 1996, Moore was convicted of extorting bribes and was sentenced to 33 months.

Aloyan’s admissions hardly hurt his prospects in Compton.

He remained close to Compton politicians. Bradley, who has defended Aloyan, supported the businessman’s failed effort to get back into the casino business in 1997. Aloyan donated $2,000 to Councilman Amen Rahh’s campaign in 1999, and a lawyer who set up his current trash company, Hub City, gave $500 to Councilwoman Delores Zurita’s 1999 election effort.

Shaw said she has traveled to China three times in the past five years, meeting on occasion with business contacts of Aloyan, who has investments in the Hubei province.

Given his experience, Shaw said, it made sense for the city to turn to Aloyan for its trash needs. For the last few months, Aloyan had been supervising the creation of a municipal trash operation under a $25,000-a-month contract, city records show. From that arrangement, it was only a short hop to the council’s decision to turn over all trash collection to Aloyan, she said.

“I’m a little bit perplexed by the whole thing,” said Councilwoman Yvonne Arceneaux, the contract’s lone opponent on the five-member council. “With his history, we’ll have to go through all that stuff again. And since we have not solicited other bids, we don’t know if this is the best deal for the city.”