Ex-Compton Mayor Suffers Trial Setback

Former Compton Mayor Omar Bradley’s lawsuit alleging massive election fraud suffered a surprising setback on the opening day of testimony Tuesday when a key witness denied seeing counterfeit ballots and accused Bradley’s attorney of trying to bribe him.

In his opening arguments, Bradley’s attorney said school board member Basil Kimbrew would reveal fraud so blatant that the election troubles in Florida last year would “pale by comparison.”

Instead, Kimbrew took the stand in Superior Court and said Bradley’s attorney, Bradley W. Hertz, had offered to give him $25,000 before the trial and $100,000 after it if he said the election had been fixed.

Bradley lost the June 5 election. Deputy Dist. Atty. Eric Perrodin won.

“I remember you asked me how much it would take to testify against Eric Perrodin,” Kimbrew said on the stand. “That’s what I remember.”

Kimbrew said he knew nothing about counterfeit ballots, ghost voters, intimidation of voters or any irregularities in connection with the election.

To counter Kimbrew’s testimony, Hertz called Michael Aloyan to the stand. Aloyan, who owns a waste disposal company with a contract in Compton, had attended several meetings between Kimbrew and Hertz.

Under questioning, Aloyan said he never heard anyone offer Kimbrew money or attempt to threaten him into testifying against Perrodin.

During a break in the trial, Hertz said he was angered by Kimbrew’s testimony.

“He was constantly committing perjury, and I plan to pursue that at the appropriate time,” Hertz said.

As to the damage to the case, he said: “It was a bump in the road, but we still have a long way to go.”

Hertz said he plans to call 50 to 75 witnesses and present several hundred documents during the trial that is being heard without a jury. He plans to show that “numerous illegalities” contributed to Perrodin’s rebound from a 2,000-vote deficit in the April 17 election to win a June 5 runoff by 261 votes.

In the trial, Bradley and two City Council nominees who ran on his slate, Melanie Andrews and Frank K. Wheaton, are accusing Perrodin, City Clerk Charles Davis and the city of Compton of wholesale election fraud. They say there were irregularities in more than 500 votes, including some in which the signatures didn’t match those on the voting rolls.

If the former mayor succeeds in overturning the election results and proving fraud charges, it could permanently disqualify Perrodin from holding office in California.

Brian Pierik, the attorney representing Compton and Perrodin, said there is insufficient evidence to overturn the results.

“There must be clear and convincing evidence” that the alleged irregularities are illegal and that whatever occurred in the election made a difference in the outcome, Pierik said in court.

In attacking Bradley’s case, Pierik pointed out that it was not enough to argue that votes should be discounted because the signatures don’t match those on the voting roles.

“The mere fact that the signatures weren’t the same doesn’t mean it was an illegal vote,” he said.

Kimbrew’s testimony was expected to be key in determining the allegation of fraud.

But Hertz suggested that Kimbrew was either responding to “fear from intimidation from the other side” or may have “been a double agent all along.”

Kimbrew said the intimidation came from Bradley supporters.

“I’ve been threatened all types of ways,” he said, adding that he had wanted to wear a bulletproof vest to court but was not allowed to do so.

Hertz, who said he anticipated the possibility that Kimbrew might not repeat allegations he made in private meetings, laid out a cautious case in his opening statement.

“It is possible that there are not counterfeit ballots in the ballot boxes,” he said. But he argued that a wide range of other abuses were evident--enough for the judge to order a review of the voting ballots.

Chirlin has yet to decide whether the ballot boxes will be opened, but last week she ordered the ballots transferred to Superior Court from Compton City Hall.