Compton Trustee Accused of Lying

Five months after the state Department of Education restored full authority to the Compton school board, the board’s vice president was arrested by state investigators and charged with lying about living within city limits during two recent elections, authorities said.

Basil Kimbrew, 48, was arrested at the state Department of Justice office in Commerce on Monday. He was released that night after posting $50,000 bail.

Kimbrew--a self-proclaimed “political provocateur”--faces three felony counts of perjury and two felony counts of state Election Code violations for claiming to live in a Compton apartment while residing in Carson, court papers show.

The charges allege that Kimbrew lied in filing papers for the 1999 school board elections and in the hotly contested 2001 Compton mayor’s race. During the mayor’s race, Kimbrew campaigned in a bulletproof vest and finished a distant fifth. In that race, he raised questions about his own residency by carrying on a Compton campaign even as his wife was seeking a City Council seat in Carson.

“We are basically alleging that when he ran for office, he listed his residence as Compton but did not in fact reside in Compton,” said Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Kerry White. Kimbrew, White said, lived at the time in his wife’s Carson home.

A former school board member, Saul E. Lankster, also is accused of lying about his residency in the 2001 mayoral election and two previous elections for state Assembly and the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees.

One of the perjury counts against Kimbrew refers to an alleged false address on a voter registration form he filed. The charges make no reference to the November 2001 school board election, when Kimbrew won a new four-year term while using the address of a home in a different Compton neighborhood. White said Kimbrew was living at that address.

Reached Tuesday, Kimbrew would not comment. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to five years in prison.

The charges against Kimbrew and Lankster represent a setback for the Compton school board, whose members have sought to repair the body’s tattered reputation. In 1993, the board was stripped of all power because of widespread corruption, $20 million in deficits and low test scores. The state ran the district until December, when state schools Supt. Delaine Eastin ordered a return of local control.

During the period of state management, Kimbrew--who was first elected to the school board in 1995--was one of the board’s most vocal members. In March 2001, Eastin temporarily delayed the return of local control because of what a state team of auditors called disruptive behavior by Kimbrew.

Kimbrew has been a player, however minor, in virtually every political scandal in Compton during the last decade. Six years ago, he testified in federal court that he accepted illegal payments on behalf of a councilwoman, who was convicted of extortion and tax fraud in the case. Kimbrew was not indicted.

In recent years, he has carried on a high-profile feud with former mayor Omar Bradley. In interviews, Kimbrew has acknowledged distributing fliers that without evidence accused political opponents of having illegitimate children and committing murder.

Separately, a Superior Court judge has accused Kimbrew of lying on the witness stand in a case challenging the outcome of the 2001 city elections. Those allegations are unrelated to Monday’s charges.

The charges against Kimbrew closely parallel those filed last month against Lankster, who served on the school board until November 2001. Lankster, who lost a reelection bid shortly before the return of local control last fall, faces three felony perjury counts and three counts of election law violations for claiming to be living in a Compton apartment while residing in Long Beach, White said.

The charges stem from unsuccessful bids by Lankster, a Republican and perpetual candidate for office, for a state Assembly seat in 1999, a Compton Community College District trusteeship in 1999 and the Compton mayoralty in 2001. He finished sixth.

Lankster has pleaded not guilty.