Bradley Called ‘Small-Town Guy’

Former Compton Mayor Omar Bradley is a “small-town guy” who improved his struggling city and is being unfairly prosecuted for billing taxpayers for a few in-room movies at hotels, said defense attorney Ben Pesta during closing arguments Tuesday.

Bradley, who is accused of misusing public funds, charged taxpayers for golf, travel and other expenses, Pesta said, because he was discussing business and trying to boost the economy in a community where the opening of a fast-food restaurant is considered a triumph.

He compared Bradley with George Bailey, the fictional character played by Jimmy Stewart in the 1946 Christmas movie “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

“Omar Bradley is a small-town guy. He was born here. He went to school in Compton.... He married a Compton girl. Just like George Bailey, except Compton is not exactly like Bedford Falls,” Pesta said.

“Bedford Falls had a sort of dotty widow and absent-minded druggist, and Compton has the Piru Bloods and Nutty Block Crips.”

When Bradley was mayor, Pesta said, “he pushed, he hustled, he got in people’s faces.” The style earned Bradley enemies, he said, but it was necessary. Bradley, he said, has been trying to make Compton “a better place to live.”

Pesta’s comments echoed other defense arguments in the trial against Bradley and four other current or former officials. They are accused of using their city-issued credit cards for personal expenses and double-billing taxpayers.

Defense attorneys say the expenses were justified because they had been authorized by former City Manager John Johnson and were incurred while the defendants were on city business.

Among the questioned expenses are limousine rides, gym memberships and dental work for a councilman’s brother.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Kerry White, during his closing arguments, said it was a stretch to consider Bradley’s golfing excursions, cigars and clothing purchases as having any public purpose.

Using Bradley’s reasoning, White said, any expense can be justified, including a masseuse or a paid escort.

“At what point does it stop?” White asked jurors earlier this week.

“Common sense tells us that it is not necessary to have a meeting on a golf course,” White said.

As closing arguments neared their completion in the three-month trial, the key issue emerging for jurors will be their interpretation of what constitutes a personal or a business expense.

Though prosecutors insist that the defendants were trying to enrich themselves, defense lawyers contend that all of the expenses have been accounted for.

Some defense attorneys said the only questionable bills were a few in-room movies, and they were “incidental” expenses that do not rise to the level of a felony.

“It is absolutely outrageous” to file a case against a politician for watching an in-room movie, said Albert DeBlanc, the attorney for former Councilman Amen Rahh.

Another contention put forth during closing arguments is that the defendants reimbursed the city for many of the expenses. Rahh, for example, paid the city for the $1,200 credit-card charge for dental work on his brother, DeBlanc said.

And Johnson, the former manager, repaid the more than $5,000 he had billed taxpayers for taking his son’s basketball team to a Florida tournament, said defense attorney Winston McKesson.

But prosecutors say the former officials made reimbursements only after their behavior had come under scrutiny. The judge has ruled that restitution is not a valid defense.

Pesta said “clerical errors” and Compton’s “informal bookkeeping” had led to inadvertent billing of some charges to Bradley’s credit card.

He insisted that Bradley’s wife had returned some funds in cash envelopes. A mayoral aide has testified that she never received such repayments.

Also charged are former Councilwoman Delores Zurita and current Councilwoman Yvonne Arceneaux. Closing arguments are scheduled to continue today.