Trial Has Clouded a Complex Legacy

When Omar Bradley reigned in Compton, he draped himself in a “gangster mayor” mystique and busied himself with the unglamorous work of beautifying and bringing jobs to his impoverished city.

His achievements were as notable and controversial as his big and blustery personality. He cleaned up some streets, but filled the city payroll with friends and family members. He built a memorial to Cesar Chavez and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and quoted himself on a commemorative plaque.

In a three-month political corruption trial that neared its close Wednesday, residents have learned that the former mayor’s governing style also came with an unexpected price tag. Taxpayers were footing the bill for the rented Ford Excursion, the golf rounds, the cigars, a penthouse suite and extensive travel.

As scandals go, Bradley’s alleged misspending of about $7,500 wouldn’t challenge many records in the annals of public corruption. But in a city with a history of malfeasance, the whiff of wrongdoing has refocused attention on the flamboyant ex-mayor and clouded his complicated legacy.

Bradley has contended that his expenses, including a golf hat, balls and divot repair tools, were justified because the purchases related to city business. Prosecutors call him an arrogant leader who lied to cover up the fact that he “stuffed” his pocket with city funds.

At the trial’s lunch breaks, Bradley often strolls across Compton Boulevard to a McDonald’s restaurant. His shiny, shaved head, linebacker build and pinstripe suits are instantly recognizable in the community that he dominated for nearly a decade, starting in 1991.

Some see the case as an unjust blow to a charismatic native son who inspired hope for a city racked by unemployment and crime. For those who taunt Bradley and four others on trial, calling them “crookety-crooks,” the fall from grace is cause for celebration.

But many have mixed feelings. Residents still refer to him as the mayor, but the show of respect from some is tinged with disappointment. “People will always hold the $7,500 over his head. It will always taint his work in the community,” said T. Brown, an Inglewood resident who attends church in Compton.

The 45-year-old Bradley, a former high school football coach, brought touches of green to a gray and grim concrete landscape. Median strips newly planted with lawns line spiffed-up streets that lead to new shopping centers. Slowly, empty storefronts have filled with thriving multiethnic businesses.

But Bradley was accused of nepotism and trying to stifle free speech. His brash style, some said, embarrassed Compton residents and prevented the city from getting state funding. He cultivated a tough-guy image, dubbing himself the gangster mayor, at a time when the city was suffering from gang violence.

The passions have spilled into the 11th-floor courtroom at Compton’s county courthouse, where officials have had to beef up security after several incidents.

Bradley supporters and opponents sit across the aisle from each other, at times trading hard stares and threat accusations. After one confrontation, the judge told Bradley not to ride the elevator with opponents. Even the bailiff hasn’t escaped the partisan sniping.

Marvin Branscomb, a former Compton police officer who lost his detective’s job after Bradley disbanded the department, has warned supporters of the former mayor against gesturing toward Bradley. The supporters call it harassment; Branscomb says he is just maintaining order in the courtroom.

“OK, boss man,” Bradley told Branscomb after being told not to exit with the spectators Wednesday.

For all the drama in the spectators’ seats, the trial itself has been mostly tedious: a paper-trail examination of receipts and invoices, methodically analyzed.

Bradley is charged with two felony counts of misuse of public funds for allegedly using his city-issued credit card for personal items and for double-billing the city from 1999 to 2001. Also charged are his former City Council allies Amen Rahh and Delores Zurita and former City Manager John Johnson. Current Councilwoman Yvonne Arceneaux, not a Bradley ally, is also on trial.

Bradley’s main defense is a simple one: He said taxpayers should have paid for his expenses because they were incurred while he was tirelessly working to improve Compton.

While strolling the links at the California Country Club in Whittier, Bradley said, he discussed with a city official how to raise funds for a celebration in honor of a championship high school basketball team. He billed the city $172 for greens fees and a golf cart.

During another golf outing at Hidden Valley Golf Course in Norco, Bradley said, he talked with a businesswoman who wanted to open a Del Taco restaurant in the city. That bill totaled $245, and included a pair of golf shoes and a dozen golf balls.

“I don’t hit the ball very straight,” said Bradley, explaining the purchase. “My balls get lost.”

During his two days of testimony, he was mostly polite. But jurors saw flashes of his colorful personality, especially under cross-examination. He was tender when he tearfully described a visit to his ill son’s bedside. He cracked up jurors when he told a prosecutor that he didn’t trust his calculations.

Bradley avoided answering one question until the judge ordered him to. And he was angry when he told a prosecutor that he wasn’t familiar with the process of checking out of a hotel using a credit card.

“I’m not like you,” he told Deputy Dist. Atty. Kerry White. “I have people that do things for me.”

Bradley said his spending was not extravagant. Using the Ford Excursion for a trip to a Palm Springs conference, he said, was an aide’s idea, not his. And the penthouse suite in a Torrance hotel was booked for a meeting, he maintained, because he no longer felt safe in Compton City Hall.

Bradley said he received a death threat in the days leading up to the 2001 election. At one point, he said, 13 sheriff’s deputies served as a security team. He gave one of them a cigar, at taxpayer expense, as a token of his appreciation, Bradley said.

Whether jurors consider the former mayor a reckless spender or an honest, hard-working leader remains to be seen. Their deliberations are expected to begin today.

One thing seems sure, however: Bradley’s deep footprints on the Compton landscape will linger. At one of the city’s main intersections -- Compton Boulevard and Willowbrook Avenue -- stands the memorial to King and Chavez. A plaque from each council member cites a quote from the civil rights leader or the labor activist.

But Bradley’s, topped by a statuette of a lion, features his own words. Critics complain that the memorial turned out to be a monument to Bradley’s ego. Some vow to tear it down. Others call the former mayor’s quote the wise words of a young man inspired by greatness.

“The world today is divided,” reads Bradley’s inscription. “Divided not by flesh and blood. But rather by ideas and spirits.... Thankfully there exists a blessed few who manage to live their lives above the wall and beyond this great divide. These are the men and women who look into the eyes of mankind and see the face of God.”