New Mayor, 4 Candidates Haven’t Filed Their Spending Reports

COMPTON —  Newly elected Mayor Walter R. Tucker III and four other candidates in last week’s municipal election have not filed campaign contribution and spending reports as required by state law.

Tucker and the others, including City Council candidate Omar Bradley, who is in the June 4 runoff election, could be fined $10 a day for not filing their reports. The reports were to be turned in to the City Clerk by April 4, 12 days before last week’s election.

The new mayor said Tuesday that he “would be filing any day now” but would not comment on why he missed the deadline.

Tucker, an attorney, defeated six other candidates in a special election to become mayor. He succeeds his father, who died last fall of cancer. The younger Tucker, flanked by his mother and his wife and two small children, was sworn into office at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

A reception for all city residents will be held by the new mayor at 5:30 p.m. May 3 at the city’s new Transit Center on Willowbrook Avenue.

Bradley said he did not file his report because he has had the flu and has been too busy. “I don’t think the people of Compton are curious about where I got money from or where I didn’t get it from,” he said Tuesday. “I think they are interested in the issues and they have spoken in overwhelming numbers that I’m the candidate of choice.

“I don’t think that the deadline as it relates to campaign spending has anything to do with my ability to make deadlines as a public official,” Bradley said.

Bradley, a Lynwood High School teacher, pulled more votes than the five other candidates in the Council District 1 contest last week. In the June runoff, he will face Pedro Pallan, a bakery owner and the first Latino to ever win enough votes to be in a municipal runoff in Compton.

Bradley pointed out that Secretary of State March Fong Eu failed to file her campaign finance report. In December, the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission fined Eu $20,000 for being more than two years late in filing her report.

On Tuesday, Jean Sanders, a candidate in the District 4 runoff, filed her report. Sanders’ opponent is incumbent Councilwoman Jane D. Robbins. Sanders said she did not know why her report was filed late. She said filing was the responsibility of her treasurer, Timothy Brown, former controller of the city of Compton.

The other Compton council candidates who did not file spending reports were Stephen Randle and Walter Goodin, who were defeated in District 1, and Basil Kimbrew, an unsuccessful candidate in District 4.

Randle said he was too busy with last-minute campaigning to meet the filing deadline, and that he would submit his report this week. Goodin could not be reached for comment.

Kimbrew was in the hospital when the April 4 deadline passed and has been incapacitated ever since. He fell from a ladder the morning of April 3 while putting up campaign signs. He subsequently underwent surgery and now has both arms and one of his legs in casts.

City Clerk Charles Davis sent the candidates notices dated April 5 that they had missed the initial deadline, and set a new deadline of April 12 for filing their reports. He warned the candidates that they could be fined $10 a day for every day after April 12 that they did not file.

Davis on Tuesday notified City Atty. Wesley Fenderson Jr. that the five candidates had failed to file their reports. Fenderson said he would send his own notice, then would notify the state Fair Political Practices Commission if the candidates fail to comply. The state commission would impose any fines, Fenderson said.

“Sometimes people have been slow but they have almost always turned them in,” Fenderson said.