By: Cynthia Macon

COMPTON, Calif. — The City of Compton, if not in violation of the letter of the law, is definitely in violation of the spirit of the law in this season of celebrating civil rights and the MLK legacy. For how do you call a city a democratic government, representative of the people, when the people, the voters, are intentionally locked out of the process of selecting its own leaders by self-serving procedures and maneuvers conducted by what can only be described as a hi-jacked administration.

Currently, four of eight persons seated on the dais are appointees who have not received one single vote, collectively, from the residents of Compton. This includes the appointed City Attorney Eric Perrodin, appointed Councilwomen Deidre Duhart (1st District) and Lillie Darden (4th District) and now temporary acting City Clerk Vernell McDaniel. A fifth, Andre Spicer, of Council District #2 was placed in office the result of a civil lawsuit still under appeal and a criminal case still being heard in court.

So as we celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King on his holiday, contemplate the fact that Compton, a minority-ran government, is totally guilty in these modern times of robbing minority voters of their right to vote in a show of tactics worthy of Trump and his supporters: strong-arming control of the dais without violence but, in this case, trickery.

Government Code §34902 states an appointment shall not be made if it results in the majority of the council being appointed. In other words, an election or Special Election would then be in order. And even if the code did not exist, a righteous, honorable, and respectful council with integrity would not, in all consciousness, permit so many appointees to sit, simultaneously, locking thousands of Compton voters out of credible representation in their given district or the city at large.

For there are only three officials out of eight are elected: Mayor Emma Sharif, Councilman Jonathan Bowers (3rd District), and un-bonded City Treasurer Brandon Mims. Elected officials are in the minority with five of eight, the majority, serving in dubious capacity. Only in Compton.

THE HISTORY OF APPOINTMENTS

So how did this unusual leadership concoction come into existence? 

First, when elected to Mayor in 2021, Emma Sharif left open her 4th District council seat filled by retired Compton employee, Lillie Darden, through a flawed shortened application process. 

Second, when City Attorney Damon Brown announced his departure within three months of being elected in 2021, former Mayor Eric Perrodin was appointed City Attorney without any application process nor competition allowed. A straight transfer.

Third, when 1st District Councilwoman Michelle Chambers abruptly announced her departure, after serving just two years of a four-year term, former Compton employee and liaison Deidre Duhart in another flawed application process was put in her seat. Duhart’s appointment which passed with only two votes went bolstered by the legal analysis of yet another appointee City Attorney Eric Perrodin who first said two votes were illegal then reversed his position, overnight. The decision caused major controversy since the city charter specifies appointments require a resolution that requires three affirmative votes, not two and an abstain. 

Fourth, when Councilman Isaac Galvan of the 2nd District in 2021 was accused of election cheating and fraud by his opponent lost by one vote, former Compton employee and liaison Andre Spicer, a civil court judgment by City Attorney Eric Perrodin’s law school classmate substituted Spicer in Galvan’s seat in a swift and controversial swearing-in ceremony by former City Clerk Alita Godwin. This though a civil appeal and criminal case are both still being heard in court, this month, and some residents still decry the decision.

And fifth and finally, now the resignation of City Clerk Alita Godwin at the end of 2022 has left an opening that needs to be filled by a special election or, you guessed it, an appointment. No application for the seat has, so far, been made available as the administration deliberately lets time tick by.  The dilemma begs the question, who decides when applications are needed or not, without a vote of the council? Who made the call, early on, to just appoint this seat?

For it’s apparent that while council vacancies may face the application process, there are three seats that will never be due to a history of the administration controlling these seats. How else do you get two City Clerks in 50 years, four City Attorneys in 30 years, and two City Treasurers in 30 years? Something is not right in the kool-aid.

Which brings us to the patterns? Notice the resignations, transfers, and Compton employees or politicians being used to fill sudden or planned vacancies? The rabbit hole goes deep. 

For the city charter says the correct appointment and application process opens the doors to all Compton residents to apply yet the only persons getting the seats are former Compton employees or politicians. And now, mysteriously, only two names are being contemplated and advanced to fill the City Clerk seat, both Compton employees, Vernell McDaniel and Tanesha Hudson. Select from Column A or Column B just as long as it is an employee the administration endorses. This is not the spirit of elections or appointments for residents to be locked out of the process as the administration and City Hall acts to appoint themselves.

And while some rally behind one candidate or the other, you miss the point. This is not what the city charter says should occur for a return to democracy dictates infusing new talent into failing leadership while deciding for itself only breeds more failure.

And to add insult to injury, appointed City Attorney Eric Perrodin, knowing he and all appointees according to the city charter were required to face the earliest possible election in April 2023, just had the appointed council vote to move the election to align with county elections earlier to November 2022. And with City Clerk Alita Godwin spreading un-founded fear that elections cost 1.5 million dollars (when the all-mail November 2022 election costs only $199,000) and with City Attorney Eric Perrodin writing an “impartial analysis” of Measure ED failed to mention he could earn a total of five years in office without ever being elected if passed, residents were bamboozled by their own appointed leadership into co-signing away their right to a vote and election to fill all appointed seats.

So how about a special election where all seats will be filled by a vote of the people? Or do appointees really listen to the people while claiming to care about our best interests?

Or how about opening the application process so interested residents can apply? Or is it only for Compton employees the administration designates or selects?

Or how about public questioning of all applicants to determine their credentials and ideas for improving the antiquated clerk’s office? Or are we tethered to the same methods after 50 years and only two persons occupying an office recently exposed by a lawsuit as inadequate?

How about demanding our vote back through a special election? How about demanding an opportunity for all residents to be considered through a credible appointment process? How about demanding to hear from the candidates in a public forum about their ideas and experience and not just “personality” poli-tricks or canned questions and answers? 

Demand these, first and foremost, or just get ready for appointees to appoint appointees while voters resign themselves to being powerless in 2023 in America in Compton where our lack of voting rights might as well have us all harking back to protests of the 1960s to demand our right to vote and be heard.

Wake up, Compton!

Cynthia Macon is currently a resident of Compton who came to the city as a child in the 1960’s. Ms. Macon began writing on corruption and mismanagement in the City of Compton in 2016 to inform residents of the enormity of the loss of taxpayer money. A scathing and recent State of California report issued by the State Auditor in 2021 has now confirmed gross mismanagement of the city.