Compton city attorney rebukes false claims

(Compton Bulletin) –  City Attorney Eric Perrodin has had enough. At the conclusion of the July 25 City Council meeting, Perrodin sternly shut down a couple of widely spread rumors that had been manifesting for a while in council chambers. 

The public comments section on the council’s weekly agenda has been a forum for these factless assertions to grow. The two items that Perrodin authoritatively put to bed were verbal doubts being cast by local residents about where he lived and that District 2 Councilmember Andre Spicer had not legitimately beat former representative Isaac Galvan. 

During the portion of the agenda set aside for council comments, Perrodin went hard at the naysayers, especially those who have questioned the validity of his residency.  

“I’ve never been convicted of any crime,” Perrodin said. “And if you believe I do not live in the city of Compton, I would urge you to report that to any government authority that you think should indict me, whoever you think that is. [Because] there’s a lot of people coming to that podium and they’re running for election. It’s an agenda. It’s a lot of gamesmanship going on out there.”  

In regards to addressing accusations that Spicer is not the real representative of District 2, Perrodin read off a portion of the summary from the written legal opinion that came directly from Judge Michelle Williams, clarifying the winner of the election back in 2022.      

“I’ve been hearing some citizens claim that the majority of the council has been appointed,” Perrodin said. “That ruling indicated that Mr. Spicer was elected. Mr. Spicer was elected. Councilman Bowers was elected. Mayor (Emma) Sharif was elected. There’s five people on the council, three people was elected. The code that these citizens are citing is not valid. So I wanted to make that clear. I don’t support anybody, but I support the law. And that’s all I go by is the law.” 

During the 2021 District 2 election, Spicer and Galvan were in a neck-and-neck battle for the representative spot. Originally, Galvan pulled through with a slight edge over Spicer, who wound up contesting the results. After more than a year, the matter was settled in court. 

Galvan was found to have received four illegal ballots cast for him. Those ballots were deducted from Galvan’s overall tally. Those four votes were then handed to Spicer. With those ballots in hand, Spicer was officially named as the winner of the District 2 election race. 

Not only did he lose the election, Galvan and five other individuals were charged with conspiracy to commit election fraud. Galvan was also charged by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office with attempted bribery with an intent to influence an election. In a 2021 released statement, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon had this to say about the matter.  

“Elections are the cornerstone of our democratic nation. We must do everything in our power to protect the integrity of the electorate process and to ensure that elections are free and fair,” District Attorney Gascón said. “The people of Los Angeles County expect and deserve a government that is free of political corruption at every level.”  

Since then the drama has continued. The judge overseeing the election case was reassigned earlier this year, according to 2Urban Girls. And with other incidents being unveiled over the last few months, that has given rise to supporters of Galvan to unleash their pent-up frustrations at City Council meetings. 

During the July 18 council meeting several residents made some pointed remarks about Spicer and the 2021 election during the public comments portion of the meeting, flat-out suggesting the councilman of not being legitimately elected into office. 

The remarks were so disparaging that Spicer eventually felt compelled to say something. 

“For clarity purposes, I won my election three times; primary, at general and I had to go to court to prove voter fraud,” Spicer said. “A lot of people complain about voter fraud in the city of Compton. I’m the only one that actually proved it in a court of law. That is the reason why I am here today.”