Angie Orellana Hernandez - Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES — A south Los Angeles legislative race that pits two Democrats against each other on the November ballot is resurfacing allegations of misconduct levied against the candidates in their prior public offices.
Michelle Chambers, a former Compton City Council member, and Laura Richardson, a former member of Congress, are running to succeed state Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena) in Senate District 35, which encompasses the cities of Carson, Compton and stretches down to the harbor.
For months, their campaigns have swapped jabs at each other, comparing fundraising numbers, accusing oneanother of lies and resurfacing past scandals.
Now Chambers is confronting accusations that she called a colleague's young Latino son a racial slur in a closed-session meeting three years ago, and that she bullied Compton city employees while she served on the council. Chambers denies the allegations.
Richardson is trying to launch a political comeback after being reprimanded by the House of Representatives in 2012 when the House Ethics Committee found her guilty of misusing government resources by illegally compelling her congressional staff to perform campaign work and obstructing an investigation into the matter. Richardson says she accepted responsibility for making errors and has since improved her management skills.
A local election plagued by animus is not "unique to this particular race," said Fernando Guerra, a professor of political science at Loyola Marymount University who is unaffiliated with the campaigns. But he said the eleventh-hour resurfacing of negative allegations hurts civic engagement.
"The fact that these things come up this late, instead of coming out way before the primary, before people were even announcing — that's the problem," he said.
Chambers' tense tenure on the Compton City Council
Chambers did not complete her term on the Compton City Council, resigning about midway into her four-year term to take a job with the California Department of Justice in 2022.
Critics say her premature departure casts doubt on her commitment to serving as an elected official. Chambers said she took the state job to serve her community "on another level" by addressing hate crimes, homelessness and working with Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta on combating street takeovers. Bonta and Bradford have endorsed Chambers.
In the two years Chambers served in Compton, she said she got more done than her predecessors by improving street lighting, bettering the employment rate and helping small businesses. The period also came with a myriad of internal quarrels, including allegations of bullying, intimidation and the confusing episode in which a fellow council member accused Chambers of calling his son a racial slur.
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