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Kimbrew
Arrested for Allegedly Violating Terms of Probation
Former school board member, political consultant will spend Christmas
in jail
By Allison
Jean Eaton
Bulletin Staff
Writer
A former member of the Compton school board who was convicted of
misappropriation of public funds has been arrested for allegedly violating
his probation by participating in political campaigns.
Arrested on a no-bail warrant last Wednesday at his home in Carson,
Basil Kimbrew will be incarcerated until the matter goes to trial on
Jan. 16.
The high-profile political consultant was convicted in 2005 of
felony misuse of public funds after he charged $2,000 to his district-issued
credit card following his forced resignation from the board.
Kimbrew plead no contest and was sentenced to two years in prison.
The judge presiding over the case, Janice Croft, subsequently suspended
the sentence and granted Kimbrew five years formal probation. In exchange
for the plea, two other charges of misappropriation of public funds were
dismissed.
As part of the terms of his probation, Kimbrew is barred from any
involvement with political campaigns, candidates or political causes,
said Deputy District Atty. Max Huntsman with the Public Integrity Division.
That means Kimbrew, who became a political consultant after running unsuccessfully
for mayor, cannot make any political donations, work on campaigns, provide
any political consulting services, work on any mass mailings for political
purposes or run any phone banks for political purposes.
But according to the District Attorney’s Office, Kimbrew has been
behind a number of recent campaigns including that of his attorney, Anthony
Willoughby, who made an unsuccessful vie for the 48th Assembly District
seat in June.
According to Huntsman, his office has spoken with a number of witnesses
who say Kimbrew has in fact been involved in conducting campaigns. The
witnesses, he said, have all had direct contact with Kimbrew while he
was actively participating in the activities prohibited by his probation.
Several of the witnesses are Kimbrew’s clients while others witnessed
first-hand his conducting campaign activities.
“We think we’ve got a pretty powerful case,” Huntsman
said.
Willoughby wages his client did not violate his probation.
“I don’t think he’s worked on anybody’s campaign,” he
told The Bulletin.
The District Attorney’s Office believes Kimbrew set Willoughby
up with Kimbrew’s girlfriend, Josie Estrada, to print Willoughby’s
campaign materials at Estrada’s printing company. Through this
arrangement, Kimbrew was able to run the campaign unbeknownst to Willoughby.
“Merely being a conduit to getting a job printed, like political
fliers, is not engaging in political activity,” Willoughby said.
The matter boils down to a constitutional issue, Willoughby continued,
and the court will have to decide what constitutes active participation
in the political arena.
Kimbrew is locally renowned for his aggressive, hard-hitting campaign
tactics and has been a much-sought after consultant. He worked for several
local politicians and political causes in previous years, most recently
Save Our Sheriffs, an organization created to defeat Measure D, a ballot
initiative supported by Mayor Eric Perrodin to bring back the defunct
Compton Police Department.
Carson Mayor James Dear, Councilman Isadore Hall and various other
Compton officeholders, past and present, have used Kimbrew’s services
in election campaigns to great success.
But Kimbrew also has a history of breaking the rules.
He pleaded no contest in December 2002 to falsifying his address
to run for the Compton Unified School District Board of Trustees and
was forced to resign, after which he charged $1,987 to his district-issued
credit card for a private party at his Carson home. Kimbrew also used
the card to pay $241 for a hotel room in Carson.
More recently, the Public Integrity Unit launched a probe into
whether Kimbrew participated in the November 2005 school board elections.
Subpoenas were issued to individuals involved in that election to testify
before a grand jury.
Just a week prior to that election, The Bulletin reported that
the Compton Education Association sent out a campaign mailer supporting
various school board candidates with the same permit number used in previous
elections by Labor to Labor Working Families, an organization based in
Compton with which Kimbrew has close ties.
Past clients of Kimbrew’s acknowledged that Labor to Labor was
used in their campaign materials while they employed the former political
adviser. And his sister, Anna Kimbrew, at that time headed up the organization.
If found guilty of violating the terms of his probation, Kimbrew
will likely be sentenced to serve the suspended two year prison term.
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