Reporting the news usually means breaking a new story of something that just happened. In the case of Yavapai County Supervisor candidate Brooks Compton, we wanted to chase down rumors about old stories that were being spread now that he is running for office. Unsurprisingly, he seemed to be almost expecting our questions when they came.
According to Compton “It is a battle that, no matter how many times I fight and win, I have to keep fighting again and again.” That battle is over old rumors being spread about events that took place in Nevada more than thirty years ago.
The first rumor is that Compton had to pay thousands of dollars in fines to the Nevada Ethics Commission for making frivolous or false complaints when he was a candidate running for office.
In truth, Compton never filed any complaints and, when the Ethics Commission attempted to fine him anyway, Compton kept his promise to sue them and have the fine overturned. Compton has long maintained that the entire matter was a political hit that traced back to former US Senator Harry Reid and his legendary Nevada political machine, and Compton may be right. The Nevada District Court cleared Compton and dismissed the fine and the case. Years later, a Democratic operative pled guilty to the offense and ended up paying a fine for it.
“I was the only individual who had ever challenged the Nevada Ethics Commission in court to clear his name,” said Compton, adding “and I didn’t just win – I spanked ‘em good!”
The second rumor tracked even further back, to when Compton was just a 19-year old making his way. His love of cars landed him work at an auto dealership where he learned that some of his fellow employees and even his boss had badges – real badges, that came with attractive benefits. “At the time Nevada had become a deep blue state and it was not 2nd Amendment friendly. Having the badge allowed me to exercise my constitutional right to carry my firearm for protection.”
“As I recall it was half a scam where you donate to the constable’s campaign and you get this cool hook up, but eventually you figure out that what’s going on isn’t right, he may be pocketing the money, and you’re not supposed to be doing it.” said Compton, reflecting back on those years.
“I later learned how the scammed worked was the Constable would give you a badge and then a few months later the Captain would come and extort money out of you to keep it. Sure enough, all of a sudden the Captain of the Las Vegas Constable’s office is trying to extort money out of me, so who do you report it to? It can’t be the law enforcement who sold you the badge or who is trying to extort you.”
So Compton turned in his badge and told his story to the FBI, which began a long fight with corruption at city hall that has resurfaced multiple times during his life.
“Back then the constable who sold me the badge came after me and tried to make me the bad guy in the story, but thankfully the FBI already knew what was happening because I had told them.” said Compton, whose badge turned out to be the critical physical evidence needed in the case that led to Las Vegas Constable Don Charleboix’ indictment on charges of bribery, filing false campaign reports, theft, embezzlement and fraudulent use of property. He later pled guilty to the bribery charge specifically. Compton was also a key witness in the trial of the Captain who attempted to extort money from him. The Captain ended up pleading guilty to extorting Compton and others and serving time in prison.
“If I could go back 40 years I would tell my young self it wasn’t the best spot to put myself in. On the bright side, me taking action to correct things led to two high ranking corrupt police officers being taken off the streets.” said Compton.
“The irony is that I’ve spent much of my life fighting against corruption, especially corruption in public office, yet when I’m attacked, it ends up being corrupt political types coming after me,” said Compton, who concluded, “That’s why it is so important to make sure everyone knows the truth about what happened way back then, because I wasn’t accused or charged with any crimes, I was helping to fight crime.”