Jim Compton was elected to the City Council in 1999 to fill the seat of outgoing Councilwoman Martha Choe. She resigned October 1, 1999 and Compton took office early on November 12, 1999. He resigned mid-way through his second term to take a teaching position in Cairo, Egypt, and to conduct research in emerging democratic movement in Romania. During his first term, Compton chaired the Council's Public Safety and Technology Committee. At his resignation in December of 2005, he was chair of the Utilities and Technology Committee. In addition, Compton chaired the World Trade Organization Accountability Review Committee, whose primary function was to create a factual record, composed of documents and interview data, that would serve as a baseline for community understanding of the events of the WTO meeting in Seattle in 1999.

As chair of the Public Safety Committee, Compton presided over debates on police discipline, racial profiling and treatment of protesters. And as chair of the Energy and Environmental Policy Committee, he clashed with Mayor Greg Nickels and some other Council members, leading the charge to block the reconfirmation of Gary Zarker, the City Light superintendent.

Compton faced scrutiny from the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission (SEEC) on two separate occasions. He was one of three Council members who received campaign donations tied to strip-club owner Frank Colacurcio Jr. before a vote on a rezone beneficial to the club. All three returned the money. He also agreed to a $3,000 settlement with the SEEC after admitted that he had accepted a plane ride on a jet owned by Paul Allen and tickets to a Portland Trail Blazers game. At the time, Allen's South Lake Union development was before the Council for consideration.

Prior to his Council election, Compton was best known for his 35-year career in journalism. His career involved, among other posts, working as NBC News correspondent out of Cairo and London (1977-1984), reporter and editor at Seattle's NBC affiliate KING-TV (1985-1999), and as a correspondent for The News Hour with Jim Lehrer. He was best known locally for his ten years producing The Compton Report, a top-rated weekly news program at KING-TV. The Compton Report won most of the broadcast industry's major awards, including the Columbia-Dupont Prize, the Gabriel Award, The Janus Award, and the Golden Globe of the San Francisco Film Festival.

Compton received his bachelor's degree in history at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, in 1964 and his master's degree at the Columbia University School of Journalism in 1969. He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in 1969-1970 for consulting with and studying the television system of Romania.