Mark Ridley-Thomas

Mark Ridley-Thomas (born November 6, 1954) is an American former politician and convicted felon.

After a brief stint as a high-school teacher, Ridley-Thomas was executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles (1981–1991).

During that period he also hosted a public affairs program on Pacifica Radio station KPFK-FM in Los Angeles.

Ridley-Thomas went on to earn a Ph.D. in Social Ethics and Policy Analysis from the University of Southern California (1989).

He spent three terms on the Los Angeles City Council from the 8th district from 1991 to 2002, and again for the 10th district from 2020 until his expulsion from the council in 2022.

Ridley-Thomas served the first of three terms on the Los Angeles City Council, beginning in 1991, representing the city's 8th Council District.

During his tenure on the council, he created the Eighth District Empowerment Congress.

In the aftermath of the 1992 L.A. riots, Ridley-Thomas sought to prevent convenience stores in South Central from selling alcohol.

Many of these stores were Korean owned.

He said at the time "We are going to use every means at our disposal to rid our community of these god-awful places of business, the kind of business they do is not good for the community."

He founded the African American Voter Registration, Education, and Participation (AAVREP) in 2002, the largest organized effort to register African American and urban voters in the state of California in more than a decade.

He was also the president pro tem of the council.

In his 2002 election, he defeated his Republican opponent, Gerard T. Robinson, with more than 80% of the vote.

In the Assembly, Ridley-Thomas served as chair of the Democratic caucus and was a major proponent of efforts to encourage an NFL team to move to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which is located in his district.

He also sponsored a law that aided redevelopment in Exposition Park as part of a failed effort to attract a team.

In the Assembly, Ridley-Thomas, as chairman of the Select Committee on the Los Angeles County Health Care Crisis, was a leader in addressing the problems facing the hospitals and health care system of Los Angeles, sponsoring a bill that would create the Office of Inspector General in an effort to detect and prevent fraud, waste and abuse in government agencies.

Ridley-Thomas would have been forced to leave the council in 2003 because of city term limits that prevented him from running for reelection, so he chose instead to run for a seat in the California State Assembly representing California's 48th district.

In 2006, Ridley-Thomas announced that he was running for the California State Senate, vying for the 26th Senate district seat being vacated by term-limited Senator Kevin Murray.

He defeated his opponent in the Democratic primary, Marvin C. McCoy, with more than 87% of the vote and faced no Republican opposition in the general election.

In the Senate, Ridley-Thomas joined with a group of lawmakers who introduced a package of legislation designed to crack down on gang violence by allowing city and county prosecutors to employ tougher sentencing measures and increase asset forfeitures against gang members, authoring a bill which would make it easier for law enforcement officials to deal with racially motivated gang activity.

He was also one of the lawmakers who called for tourists to boycott the LAX Hilton because of its efforts to overturn a city ordinance that would grant a living wage to airport-area hotel workers.

Ridley-Thomas chaired the Committee on Business, Professions and Economic Development and its two subcommittees on Professional Sports and Entertainment, and The Economy, Workforce Preparation and Development.

He also served on the Senate Appropriations; Energy, Utilities and Communications; Health; and Public Safety committees.

On October 25, 2007, Ridley-Thomas announced that he would be running for the Second District seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors being vacated by Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke.

His most formidable opponent was former LAPD police chief Bernard C. Parks, the member of the Los Angeles City Council who replaced Ridley-Thomas when he was elected to the State Assembly.

Ridley-Thomas was endorsed by the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, the area's labor unions (including the law enforcement unions), and numerous elected officials.

Ridley-Thomas edged out Parks in the June 3 primary by a margin of 45% to 40%, but since neither candidate received a majority of the vote, the top two candidates advanced to a runoff election in November.

Ridley-Thomas won a 62% to 38% victory over Parks.

Ridley-Thomas became the first black man ever elected to the Los Angeles County Board.

He was a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for the 2nd Supervisorial District from 2008 to 2020, a California State Senator representing the 26th district from 2006 to 2008, and was a California State Assemblyman representing the 48th district from 2002 until 2006.

He was Chairman of the Assembly Democratic Caucus.

Indicted on nineteen criminal counts in 2021, Ridley-Thomas was found guilty of seven of the charges on March 30, 2023, including conspiracy, bribery, honest services mail fraud, and four counts of honest services wire fraud "extracting special benefits for his son from USC while voting in support of motions and a contract sought by the university."

On August 28, 2023, Ridley-Thomas was sentenced to 42 months in prison.

Ridley-Thomas is a graduate of Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles and earned a baccalaureate degree in Social Relations and a master's degree in Religious Studies from Immaculate Heart College.

In 2012 Ridley-Thomas won a second term as Supervisor, due to no opposing candidate in the primary in the June primary.

Voters approved term limits on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for three terms.

Therefore, in March 2015, Ridley-Thomas sought and won his third and last term without any serious opposition.

Thomas was elected to a fourth 4-year term on the Los Angeles City Council in Council District 10 in the November 3, 2020 election.

On October 18, 2021 Ridley-Thomas announced his intention to step back from his duties in order to fight charges of corruption; two days later, the Los Angeles city council formally voted to suspend him from his duties.

Four months later, he was expelled from the council and replaced by Herb Wesson, who was appointed by City Council President Nury Martinez in 2022.