Ridley-Thomas is married to Avis Ridley-Thomas, who was the administrator of the Dispute Resolution Center in the office of the Los Angeles City Attorney who retired in 2011. They have twin sons, Sebastian and Sinclair, who are both graduates of Morehouse College.
Political career
City Council
Ridley-Thomas was elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 1991, representing the city's 8th Council District. During his tenure on the council, he created the Eighth District Empowerment Congress. He founded the African American Voter Registration, Education, and Participation 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. Thomas is currently running to return to Los Angeles City Council in Council District 10 in the March 3, 2020 election.
State Assembly
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 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.
State Senate
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.
2008 County Supervisor
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, 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.
2012 County Supervisor
In 2012 Ridley-Thomas ran for his second term as Supervisor. Unopposed, he won the primary in June with 100% of the vote.
2016 County Supervisor
Term limits limit the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to three terms each. In March 2015, Ridley-Thomas filed to run for his third and last term.
Controversy
Statements
1992 Riots
In the aftermath of the 1992 L.A. riots, Ridley-Thomas sought to prevent convenience stores in South Central from serving 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.". Korean owners took issue with his stance, claiming this was a case of the city punishing the victims.
Misuse of funds
Donation to USC
In Spring 2018, Ridley-Thomas' political campaign fund — Mark Ridley-Thomas Committee for a Better L.A. — gave $100,000 to the USC School of Social Work, according to reporting by the LA Times. "After USC received the money, the school's dean, Marilyn Flynn, reached out to Peter Manzo, the chief executive of United Ways of California. She told him USC was sending a $100,000 donation to be put in the account of PRPI, the think tank run by Sebastian Ridley-Thomas." The Times reported that a "concerned employee went to the university's compliance office in June and reported "alleged inappropriate financial transactions and agreements" involving Flynn and an elected official." After consulting legal counsel, USC administrators subsequently referred the $100,000 donation by Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas to federal authorities for a criminal investigation.
Car Wash Controversy
During the 2015 California drought, Ridley-Thomas ordered one of his two county-provided black luxury cars to be washed 2 times a week. After Governor Jerry Brown's April mandate ordered a 25% reduction in urban water use, Ridley-Thomas increased the frequency of his sedan washing to over 3 times a week, while maintaining a wash schedule of 2.9 times per week for the second Chrysler sedan he maintains, more than any other county supervisor.
$25k "Who's Who" listing
In 2010 Ridley-Thomas spent $25,000 of taxpayers' money to place himself in the Who's Who edition of black Los Angeles.
$707k Office Remodel
In 2009 Ridley-Thomas was criticized, most notably by radio talk show hosts John and Ken, for his proposal and personal defense of plans to remodel his office through the spending of $707,000 in discretionary funds. Amidst the state budget crisis in California, John and Ken criticized MRT on December 21, 2009, saying that the discretionary funds, " our money and we say no." As of March 12, 2010 the Los Angeles Times reported that Ridley-Thomas' renovation plans for his eighth-floor office were on hold.
Campaign Contributions
Oil and Gas
In his 2020 race for City Council, Ridley-Thomas was criticized for his acceptance of donations from the fossil fuel industry. Among the major candidates in the race, Ridley-Thomas was the only one who accepted such donations, including from E&B Natural Resources Management, which operates a drill site in the district. While the other four candidates in the race called for the city to phase out urban oil drilling within 2,500 feet of homes and schools, Ridley-Thomas has opposed the idea of a citywide buffer.
