A broad coalition of Latino elected officials, religious leaders, community activists, environmentalists, police officers and business leaders announced their support for Mark Ridley-Thomas for County Supervisor on Thursday at Mercado La Paloma. Videos from the well-attended press conference follow below…

Latino Community Leaders Endorse Senator Ridley-Thomas

Dozens of Latino community leaders attended the news conference to lend their support to Senator Ridley-Thomas. A few of those leaders –Lynwood Mayor Pro Tem Aide Castro, South Bay Latino Chamber of Commerce President Candy Saenz, LAUSD School Board Vice President Yolie Flores Aguilar, retired Senator Martha Escutia and Senator Gil Cedillo — appear in the video above.

Latina Elder Julia Botello

Julia Botello has lived half of her 82 years in Los Angeles and calls Senator Ridley-Thomas her fighter. Below is an English translation of her remarks which were made in Spanish:

“I have lived in South Central Los Angeles for half of my life. I am 82 years-old, so I have experience. I may not be that intelligent but I have experience and I want to advise you to vote for [Mark Ridley-Thomas]. Like they say in Mexico — this is my fighter.”

Jose Orellana

Jose Orellana is a distressed homeowner who supports Senator Ridley-Thomas because he “will fight for us.” Below is an English translation of his remarks which were made in Spanish:

“My name is Jose Orellana. I live in South L.A. I work as an accountant and my wife works for the school district. We have two kids ages 13 and 16.

In 2003 we became homeowners. Because we did not have experience, we were misled into a high-interest rate loan. We were also misled about the condition of the house.

I had to take out extra money to make repairs and got behind. We are now fighting to save our house because the payments keep going up. We are like a lot of families in South L.A. — we work hard but we have been taken advantage of by predatory lenders.

I feel we need a County Supervisor who has fought to stop predatory loans. That’s why I’m supporting Mark Ridley-Thomas for County Supervisor. Thank you.”