Mark Ridley-Thomas was sworn-in as the first African American male ever to serve on the L.A. County Board of Supervisors on Monday, December 1, 2008…
The Honorable Kamala D. Harris, District Attorney for the City and County of San Francisco, administers the oath of office to Supervisor-elect Ridley-Thomas in the Board of Supervisors Hearing Room at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration.
Supervisor Ridley-Thomas addresses constituents and supporters shortly after being sworn-in as Supervisor.
Supervisor-elect Mark Ridley-Thomas will be interviewed by Adrienne Alpert tomorrow at 11 a.m. on ABC’s “Eyewitness Newsmakers”. The half hour weekly program is “dedicated to a deeper exploration of local issues and concerns.”
Ridley-Thomas will take his oath of office to become L.A. County’s Supervisor for the Second District on Monday (December 1, 2008) in the Board of Supervisors Hearing Room.
USC President Steven B. Sample to head panel of advisors.
Supervisor-elect Mark Ridley-Thomas today announced that Steven B. Sample, President, University of Southern California has been appointed Chair of his Second District Transition Team, an advisory group that will provide advice and counsel to Supervisor Ridley-Thomas on policy issues, critical community concerns, county commission appointments, county budget priorities and related matters.
Supervisor-elect Ridley-Thomas said the purpose and role of his Transition Team was “to gather together the leading minds and practitioners from throughout the 2nd District to begin the process of evaluating current county policies, assessing funding needs for programs across a range of issues, and examining the effectiveness of county departments and appointed commissions.”
“The voters of the 2nd District voted for change. Key to that change is the involvement and participation of stakeholders and residents throughout the Second District. They voted for a leader who they believed would deliver results. I intend to exceed their expectations,” Mr. Ridley-Thomas said.
In addition to Mr. Sample, Supervisor-elect Ridley-Thomas named the following members to his Transition Team advisory panel (and the issue areas they will lead as Transition Team members):
Connie Rice, Esq. – Public Safety
Co-Director
The Advancement Project
Honorable Sheila Kuehl – Budget Reform
California State Senator (Ret.)
Robert K. Ross, M.D. – Health Services
President and CEO
The California Endowment
Mark W. Rocha, Ph.D. – Workforce Development
President
West Los Angeles College
Dora Leong Gallo – Housing Services
CEO
A Community of Friends
Martin Schlageter – Environmental Quality
Director of Public Policy
Coalition for Clean Air
Cynthia McClain-Hill, Esq. – Small Business Development
President
National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO)
Maria Elena Durazo – Commissions/Governance
Executive Secretary-Treasurer
Los Angeles County Federation of Labor
Mr. Ridley-Thomas said, “My Transition Team will be inclusive and diverse. I have more Transition Team members who will officially appointed and named in the coming days. My advisors will help me develop district-specific views on county policy and they will help me assess the budgetary needs of county programs serving the people of the 2nd district.
“My Transition Team advisors will help my office chart new directions for the 2nd District through a structured process of empowerment that will include, but not be limited to issues of county budget reform, workforce development, small business expansion, health services, public safety, environment quality, housing, and children and family services.”
Supervisor-elect Ridley-Thomas will take his oath of office on Monday, December 1 at 12:00 p.m. in the Board of Supervisors Hearing Room at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration in downtown Los Angeles.
Swearing-in festivities for Supervisor-elect Mark Ridley-Thomas to be highlighted by music, choral performances and speeches citing the importance of working for change and delivering results for the people of the Second District.
Supervisor-elect Mark Ridley-Thomas will take his oath of office to become L.A. County’s Supervisor for the Second District on Monday (December 1, 2008) in the Board of Supervisors Hearing Room at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration (500 W. Temple Street, Los Angeles 90012).
The one-hour swearing-in ceremony will feature performances by the Para Los Niños children’s choir, Pledge of Allegiance by recording artist Samantha Strachan and a musical selection by the world renowned Agape International Spiritual Center Ensemble, directed by Rickey Byars Beckwith. The Korean Drum Troop will lead a processional at the conclusion of Supervisor Ridley-Thomas’ swearing-in ceremony.
CNN Headline News and Time Warner Local Edition news anchor Brad Pomerance will serve as master of ceremonies.
Honorable Kamala D. Harris, District Attorney for the City and County of San Francisco, will administer Mr. Ridley-Thomas’ oath of office.
Honorable Don Knabe, Chair of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors will deliver welcome remarks.
Bishop T. Larry Kirkland of the 5th Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church will deliver the ceremony’s invocation.
Dr. Stephen B. Sample, President, University of Southern California; Maria Elena Durazo, Executive Secretary-Treasurer, L.A. County Federation of Labor; Cynthia McClain-Hill, President, National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO); Robert K. Ross, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, The California Endowment; and Los Angeles Korean-American pioneer Susan Ahn Cuddy are scheduled to play prominent roles in Mr. Ridley-Thomas’ swearing-in ceremony.
Mr. Ridley-Thomas’ swearing-in ceremony will open with a R.O.T.C. color guard, followed by the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance and the singing of the National Anthem of the United States.
Performances by Second District church choirs and Korean drum performers will provide musical inspiration at the beginning, end and at interludes during course the ceremony program.
Following Supervisor-elect Ridley-Thomas’ swearing-in ceremony, a reception will be held in the BP Room at the Walt Disney Concert Hall (111. S. Grand Avenue, L.A. 90012).
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View the official invite and RSVP information here.
“State Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas scored a knockout victory Tuesday night to become the first Black man ever elected to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
With 100 percent of the precincts reporting, Ridley-Thomas had 250,198 votes or 61.4 percent of the votes, compared to 157,294 (38.6 percent) for L.A. City Councilman Bernard Parks.”
“A resounding victory over Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard C. Parks and a reputation for shrewd consensus-building was expected to aid Ridley-Thomas in an ambitious agenda, including better compensation for county workers and a pledge to reopen Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital by January 2010.”
“In the most hotly contested local campaign of this election season, State Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas captured more than 60 percent of the vote to defeat Eighth District Councilman Bernard Parks 250,198 to 157,294 in the battle for the second district Los Angeles County Board of Supervisor’s seat being vacated by Yvonne Braithwaite Burke.”
“YES WE DID! We won an historic double-header Tuesday: We put the first Black man in the White House and the first Black man on the county Board of Supervisors, both of whom were, far and away, the better candidates who trounced their opponents to prove it.”
“State Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas was elected to the powerful Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, defeating a bid by city councilman and former police chief Bernard Parks.
Ridley-Thomas won 61 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s election for the 2nd District seat being vacated by Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke.”
“As the first new member elected to the Board of Supervisors since 1996, state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas said Wednesday his first order of business is to assemble an effective staff and focus on immediate needs in South Los Angeles, including reopening Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital.”
“MARK RIDLEY-THOMAS’ BLOWOUT WIN FOR L.A. COUNTY SUPERVISOR
They brought the roasted pig out in a cardboard box. And even if it was a “victory” party, all in attendance knew that their Los Angeles County Second District candidate, Bernard Parks, was cooked.”
“On a night of unbounded jubilation for blacks and other liberals practically everywhere on earth, Mark Ridley-Thomas elevated the already shrill volume with a historic contribution of his own, scoring a crushing victory over Bernard C. Parks in the stunningly lopsided race for Yvonne Brathwaite Burke’s seat on the County Board of Supervisors.
On the eve of his 54th birthday, Mr. Ridley-Thomas last night became the first black man elected to arguably the most powerful local body in the country by the nose-flattening margin of 61.4 percent to 38.6 percent for Mr. Parks, an L.A. City Councilman.”
“State Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas, who on Tuesday won the contest as a representative of District 2 on the Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles, said in his first public appearance after the election day, that the welfare of Latino families is one of his priorities.”
Eric Bauman, the Los Angeles Democratic Party Chair, emphatically urged Angelenos to vote for Barack Obama and Mark Ridley-Thomas at a Get Out The Vote (GOTV) rally in front of City Hall this afternoon:
“You know, I feel hope in the air. But why do I feel hope in the air? Because, since the 1st of January, one million new Democrats registered to vote in the state of California. One million new Democrats!
And that one million new Democrats says, “yes we can, si se puede”. And tomorrow night at 8 o’clock we are going to say, “yes we did, si se pudo”. Because one million new Democrats means victory in California.
But, one million new Democrats needs to know they can’t stop at the top. You can’t just vote for Barack Obama. You have to vote for Mark Ridley-Thomas for the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. We have to win the Board of Supervisors.”
Young, award winning filmmaker, Jethro Rothe-Kushel, and educator, poet and community organizer, Mark Gonzales, collaborated on the above Mark Ridley-Thomas for Supervisor endorsement video. In the video, Gonzales tells the story of how Senator Ridley-Thomas stepped forward and took action on behalf of students whose right to an education was being threatened.
“He is a person who has not only walked with action and ideas, but has continually walked with integrity. And as we know in these days and times, integrity is a natural resource more scarce than oil,” Gonzales says of Senator Ridley-Thomas.
Gonzales illustrates that Senator Ridley-Thomas not only works for change, but gets results.
1. An activist is calling for Bernard Parks to step down from his City Council seat as well as his positions with the MTA and Expo Line Construction Authority or face a recall for his “disgraceful, unethical, illegal actions and abuses of power.”
2. Bernard Parks offers an odd response to reports that he has multiple houses and may have been skirting the law by voting in the wrong district for himself. Parks’ surprising defense was that he only owns one home and that he rented the other houses in order to live within L.A. city limits while serving as a councilman. In other words, Parks’ defense seems an admission that he is a carpetbagger.
3. Mole’s Progressive Democrat endorses Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas and calls the Supervisors race the “highest priority” for L.A. progressives. The website outlines some key differences between Councilman Bernard Parks and Senator Ridley-Thomas:
“Although elected by a majority African American district, Parks has a conservative voting record when it comes to investing in communities. If Parks wins, Los Angeles County will be controlled by a conservative majority at a time when county hospitals and emergency services in communities of color are facing closure. Mark has been a staunch supporter of progressive issues such as the establishment of school health centers, consumer protection, community reinvestment, jobs and workforce development.”
4. Indymedia L.A. has a post up with the sub-headline, “Dirty Bernie Parks is abusing his power to attack a political enemy. It’s a low blow, but, not unexpected.”
1. Please note that the October 20th California voter registration deadline is fast approaching. Go here to register today!
2. At The Soulvine, Betty Pleasant continues to ask why Bernard Parks doesn’t like community organizers and even compares the Councilman to right wing vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
3. Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas makes the cover of Our Weekly.
4. The Wave reports that Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas campaign office, “was abuzz early Saturday morning as a crowd estimated at 150 people waited to hear the candidate address the gathering. See video from the great event here.
5. Senator Ridley-Thomas is expected to join hotel employees and labor representatives pressing for living wages in front of the LAX Hilton today at 4:30 p.m.
6. News broke yesterday that Bernard Parks was improperly taking a tax exemption for a home he doesn’t live in and that he likely owes back taxes.
Back on January 31st, Illinois Senator Barack Obama visited L.A. Trade Technical College and singled out his “great friend,” Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas, at the beginning of his remarks.
1. Governor Schwarzenegger signed (registration required) into law SB 1307 by Senator Ridley-Thomas. The measure “seeks to protect the public from counterfeit, adulterated and misbranded prescription drugs, and to address implementation issues involving California’s electronic pedigree requirement”.
2. Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed SB 1777 by Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas which would have raised approximately $5 million for mediation programs with a $5 increase in civil case filing fees. While the Governor supported the effort to secure funding for the mediation programs, he was “not comfortable [with] increasing court fees at this time”.
