Black Friday as "Bitter Daddy Ridley-Thomas" attacks Councilman Parks support of challenger of son Sebastian in 54th Assembly District Special Election

LA County Board of Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas goes "Bitter Daddy" on CD 8 City Councilman Bernard Parks, for supporting former Culver City Mayor Christopher Armenta, against his 26 years old son Sebastian in the 54th AD Special Election.

Arrrrr!! LA County Board of Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas can't laugh, smile or think positive about his former Board of Supervisor Campaign Challenger CD 8 City Councilman Bernard Parks, as his recent "Bitter Daddy Rants" illustrates.

Happy Black (and wet) Friday to all as many of you deal with a FUBAR weather forecast in your respective quests to get the best Christmas deals, but for one, LA County Board of Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, the start of the Christmas Season is not bring a smile to his usual sour persona.

If Ridley-Thomas was to get only one gift this Christmas Season, then that should come on Tuesday next week as his politically-wet-behind-the-ear, 26 year old son Sebastian is the Los Angeles Labor Left Machine choice to fill the vacant 54th Assembly District Seat.

But an old political foe support of challenger, former Culver City Mayor Christopher Armenta has brought a "Bitter Daddy Episode" and flashbacks to a contentious Board of Supervisors Campaign between now Supervisor Ridley-Thomas and his former challenger CD 8 City Councilman Bernard Parks.

Councilman Park's endorsement of Mayor Armenta prompted this vicious, Bitter Daddy rant from the elder Ridley-Thomas, in a Culver City based Front Page Online News/ Blog Outlet story on the contentious campaign proceedings.  

“It is tasteless and classless of Bernard to show his animosity for Sebastian’s father this way,” the County Supervisor said, launching into a wall of blistering charges. “Bernard is showing he has no boundaries.”

In "Bitter Daddy Ridley-Thomas" convoluted thought process, its beyond the political boundary to support the challenger of your inexperience son's Special Interest-financed campaign (unions, native-American gaming, Big Oil). Thus, you must conjure up the silly notion that Parks support of Mayor Armenta, is political payback for his previous defeat in the Board of Supervisor Campaign, But what was beyond the boundaries of ethical and fiscal campaign laws, was the aborted scheme by Bitter Daddy Ridley Thomas SEIU buddy Tyrone Freeman, to gouge poor Home Care Workers for higher union dues to finance the Bitter Daddy Ridley Thomas campaign.
 

But once you get beyond the "Bitter Daddy Ridley-Thomas" rants directed at Councilman Parks, its clear that the real motive for his current caustic ire, is that Mayor Armenta is garnering grass-roots support as Jack Humphreville notes in his most recent missive at "MSNBC City Watch".
 

This David versus Goliath election involves the grass roots campaign of an honest, experienced but underfunded candidate fighting against the machine and its self-serving contributors who want to perpetuate a culture that is not in the best interests of its citizens and Ratepayers. 
It is time for the voters of State Assembly District 54 to say NO to Union Bo$$ d’Arcy, NO to special interests, and NO to the inexperienced Sebastian Ridley-Thomas.

....... and residents of Baldwin Hills should take note of this regarding the young Sebastian's silence on the issue of Fracking in the former Oil Fields.

Ridley-Thomas campaign contributors include litigious billboard companies; oil companies opposed to limitations on “fracking” in the City, County, and State; Native Americans who own Las Vegas style casinos; density loving real estate developers and their lawyers; lobbyists; public unions representing City, County, and State workers; and numerous slush funds controlled by other elected officials such as City Council Member Curren Price and Darrell Steinberg, the leader of the State Senate.

....... maybe an Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas District may have this active look.



Selling out to the Special Interests is a Political Ridley-Thomas Family Tract.

** Councilman Parks has some samplings of the past political baggage of "Bitter Daddy Ridley-Thomas is his most recent Email Newsletter which should prompt 54th AD voters to not consider endorsing another Ridley-Thomas for public office.

Uncovering the Marlton Square Riddle...
It’s amazing what happens when you go back in history and reflect on how a certain turn of events dictate how things ultimately turn out. Just last weekend, a group at the Baldwin Hills Homeowners Association asked me the most frequently asked question in the Eighth District since I was elected. "Why hasn’t Marlton Square(Santa Barbara Plaza) been rebuilt?"

This in depth LA Weekly article from 1998 explains why: www.laweekly.com/1998-05-28/news/councilman-fouls-magic

The self interest of then Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas over the public's interest could not be more clearly documented. These same facts are validated by council votes and time lines in L.A.City Council and Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) files. History shows us that the apparent ill-advised power play of leveraging the Marlton Square Project to garner support for an National Football League team coming to the Los Angeles Coliseum cost the community and its residents both deals. Currently, there is no NFL team at the Coliseum, and there is not one in our city. The 1998 version of the Marlton Square proposed project also never materialized.

Before leaving the city council in 2002, Ridley-Thomas personally  turned the Marlton Square Project over  to a developer of ill repute. The developer’s financial deception led to an eight-plus-year odyssey that resulted in  foreclosure and, eventually, bankruptcy.

My office identified the many problems with the deal and the developer. We were instrumental in pulling the project out of bankruptcy and brokered the deal that led Kaiser-Permanente to bring a 200,00 square-foot facility to the location that will cover eight of the 20 acres of  land.

Poor public policy decisions have followed Mark Ridley-Thomas' political career. Just to name a few- during this same period: he advocated and strongly supported for the closure of Martin Luther King Hospital's trauma center and emergency room in a community that by far lead the county in emergency and trauma needs. He subsequently promised it would be reopened in two years. THE COMMUNITY IS STILL WAITING.

Years earlier, he responded to the 1992 riot devastation, the burning of several city blocks on Vermont Avenue between 81th Street and Manchester Boulevard by giving the exclusive development  rights to a major developer for several years who failed to initiate any proposed improvements, entitlements or construction prior to the expiration of the exclusive development agreement. This 11-acre burned-out parcel of land remained vacant until L.A. County spent $100 million on constructing a 200,000 square-foot facility well after Ridley-Thomas left the city council.

Finally , he compounded his initial miscalculation in failing to get an NFL team to the Coliseum by recently advocating and voting to turn over the Coliseum and Sports Arena to the University of Southern California(USC) for free. The community nor the public agencies who built, maintained, refurbished and managed these facilities with your local, state and federal tax dollars received nothing in return for their investments. The L.A. Times has published a series of articles on a judge’s decision that the Coliseum-USC deal, “violated open meeting law”and is lopsided in favor of the university (Read Links Below).

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-coliseum-commission-20130914,0,2002953.story#axzz2lnQYJIOo

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-coliseum-lawsuit-20131005,0,4881842.story#axzz2lnQYJIOo

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-coliseum-lawsuit-20131005,0,4881842.story#axzz2lnQYJIOo

These are just a few of many examples of poor public policy and the negative impacts on the community and tax paying public. Maybe one day the community will remember to hold those accountable for past indiscretions.

Winning elections doesn’t prove anything. It’s what you do when you’re in office that counts. And, while a $700,000 office renovation and NFL Football tickets on the public dime are nice perks, they should not stand alone as the hallmarks of a political career.

Your thoughts ..............

Scott Johnson in CD 14