22 Facts About Mark Ridley-Thomas

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

Mark Ridley-Thomas 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.

Mark Ridley-Thomas 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.

Mark 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.

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

Mark Ridley-Thomas 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.

Mark Ridley-Thomas was the president pro tem of the council.

Mark 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.

Mark Ridley-Thomas sponsored a law that aided redevelopment in Exposition Park as part of a failed effort to attract a team.

In 2006, Mark 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.

Mark Ridley-Thomas was 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.

Mark 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.

Mark Ridley-Thomas served on the Senate Appropriations; Energy, Utilities and Communications; Health; and Public Safety committees.

On October 25,2007, Mark 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.

Mark Ridley-Thomas was endorsed by the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, the area's labor unions, and numerous elected officials.

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

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

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

On October 18,2021 Mark 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.

In 2009 Mark 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.

In 2010 Mark Ridley-Thomas spent $25,000 in public funds to place himself and fourteen other county officials in the Who's Who edition of black Los Angeles.

In 2014, while county supervisor, Mark Ridley-Thomas provided a key vote in favor of $125 million in public financing for a controversial redesign of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.