Ridley-Thomas leads for L.A. County supervisor in early returns

State Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas was running ahead of Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard C. Parks on Tuesday in the campaign to replace county Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke, according to partial returns, in the most expensive supervisorial contest in county history.

Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles) held a lead in the race to represent the 2nd District, which covers South Los Angeles and more than two dozen other communities, but appeared headed for a runoff with Parks in November.

Although buoyed by more than $4 million spent on his behalf by a coalition of labor unions, Ridley-Thomas seemed to be falling short of the 50% plus one vote needed to win outright, even as Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley and other county incumbents were coasting to easy victories.

Ridley-Thomas said his early lead showed that the district was demanding action to reopen Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital. "I think voters want change," he said. "They are clearly unhappy with the status quo."

With seven other candidates on the ballot, Ridley-Thomas was facing an uphill battle in his effort to avoid another five-month campaign.

Parks said he was encouraged by the results but was dismayed at being so heavily outspent by Ridley-Thomas' union supporters. By law, Ridley-Thomas' campaign cannot coordinate with those donors.

"All of us in elected life would like to have a campaign one day where someone says, 'Here's $5 million, now run a campaign,' " he said. "We didn't get to do that."

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In other contests, Cooley was securing a third term, despite his promise to quit after eight years in office. County Supervisors Don Knabe and Mike Antonovich -- Republicans who have held their offices for 12 and 28 years, respectively -- were also handily defeating their opponents.

With so little serious opposition, all the action centered on Burke's 2nd District, which stretches from Culver City to Carson.

With Burke leaving after 16 years, two veterans of South Los Angeles politics fought to become her successor: Parks, who worked 37 years in the Los Angeles Police Department before becoming a councilman; and Ridley-Thomas, who spent eight years as a councilman before leaving to serve in the Legislature.

The race centered on efforts to revive King-Harbor, the county medical center in Willowbrook that closed last year. But the candidates also debated each other's ideologies and political affiliations.