The two rivals have taken markedly different career paths. Following the model of Tom Bradley, L.A.'s first black mayor, Parks, 64, rose through the ranks of the Los Angeles Police Department, becoming chief in 1997. His ouster in 2002 engineered by a white mayor, James K. Hahn, transformed Parks into a political icon for many black voters, and he won a seat on the City Council in 2003.
Ridley-Thomas, 53, started out as a high school teacher, then turned to civil rights advocacy as executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles. He then was elected to the City Council, the state Assembly and state Senate.
Citing a wide array of supporters -- La Opinion newspaper, the Sierra Club, the National Organization for Women and Police Chief William J. Bratton, Parks' successor, to name a few -- Ridley-Thomas said he was better suited than Parks for a job that demands compromise.
"I am a leader who can build consensus between labor and business, between various ethnic groups," he said.
Leaning back in a swivel chair at his headquarters on Jefferson Boulevard, Ridley-Thomas issued a scathing assessment of Parks, describing him as vindictive and contemptuous of critics.
"It's amazing how anybody can alienate so many groups," Ridley-Thomas said, noting that law enforcement unions have sided unanimously with him over Parks.
He also accused Parks of trying to exploit sympathy over his ouster as police chief. He said the eruption of the Rampart corruption scandal when Parks was chief exposed his failure to fight police misconduct. And every morning, he said, Parks wakes up and asks himself, "What can I go and do to mess with Bill Bratton today?"
Parks said he never could have made it to the top LAPD job if he did not work well with others. He described the department's system for civilian complaints against officers as a showcase achievement of his reform efforts. He recalled that Ridley-Thomas wrote lavish praise of his tenure as police chief in 2002, saying in a newspaper article that Parks' "work ethic is unmatched and his competence unparalleled."
Parks criticized Ridley-Thomas' record on the City Council, saying he had left too many streets unpaved and failed to stop the spread of fast-food restaurants in the district.
On a more pressing matter, the two have tangled almost daily over which candidate would be a stronger champion of reopening Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital in Willowbrook, just south of Watts, formerly the King/Drew Medical Center.
However voters sort through the back-and-forth, a big question next week will be which candidate can draw support from Latinos, whites and Asians.
After years of television exposure, Parks is more widely known. But labor is putting at least $2 million into its independent campaign for Ridley-Thomas, and a big part of it is an aggressive appeal to Latinos through mail, advertising and home visits.
"Coalition politics are key," said Anthony Thigpenn, the field director of the labor campaign. "And that will be increasing in the future."
michael.finnegan@
latimes.com
