Mark Ridley Thomas

During a day of stop-and-go campaigning for the 2nd District seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas paused for a little criticism from his campaign manager: You need to do more to toot your own horn. "You have to close the deal," said Vincent Harris after Ridley-Thomas' debate last weekend with his chief rival for the seat, L.A. City Councilman Bernard C. Parks.

For six months, Los Angeles County supervisors have courted the University of California as their last, best hope to reopen Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital. Then Mark Ridley-Thomas was sworn in this week as the newest board member. He immediately signaled that, as far as the troubled hospital in his district is concerned, he wants to be considered the first among equals. Ridley-Thomas' arrival changes the dynamic on one of the board's longest-running and most vexing problems.

As he vies for a seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas has tapped labor unions and companies with business before the Legislature to donate thousands of dollars to a nonprofit he founded that works to register voters and empower residents in his South Los Angeles district. Over the last year, Ridley-Thomas raised $200,000 from such companies as Verizon, Zenith Insurance Co. and Chevron Corp.

Mark Ridley-Thomas' election to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors last fall already has spawned three special elections for legislative seats. And there will be a fourth if none of the six candidates on the Sept. 1 ballot for the 51st Assembly District can muster a majority. The field consists of five Democrats -- two members of city councils, a water board member who formerly served on a local school board, a 20-year-old making his first bid for elected office and a perennial candidate.

Nearly 400 people jammed a West Adams church hall Saturday to watch a rare event in local politics: a debate featuring three candidates for an unusual vacancy on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Healthcare, education and jobs took center stage as candidates for the 2nd District seat promised to fill the gap left by the closing of King-Harbor Medical Center, reduce school dropout rates and bolster job creation and training. Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard C. Parks, a former L.A.

For months, the battle for a seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has found state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles) and City Councilman Bernard C. Parks crisscrossing 160 square miles of urban landscape, knocking on the doors of neighborhood activists, chatting up local officials and attending church services -- sometimes as many as three on any given Sunday.

When it came time to make his endorsement in the hot race to succeed Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke, Sheriff Lee Baca didn't pick just one candidate to fill the 2nd District seat. He picked two. His selection of both state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles) and Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard C. Parks -- widely considered the two leading contenders -- was not a matter of hedging his bet in the June 3 race, a Baca spokesman said.

Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard C. Parks raised nearly twice as much money as state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas in their heated contest for a seat on the county Board of Supervisors, campaign finance reports posted on Tuesday show. Parks collected more than $300,000 between Jan. 1 and March 17 for his effort to replace retiring Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke. That brings his total to nearly $600,000.

Two veteran public officials -- Bernard C. Parks and Mark Ridley-Thomas -- accused each other of catering to powerful special interests in their contest to capture a rare open seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, during a charged debate Thursday night. The exchange, which was sponsored by the Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters, underscored differences that could alter the dynamics of county government for years to come.

Using a political tool that sidesteps campaign financing limits, Los Angeles labor unions have raised an unprecedented $2.5 million to elect state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas to the county Board of Supervisors. Before voters head to the polls in June, union officials say they will add an additional $1.5 million to the "independent expenditure committee" pot.