While state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Culver City) was kicking off his campaign with hundreds of volunteers on Saturday, “all the Bernard Parks campaign could do was issue another snarky press release and dodge questions about his long string of ethical lapses,” the senator’s camp charged yesterday.
“Instead of Mr. Parks, a Metropolitan Transit Authority board member, returning more than $20,000 in contributions from MTA contractors – which is what his constituents have demanded – he has asked for a list of those contributions.”
The senator and Mr. Parks, a Los Angeles City Council member, are competing for the seat on the County Board of Supervisors presently held by Yvonne Brathwaite Burke.
Here is what the Ridley-Thomas camp called a detailed list of MTA-linked contributors to Mr. Parks, as compiled by the Citizens’ Campaign to Fix the Expo Rail Line:
Tutor/Saliba officers, employees and family members:
- Ronald Tutor, Tutor/Saliba, $1000 on 12/28/07.
- Gerald Brown, Vice President,Tutor/Saliba: $1000 on 12/28/07 (the same day Patricia Brown gave $1000).
- Mark Fischbach Vice President, Tutor/Saliba: $1000 on 12/28/07 (the same day Rosemary Fischbach gave $1000).
James Foster, Equipment Manager, Tutor/Saliba: $1000 on 12/28/07.- James Frost, Construction Executive, Tutor/Saliba: $1000 on 12/31/07 (the same day Nicole Frost gave $1000). .
- Joseph Guglielmo, Construction Manager, Tutor/Saliba: $1000 on 12/28/07 (the same day Ardis Guglielmo gave $1000).
- Michael Kerchner, Vice President, Tutor/Saliba: $1000 on 12/28/07 (the same day Carolyn Kerchner gave $1000).
- Robert Lewis, Executive, Tutor/Saliba: $1000 on 12/31/07.
- David Randall, Sr. Vice President, Tutor/Saliba: $1000 on 12/28/07.
- Roger Sexton, Business Executive,Tutor/Saliba: $1000 on 12/28/07 (the same day Diane Sexton gave $1000).
- Williams Sparks, CFO, Tutor/Saliba: $1000 on 1/24/08 (the same day Vicki Sparks gave $1000)
Archeon International Group contributed $1000 on 2/25/08.
Koar Development Group CEO Edward Dong contributed $500 on 2/29/08.
0. Hope Bullock III of Bullock & Associates, Inc. contributed $300 to Parks on 3/5/08.
0. MTA contractor URS Corp Vice President Gerard Orozco gave Parks $1000 on 12/31/07.
0. Carter & Burgess, Inc. Professional Engineer Bruce Russell gave Parks $1000 on 12/17/07.
The Ridley-Thomas camp said that “in addition to the contributions Parks accepted for his current campaign, he also accepted contributions to his City Council campaign and voted as an MTA Board Member to grant contracts for those same contributors.”
They offered, as an illustration, a citation on Dec. 5, 2002, when, they assert, Mr. Parks accepted the maximum political contribution possible from Century City-based law firm Greenburg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger, LLP. On Oct. 27, 2005, they added, Mr. Parks voted to hire this same law firm to represent the MTA, according to MTA Board minutes.
Characterizing Mr. Parks’ defense as a “less-than-artful dodge,” Sen. Ridley-Thomas’s campaign said that the Councilman cited a letter from the Fair Political Practices Commission that allegedly indicated that contributions “would not pose a conflict of interest for an elected official.”
“That’s nice,” said a spokesman for Sen. Ridley-Thomas, “but we never alleged a conflict of interest. Instead, the campaign asked for Parks to resign his post on the MTA Board because he has accepted contributions from MTA contractors, even though the law prohibits Board Members from accepting contributions from companies seeking contracts. On more than one occasion, including the example above, Parks has gone even further and voted to grant contracts to his contributors.”
The Ridley-Thomas spokesperson said Mr. Parks “should step down as a member of the MTA board, and return the tens of thousands of dollars to the contractors and their family members – even before he pays back the $380,000-plus in campaign debts he owes to a long list
