On a night of unbounded jubilation for blacks and other liberals practically everywhere on earth, Mark Ridley-Thomas elevated the already shrill volume with a historic contribution of his own, scoring a crushing victory over Bernard C. Parks in the stunningly lopsided race for Yvonne Brathwaite Burke’s seat on the County Board of Supervisors.
On the eve of his 54th birthday, Mr. Ridley-Thomas last night became the first black man elected to arguably the most powerful local body in the country by the nose-flattening margin of 61.4 percent to 38.6 percent for Mr. Parks, an L.A. City Councilman.
He also will be the first new face of any shading on the Board of Sups in a dozen years, since the South Bay’s Don Knabe replaced his retiring boss, Deane Dana.
For Ms. Brathwaite Burke, the defeat of the former LAPD Chief whom she, and much of the Establishment,endorsed , provided a discouraging denouement, an ignominious ending to her nearly lifelong career as she, more quietly than expected, recedes into retirement. For the past 16 years, she has presided as the unchallenged , and supposedly unchallengeable, queen of the 2nd Supervisorial District, stretching from Westwood, through Culver City, and into South L.A.
Called an underdog to the more reserved Mr. Parks even though he has been a political personality for more than three times as many years as his opponent, Mr. Ridley-Thomas attached an exclamation point to multiply the margin of his primary election victory over Mr. Parks last June. He won by five percentage points in a field larded with non-serious candidates, critics said, to prevent Mr. Ridley-Thomas from scoring an outright win — 50 percent plus one — which would have obviated the need for the expensive general campaign.
The new Supervisor is scheduled to be sworn in on Monday, Dec. 1, a little less than four weeks away.
Waving goodbye to the state Senate after one term and winning the seventh consecutive election of his undefeated 17-year career spanning four offices, Mr. Ridley-Thomas dominated the popular vote, 250,198 to 157,294.
Victory Party
At 11:15 last evening in the perspiring and jammed confines of the subterranean Olympic Ballroom of the majestic Century Plaza Hotel, Democratic Party headquarters, Mr. Ridley-Thomas was mobbed by well-wishers and surrounded by the eagles of the gigantic and rich labor union movement that heavily sponsored his campaign as he stepped toward the microphone.
With a shouting Maria Elena Durazo, executive secretary treasurer of the umbrella L.A. County Federation of Labor , tightly gripping a hand mike and pacing around the small, people-flooded stage at the end of the room, a stentorian tone of union brotherhood and sisterhood was firmly established, roughly with the weight of cement. Ear-thumping cheers greeted every union leader who was introduced. Then it was the turn of Mr. Ridley-Thomas’s good friend, Speaker of the Assembly Karen Bass (D-Culver City), freshly re-elected herself minutes earlier by a typically onesided margin.
Over the din of the happy crowd and staring into the winking eyes of flashing cameras, Ms. Bass, fashionable as ever , this time in pale blue, made the first public introduction of a new formulation: Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas.
Not Music to Parks’ Ears
With that, a voluble band struck up a tune so loud that they probably were clapping, in rhythm of course, on the far side of the moon, or at least at the sad and lonely Parks-for-Supervisor headquarters a few miles south in the Crenshaw District.
As he smartly dance-stepped down the length of the narrow stage, Mr. Ridley-Thomas was flanked by a brace of celebrated backers that included Culver City Vice Mayor Gary Silbiger and Culver City School Board member Saundra Davis as well as his arch-supporter, U.S. Rep. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles), who played a background role.
A showman with a knack for intricate timing and a masterful emcee, Mr. Ridley-Thomas, the epitome of the career community politician, his family at his side, was in his element in the same way that a racecar driver is when whizzing around a track at 225 miles an hour. Coincidentally, the new Supervisor matched this speed as he generously distributed encomiums during his 13-minute talk.
Stepping up the cadence, involving the crowd with every line, Mr. Ridley-Thomas called out, “Who won?” And his fans volleyed back, “We won.” Again and once more.
Perhaps he was a preacher in another life. An intellectual as well as a populist politician, he nurtures and meticulously sculpts , then emphatically accents, each artfully articulated word, as if he were a horticultural philologist. It also is as if each pear-shaped syllable and its phrasing were grown in side-by-side but separate gardens.
A Word for the Sponsor
Observing the first commandment of success, that a star must never look past his prime sponsor, Mr. Ridley-Thomas declared: “History is being made in the County of Los Angeles tonight. Not only the 2nd Supervisorial District but the whole County of Los Angeles owes a big debt of gratitude to the L.A. County Federation,” whose leaders lubricated the Ridley-Thomas campaign with a world-class funding of $8.5 million, which, politically, is akin to winning the lottery.
Sensitive to harsh criticism — starting with Mr. Parks —that claimed organized labor was buying his vote on the Board of Supervisors, Mr. Ridley-Thomas said anyone who thinks that “has the wrong Supervisor.” When labor chose to back him over his perceived business-friendly rival, he said that “they showed respect. They showed determination. They showed commitment. They took a risk. They made an investment, but not in one single individual. They stood up and expressed their First Amendment right to choose who they wanted to. Thank you, organized labor.” And a thundering whoop quaked from the floor to the ceiling.
In the spirit of these whirlwind political times nationally, Mr. Ridley-Thomas imprinted himself as an “instrument of change.”
The new Supervisor told the newspaper that he credited two strategies for his perspiration-free victory. “We said we were going to work for change and for delivery of services,” he said. “Then we took a close look at the dichotomous way the Parks campaign was pitting Labor vs. Business. We told our constituents that I represent both labor and business. And they were persuaded by that argument, as evidenced by the polling that we did.”
Hometown Results
Here is what happened in other races of interest:
Speaker Bass once again flicked off a Republican opponent, Lady Cage-Barile, 85.19 percent to 14.81 percent.
Congresswoman Watson sprinted to a typically easy win, also against token Republican opposition, beating David C. Crowley II in the 33rd District, 87.61 percent to 12.39 percent.
Over in the 35th District, Republican hopeful Ted Hayes lost by a similar margin to another longtime incumbent , U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), 82.51 percent to 13.27 percent, 122,880 votes to 19,766 votes.
Former Santa Monica School Board member Julia Brownley, now a Democratic Assmblyperson, handily retained her seat, 67.17 percent to Republican Mark Bernsley’s 32.83 percent in the 41st Assembly District.
