Then-L.A. County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas in 2020. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
FOR L.A.’S CIVIC CLASS, the criminal case against former political powerbroker Mark Ridley-Thomas has long served as a sort of Rorschach test.
The one-time high school teacher, who served for three decades in elected office on the City Council, the County Board of Supervisors and in the state legislature, was convicted on federal bribery and fraud charges in 2023.
To some, Ridley-Thomas’ conviction was a symbol of the way corruption and influence-peddling pervaded every corner of local government in Los Angeles.
But to others, particularly many of his ardent supporters in the civil rights and labor movements, the case smacked of racism and government overreach. Some saw Ridley-Thomas’ case as emblematic of a long history of Black men being unfairly targeted by the justice system.
Last week, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit weighed in to unanimously uphold the conviction, making it more likely that the former lion of L.A. politics may have to spend the twilight of his life serving a 42-month prison sentence.
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