With less a month to go before Election Day on Nov. 4, County Board of Supervisors candidate state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas claims that his rival, Bernard Parks, has been busy struggling to pay off his primary election debts instead of campaigning – and still has $3
0,000 in outstanding debts, according to campaign reports filed with the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder’s office.
A spokesman for Sen. Ridley-Thomas (D-Culver City) said this morning that Mr. Parks’ campaign debts far exceed his assets.
Of the $207,038.30 his campaign has spent since the June primary election, $133,478.68 was spent on paying down his debt instead of on campaign activities for the election.
This means, said the Ridley-Thomas spokesman, that Mr. Parks, a Los Angeles City Councilman, must raise $10,895 every day between now and the election to pay off his previous campaign debts.
Meanwhile, the Ridley-Thomas campaign has more assets than debts, with only $17,000 in accrued expenses, and is campaigning full speed ahead.
Almost 100 percent of all funds raised by the Ridley-Thomas campaign have gone toward the campaign, the spokesman said, and not toward paying debts..
This has allowed the Ridley-Thomas campaign to mobilize thousands of grassroots volunteers and voters throughout the district who have signed on to support the Senator for the Board of Supervisors.
“Parks’ fiscal irresponsibility shouldn’t really be a surprise to anyone, given his pattern of mismanagement,” said the Ridley-Thomas spokesman.
“Look at his history:
“He tried to cover up the Rampart police corruption scandal, and then pushed to prosecute his underlings as scapegoats, which resulted in millions of dollars in settlements.
“He attempted to divert city funds specifically allocated to hire more police officers.
“He ran up over $100,000 in campaign debt to a vendor, Helen Mars and California Litho Arts – that contract with the City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles.”
Most recently, the Ridley-Thomas campaign accused Mr. Parks of illegally taking $7,000 a year in property tax exemptions on a house, outside the district he represents, where, they said, he doesn’t live.
Mr. Parks acknowledged recently to the Daily News that he was renting houses in the city of Los Angeles so he could be on the City Council, even though he considered his home outside L.A. to be his principal residence for tax purposes.
“Therefore,” said the Ridley-Thomas spokesman, “it comes as no surprise that Parks is spending his campaign into oblivion. Voters need to decide whether they want someone like Bernard Parks overseeing L.A. County’s multi-billion dollar budget.”