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President Joe Biden to visit Monterey Park Tuesday
LA Republican Party blasts ‘sanctuary city’ proposal
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M O N D AY, M A R C H 13- M A R C H 19, 2023
V I S I T M O N T E R E Y PA R K P R E S S . C O M
N O. 111
V O L U M E 11,
Jurors hear opening statements in Mark Ridley-Thomas federal corruption trial By Fred Shuster, City News Service
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uspended Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley- Thomas steered county contracts to USC’s social work school while he was a member of the Board of Supervisors in exchange for benefits for his son, a federal prosecutor told a downtown Los Angeles jury Wednesday, but the defense countered that nothing the veteran politician did was illegal and there was no quid pro quo arrangement. Ridley-Thomas, 68, of South Los Angeles, faces 19 federal counts, including conspiracy, bribery, and honest services mail and wire fraud. He has vehemently denied any wrongdoing. “This is a case about power, privilege and lies,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Rybarczyk said in his opening statement. Ridley-Thomas “monetized” and abused the power of his office and lied to cover it up in order to help his son Sebastian, who had resigned from the state Assembly and was facing a sexual harassment investigation that had not yet gone public, the prosecutor said. However, defense attorney Galia Amram offered a different view, telling jurors that nothing
Former LA Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas. | Photos by Dusti Cunningham for Congress of Neighborhoods / NCCongressLA.com/@ nccongressla (Twitter/Facebook/Instagram).
her client is accused of was illegal, “if it was done in good faith.” She said the main question for jurors to
ponder is “what was in Mark Ridley-Thomas’ mind.” The then-supervisor “supported good things because they were good,” she said.
For federal prosecutors, the answer is clear. To help himself and Sebastian and protect the family name, Ridley-Thomas “reached
out” to Marilyn Flynn, then the dean of the USC School of Social Work, to arrange a series of benefits for Sebastian.
“He knew she was desperate and that she would do anything he asked,” Rybarczyk said, adding that under Flynn, the social work school was facing a multimillion-dollar budget deficit, a situation county contracts could help remedy. “He would offer her a life raft” and preserve the family’s legacy, according to the federal prosecutor. Rybarczyk said that in exchange for Flynn arranging Sebastian’s admission to USC, a full-tuition scholarship and a paid professorship, Ridley- Thomas delivered on his end of the bargain. As a supervisor in 2017 and 2018, he voted on three county proposals that Flynn had sought to shore up her school’s shoddy financial situation, including a vote approving a lucrative amended telehealth agreement with the USC School of Social Work, prosecutors contend. He also allegedly sought to influence key county decision-makers associated with the approvals and made sure Flynn knew of his efforts. The defense attorney, though, insisted that two See Ridley-Thomas Page 27
3 council members propose making LA a ‘sanctuary city’ By City News Service
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os Angeles would become a “sanctuary city” — officially barring the use of any municipal resources, property or personnel from being used for federal immigration enforcement — under legislation proposed Tuesday by three City Council members.
Council members Eunisses Hernandez, Nithya Raman and Hugo Soto-Martinez put forward the proposal, which is the first step toward creating an ordinance “that would permanently enshrine sanctuary policies into municipal law,” Hernandez’s office
said. “Los Angeles is a city of immigrants,” Hernandez said in a statement. “As the daughter of two Mexican immigrants myself, I know how important and overdue these protections are to our community members. “Symbolic gestures are
not enough,” she added. “Internal policies that can be changed from one day to the next are not enough. Our undocumented residents deserve safety and security. It is long past time for Los Angeles to permanently codify protections for our undocumented community
members into city law.” The council previously passed a symbolic resolution declaring Los Angeles a “City of Sanctuary,” but the motion put forth Tuesday would codify sanctuary policies into municipal law. Specifically, the motion
would also direct the city to prohibit inquiring about or collecting information about an individual’s immigration status; engaging in investigation or enforcement related to an individual’s See ‘Sanctuary city’ Page 27