Mark Ridley-Thomas: A Familiar Cautionary Tale for Black Politicians
By Jasmyne Cannick
The conviction of former L.A. City Councilmember and one-time power broker and kingmaker Mark Ridley-Thomas on federal corruption charges should serve as a cautionary tale to Black politicians (and those aspiring to be one) that what others might get away with — they can’t. Well, that and, of course, just don’t do it, to begin with.
For me, whether or not Ridley-Thomas actually did it is an issue that can be debated until we’re all blue in the face. Less talked about is the fact that he’s a Black politician, which meant that there was going to be a different level of scrutiny on his activities from the jump. And the more powerful he got, the more eyes were going to be on him. Ridley-Thomas is a politically astute and smart man. As long as he’s been in politics, he had to know that much for sure.
In politics, we often say that it is all about the optics. What it looks like, not necessarily what it is.
It looked like Ridley-Thomas made a deal with officials from USC to give his grown-ass son a bump up in life — a scholarship, job, and admission to USC as well as the funneling of $100,000 he provided from his campaign account through USC to a nonprofit operated by his son to obtain a lucrative county contract. There were emails between Ridley-Thonas and an official from USC that helped prosecutors make their case.
So there you have it. Whether he did it or not, I believe the optics were just so damning that the chances of his political career’s survival were over — even if he had been acquitted.
No one involved in politics was ever going to want to email him, get an email from him, text or talk on the phone to him again lest the Feds might be listening in or watching. I’ve been around long enough in Los Angeles and California politics to watch how one-time celebrated politicians accused of crimes (not even convicted) immediately become outcasts and lepers among their colleagues. That’s me humming the bridge to Chris Brown’s “Loyal.” When you’re in, you’re in. But when you’re out…
I learned a long time ago from a wise man that we are not the same as them — them being non-Black politicians. No matter how high we rise, we are not the same as them. Don’t ever get it twisted. Too many do. Just because they do it and get away with it doesn’t mean the same rules apply to us.
During a 2018 FBI raid, a search warrant seeking evidence related to the corruption probe into Councilmember José Huizar and possible bribery, kickbacks, extortion, and money laundering included a list of names authorities were seeking information on. That list included Councilmember Curren Price and the Chief of Staff to then Council President Herb Wesson, Deron Williams. It didn’t say that they were guilty or being accused of anything, but since their names were in the search warrant, the assumption was they were active participants in the corruption scandal.
When the grand jury indictments were unsealed, and the details of the widespread corruption scheme were released, Price and Williams’ names were nowhere to be found.
But the damage was already done, and the rumors, along with their portrayal in news reports, cast a shadow over them, their families, and their respective offices.
Meanwhile, Huizar has since pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges for using his powerful position at City Hall to enrich himself and his associates, and for cheating on his taxes.
Just because they do it and get away with it doesn’t mean the same rules apply to us. Black politicians will always have more eyes on them than their non-Black counterparts, and as I’ve illustrated, you don’t even have to be indicted or convicted — the rumors alone are oftentimes enough to do us in.
My political mentor California Legislative Black Caucus Chair Assemblymember Mervyn Dymally, taught me this lesson years ago, and it has stayed with me throughout my career working in politics.
You see, by the time I came along to work as his press secretary, Mr. Dymally was doing his second tour in the California State Legislature after having already served in the California State Assembly between 1963–1966, followed by the California State Senate from 1967–1975. He served as the 41st Lieutenant Governor of California between 1975 and 1979 — and to put things in context, I was born in 1977! Dymally also did a stint in Washington D.C. in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981–1993 before returning to politics a decade later to serve in the California State Assembly a second time between 2003–2008 before retiring.
So when I came on board, Mr. Dymally had pretty much seen and done it all and was really focused on mentoring and helping the next generation of Black leaders get involved in politics.
One day Mr. Dymally shared with me the story of how his not being indicted ruined his prospects for running for reelection as California’s Lieutenant Governor. Yes, you read that correctly.
In 1978, Mr. Dymally had lost his bid for reelection after Michael Franchetti, then the Assistant Attorney General, disclosed a confidential memorandum to Republican gubernatorial candidate George Deukmejian’s campaign about a rumor that Mr. Dymally was going to be indicted. That rumor was reported statewide as fact, and Mr. Dymally, who was running for re-election as Lieutenant Governor, was defeated by Mike Curb.
In 1998 during an interview with the New Federalist, Dymally explained, “A Los Angeles Times reporter went to an investigator in the Attorney General’s office in California and told him that he was informed by the Feds that I was going to be indicted. The investigator then wrote a memo to his boss, and on the memo, he put a ‘P.S. — this is only a rumor.’ The P.S. was erased, and the report was given to the wife of a reporter, Bill Stout of CBS television. His wife was working for my opposition. Bill Stout read, very dramatically, on the news, a week-and-a-half before the election, that I was going to be indicted, and — I paraphrase him — he said, ‘I read it, you heard it, Dymally knows it, he’s going to be indicted.’”
Dymally continued, “I was leading by six points [in the polls] at the time, and, when I heard the news on the radio, CBS radio, KNX, I said to my campaign manager and my son Mark, ‘I think it’s all over, let’s pay off all our debts.’ A friend loaned me his plane, a Gulfstream jet, I think it was, and I had the unique distinction of visiting every county in California as a candidate, all fifty-eight.”
He went on to say, “Mike Curb, who called me a criminal. Governor Pat Brown, Sr., called me and said that, as Attorney General, he had prosecuted a man for calling someone a criminal without any evidence. We went to the District Attorney in San Bernardino County, where the charge was made, and he assigned two investigators. They came to see me and asked me to take a lie detector test as if I had been guilty of some wrong. And when I said let me check with my lawyer, I don’t know why I am taking a lie-detector test, they gave the Los Angeles Times reporter a story, and the big headline the next day was ‘Dymally Refuses Lie Detector Test.’”
In the end, Mr. Dymally was never indicted, but just the rumor that he was going to be, coupled with the news reports, was enough to sink his campaign.
It was one of many lessons that he imparted to me during my time working for him.
Thanks to Mr. Dymally’s lessons, I came into politics with eyes wide open and the understanding that there are different rules for Black politicians. There was then, and there is still today.
Since I’ve posted about the conviction of Ridley-Thomas on my social media, numerous comments have been left about how great he was to the community he served, and they’re still coming. They rival, if not succeed, the comments cheering for his conviction which tells me that regardless of his guilt or innocence in his attempts to help his grown-ass son, he had a positive impact on the community he served.
While we may be split on Ridley-Thomas’ guilt or innocence — and the community is split — we should be singing from the same page of the same hymn book when it comes to understanding that Black politicians are always going to be under a higher level of scrutiny than their non-Black counterparts. So while it’s best not to do it — add to that it’s best not even to look like you’re doing it. Indictments and convictions aren’t the only tools used to take out Black politicians. As I’ve explained, rumors alone can have the same effect.
Based in Los Angeles, Jasmyne Cannick is a Gen X award-winning journalist and on-air contributor from SoCal. She writes and talks about the collisions at the intersection of politics, race, and social issues.
