The Los Angeles Times editorial page endorsed Bernard Parks for Los Angeles County Supervisor on Tuesday.
The Times included the editorial on the same day it carried a story ("Black political leaders face a new era in Los Angeles") where it allowed Parks and his main opponent Mark Ridley-Thomas to sling insults at each other.
Leaning back in a swivel chair at his headquarters on Jefferson Boulevard, Ridley-Thomas issued a scathing assessment of Parks, describing him as vindictive and contemptuous of critics.
"It's amazing how anybody can alienate so many groups," Ridley-Thomas said, noting that law enforcement unions have sided unanimously with him over Parks.
He also accused Parks of trying to exploit sympathy over his ouster as police chief. He said the eruption of the Rampart corruption scandal when Parks was chief exposed his failure to fight police misconduct. And every morning, he said, Parks wakes up and asks himself, "What can I go and do to mess with Bill Bratton today?"
Parks said he never could have made it to the top LAPD job if he did not work well with others. He described the department's system for civilian complaints against officers as a showcase achievement of his reform efforts. He recalled that Ridley-Thomas wrote lavish praise of his tenure as police chief in 2002, saying in a newspaper article that Parks' "work ethic is unmatched and his competence unparalleled."
Parks criticized Ridley-Thomas' record on the City Council, saying he had left too many streets unpaved and failed to stop the spread of fast-food restaurants in the district.
Mad Professah has endorsed Mark Ridley-Thomas. If neither candidate gets 50% of the vote next Tuesday, there will be a runoff between the two top vote-getters in November.
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