Supervisor hopefuls exchange criticisms

City Councilman Bernard C. Parks and state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas criticized each other’s record on issues including police misconduct, development and Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Medical Center on Saturday, during one in a series of debates in their race to win a seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

While answering a question about gangs, Ridley-Thomas intimated that Parks did not fully address the Rampart police corruption scandal while serving as Los Angeles police chief. During a later question about race relations, Ridley-Thomas suggested that the former police chief did not properly address racial profiling by his officers.

Parks, in answering a question about failed efforts to revitalize parts of South Los Angeles, accused Ridley-Thomas of giving political favors to developers during his tenure as a city councilman.

The men did not address each other directly -- it was against the rules -- and each camp said the other’s criticisms were unfounded. The debate at Beethoven Elementary School in Mar Vista was sponsored by the West LA Democratic Club and UCLA. The candidates are vying in a June 3 election to replace retiring Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke.

Both agreed that among the biggest challenges confronting the next supervisor would be addressing the failure of King-Harbor, which the county closed under pressure from state and federal regulators after years of failed reform attempts.

They both advocate reopening the hospital. Parks wants it to be run by the county. Ridley-Thomas advocates a public-private partnership.

“Second-class healthcare in any facility in the 2nd District is simply unacceptable -- as it would be anywhere in the county,” said Ridley-Thomas, who accused the current board of failing to do its job by allowing the situation to deteriorate for years.

Parks said the healthcare system was overtaxed and should not be forced to absorb the patients that could be treated at King-Harbor, near Watts. Closing the hospital, he said, is not an action of “someone concerned about healthcare.”

The candidates, both African Americans and Democrats, were close on many issues raised by panelists and some of the roughly 150 audience members during the two-hour debate.

They agreed that to reduce gang violence, more money had to be spent to prevent children from getting involved. Both also said that the county’s child welfare department needed outside oversight and that there was a need for more affordable housing in the 2nd Supervisorial District, which stretches from Culver City and Mar Vista to Watts and Compton.

“If we wait until someone gets into a gang to rehabilitate them, we’ve waited 15 years too long,” said Parks, who favors after-school and job-training programs.

But their styles were distinct.

Ridley-Thomas, with his melodious voice and measured tone, favored talking about broader social issues, his political legacy and the depth of his political support. In contrast, Parks’ speech was quick, and he tended to go into the details of current local governance issues.

When debating a proposal for a living-wage zone around LAX, for example, Parks, who has supported business interests over labor, said he thought it was too narrow an area. He said ongoing legal challenges had yet to determine whether it’s permissible to expand living-wage provisions beyond government contract work.

Ridley-Thomas -- labor’s candidate -- took a more philosophical approach to the issue:

“What’s the living wage all about?” he asked. “It’s an effort to fight poverty.”

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evelyn.larrubia@latimes.com