Parks still has cash lead in county supervisor bid
Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard C. Parks continued to hold a fundraising lead over state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles) in their heated contest for a seat on the county Board of Supervisors, campaign finance reports showed Friday.
Ridley-Thomas, however, was beginning to close the gap during the latest reporting period, between March 18 and May 17. The state senator collected $316,000, bringing his total for the race to date to about $526,000. Parks took in about $279,000 during the period, giving him a total of $647,000 collected in the race for the 2nd District seat.
After expenditures, Parks had about $223,000 in cash by the close of the reporting period and Ridley-Thomas had about $66,000 left, the reports show.
But the most recent reports from the high-spending independent expenditures committees were not yet available Friday, and those reports were expected to have a significant effect on the financial picture in the race to succeed retiring Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke.
During the first reporting period, a coalition of public employee and other unions disclosed that it had raised about $2.5 million for its separate effort to elect Ridley-Thomas. The group has used some of that money to send several glossy mailers to voters urging them to support the state senator.
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