Suspended Los Angeles City Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas, facing a federal corruption trial set for March 20 for actions he allegedly took while serving on the Board of Supervisors, saw his city salary and benefits reinstated on Wednesday, Dec. 7 after he reached a $364,573 settlement in his lawsuit against City Controller Ron Galperin and the city.In his lawsuit, Ridley-Thomas claimed that Galperin acted unilaterally to cut his pay, in order to help Galperin’s campaign for state controller.
The 10-1 vote to reinstate the salary and benefits for Ridley-Thomas followed the City Council’s closed session item to discuss his lawsuit against the city. Price, president pro tempore of the council, issued a statement criticizing Galperin for “a rush to judgement without merit” for withholding Ridley-Thomas’ salary and benefits.
Ridley-Thomas was suspended from the City Council in October 2021 after his indictment in a federal corruption case. Galperin then suspended Ridley-Thomas’ pay, saying that he “could not use city money to pay the salary of an elected official facing federal bribery and fraud charges who is now legally unable to do his job.”Marilyn Louise Flynn, a former dean of the USC School of Social Work, pleaded guilty on Sept.
during his previous post as an L.A. County Supervisor. According to prosecutors, the bribery and fraud were undertaken to secure his son a paid professorship at USC.