LOS ANGELES (KNX) — A Los Angeles-based civil rights group is among plaintiffs that filed a writ in court on Friday seeking to block a move by L.A. City Council President Nury Martinez to appoint local political veteran Herb Wesson to the seat vacated by suspended Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas.
Ridley-Thomas was suspended in connection with an indictment handed down by a federal grand jury against him in October. Ridley-Thomas is accused of conspiring with a former USC dean to advance county contract’s the university’s school of social work in exchange for admission, a scholarship, and paid teaching position for his son.
Ridley-Thomas has denied the allegations. A trial date has been scheduled for August.
The group, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Southern California, reportedly has close ties to Ridley-Thomas, who led the organization in the 1980s.
SCLC’s president, Pastor William Smart, told City News Service on Friday that the suspension of the former 10th District councilmember was “morally wrong, politically indefensible, and patently illegal.”
“We will not accept an unelected being imposed on us as a community,” Smart said. “We operate, as SCLC, in the 10th District and I live in the 10th District. We believe that the councilman was ousted out and we want him to get his position back.”
The City Council was scheduled to review Martinez’s motion to appoint Wesson to fill Ridley-Thomas’ seat on Tuesday. The motion was backed by fellow councilmembers Mitch O’Farrell, Gil Cedillo, and Paul Koretz.
Wesson represented the 10th District from 2005 to 2020, and preceded Martinez as council president from 2012 to 2020. He served as 65th Speaker of the California Assembly from 2002 to 2004; and represented the 47th Assembly District in Sacramento from 1998 to 2004.
The lawsuit filed Friday argued that the suspension of Ridley-Thomas violated L.A.’s city charter, and unlawfully deprived 10th District voters of their duly elected representative. It seeks to block the council from filling the vacancy until a legal determination on Ridley-Thomas’ indictment is made, and that, in any event, Wesson would be ineligible to serve as an interim councilmember due to term limits.
A spokesperson for Martinez’s office declined to comment on the suit, as did representatives for the L.A. City Attorney’s office. The motion to consider Wesson’s appointment remained on Tuesday's City Council agenda, according to Martinez’s office.
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