Sebastian Ridley-Thomas (born August 12, 1987) is an American

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

who served in the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The ...

. A Democrat, he represented the 54th Assembly District, which includes the

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...

communities of

Century City Century City is a 176-acre (71.2 ha) neighborhood and business district in Los Angeles, California. Located on the Westside to the south of Santa Monica Boulevard around 10 miles (16 km) west of Downtown Los Angeles, Century City is one of ...

Culver City Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most ...

, Westwood,

Mar Vista Mar Vista is a neighborhood on the Westside of Los Angeles, California. In 1927, Mar Vista became the 70th community to be annexed to Los Angeles. It was designated as an official city neighborhood in 2006. History Mar Vista was called Ocean Par ...

, Palms, Baldwin Hills, Windsor Hills, Ladera Heights, View Park, Crenshaw,

Leimert Park Leimert Park (; ) is a neighborhood in the South Los Angeles region of Los Angeles, California. Developed in the 1920s as a mainly residential community, it features Spanish Colonial Revival homes and tree-lined streets. The Life Magazine/Le ...

, Mid City, and West Los Angeles. He was elected to office on December 3, 2013 to fill the 54th Assembly District seat vacated by Holly Mitchell upon her election to the California State Senate. He resigned from office December 31, 2017. Prior to his election to the Assembly in 2014, he was an aide for former State Senator Curren Price. He is the son of longtime

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

politician Mark Ridley-Thomas.

Early life and education

Ridley-Thomas is the son of Avis Ridley-Thomas and Mark Ridley-Thomas, a member of the Los Angeles City Council. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Morehouse College.

California State Assembly

During his tenure in the Assembly, Ridley-Thomas chaired the Elections & Redistricting and Revenue & Taxation committees, as well as the Select Committee on Mental Health. He was also a member of the Assembly Appropriations, Rules, Joint Rules, Health, Water, Public Safety, Local Government, Public Safety, Public Employment & Retirement, and Labor & Employment committees.

Sexual harassment allegations and resignation

On December 27, 2017, Ridley-Thomas announced that he would resign from the State Assembly on December 31. He cited unspecified health problems in his statement and said he would need "an extended period of time to recuperate. In August 2018, the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' reported that Ridley-Thomas was "the subject of two sexual harassment complaints at the time he stepped down from the Legislature last year." An Assembly investigation released on January 16, 2019 concluded that Ridley-Thomas likely made an unwanted sexual advance toward a female Capitol staffer two years prior. According to the ''LA Times'' reporting:

Ridley-Thomas was already raising money for reelection to a third full term. Late in November 2017, the Assembly Rules Committee informed him that an investigation into a complaint was underway, according to correspondence reviewed by The Times. Two sources familiar with the investigation said the complaint was about alleged unwanted physical contact of a sexual nature but did not disclose details of the allegation. A second sexual harassment complaint, by a different person, was filed around the same time ... Ridley-Thomas resumed some political work just weeks after resigning. In February, he registered a new consulting business, Millennial Advisors. The firm has collected more than $80,000 from the African American Voter Registration, Education and Participation Project, a political action committee founded by his father. The fees cover consulting, office expenses and advertising. A related AAVREP committee specially formed to support Gavin Newsom's bid for governor —mostly backed by donations from labor unions — listed Sebastian Ridley-Thomas as treasurer and paid his Millennial Advisors firm more than $27,000. He also joined the faculty of USC, which sits in his father's district and with which the supervisor has had a long and close relationship. USC appointed him "professor of practice of policy and social work" this spring ... In addition, the university gave him a scholarship to study for a master's degree in social work. The unusual arrangement has come under scrutiny in recent weeks as the scandal-plagued university attempts to adopt more transparency in its affairs. Administrators launched an investigation and Sebastian Ridley-Thomas was fired n July ... After the internal probe, USC approached the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles. The university told federal prosecutors it had concerns about a recent $100,000 donation from a campaign fund controlled by Mark Ridley-Thomas. The gift to USC's Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work ended up in the account of a nonprofit group nown as the Policy, Research and Practice Initiativeoutside the university run by Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, according to sources and public records.

On October 13, 2021, the

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

for the Central District of California announced that a

federal grand jury Grand juries in the United States are groups of citizens empowered by United States federal or state law to conduct legal proceedings, chiefly investigating potential criminal conduct and determining whether criminal charges should be brought ...

had indicted Ridley-Thomas's father and former USC Dean of Social Work Marilyn L. Flynn for "a bribery scheme in which ebastian Ridley-Thomasreceived substantial benefits from the university in exchange for Ridley-Thomas supporting county contracts and lucrative contract amendments with the university..."

Electoral history

2014 California State Assembly election

2016 California State Assembly election

Notes

External links

Join California Sebastian Ridley-Thomas
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ridley-Thomas, Sebastian Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly Morehouse College alumni Living people 1987 births African-American state legislators in California Politicians from Los Angeles 21st-century American politicians 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American people