Bernard Parks’ campaign is $261,500 in the red
With only a month to go before the election, Bernard Parks has been busy struggling to pay off his primary election debts instead of campaigning – and still has $390,000 in outstanding debts, according to campaign reports filed with the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder’s office.
Parks’ campaign debts far exceed his assets. In fact, of the $207,038.30 his campaign has spent since the June primary election, $133,478.68 was spent on paying down his debt instead of on campaign activities for the November 4th election.
This means that Parks must raise $10,895 every day between now and the election just to pay off his previous campaign debts.
Meanwhile, the Ridley-Thomas campaign has more assets than debts, with only $17,000 in accrued expenses, and is campaigning full speed ahead.
Almost 100% of all funds raised by the Ridley-Thomas campaign have gone towards the campaign, and not towards paying debts – because the campaign doesn’t rack up bills that it cannot pay.
That has allowed the Ridley-Thomas campaign to mobilize thousands of grassroots volunteers and voters throughout the district who have signed on to support the Senator for the Board of Supervisors.
Parks’ fiscal irresponsibility shouldn’t really be a surprise to anyone, given his pattern of mismanagement. His history includes:
Trying to cover up the Rampart police corruption scandal, and then pushing to prosecute his underlings as scapegoats – resulting in millions of dollars in settlements.
Attempting to divert City funds specifically allocated to hire more police officers.
Running up over $100,000 in campaign debt to a vendor – Helen Mars and California Litho Arts – that contract with the City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles.
Benefiting from illegal television ads paid for through “Independent Expenditures.” KNBC refused to air the ads, which did not include legally required disclaimers identifying the sources of money paying for the ads.
And it was recently revealed that Parks is illegally taking $7,000 a year in property tax exemptions on a house, outside the district he represents, where he doesn’t even live.
Making matters worse for his flailing campaign, Parks also admitted to the Daily News that he was renting houses in the City of Los Angeles so he could be on the City Council, even though he considered his home outside L.A. to be his principal residence for tax purposes.
So it comes as no surprise that Parks is spending his campaign into oblivion. With such a track record, voters need to decide whether they want someone like Bernard Parks overseeing L.A. County’s multi-billion dollar budget.
Bernard Parks is NOT who we thought he was.
Bernard Parks Campaign Disclosure Statement (PDF)
