November 21, 2013 |

Malsin Flip-Flops, Pulls Armenta Endorsement

By Stephen Hadland

Observer Publisher

Former Culver City Mayor Scott Malsin has endorsed Sebastian Ridley-Thomas in the special election for the 54th Assembly District seat and has withdrawn his endorsement of Christopher Armenta due to a controversial campaign mailer.

Sebastian Ridley-Thomas said, "I'm grateful for the endorsement and support of former Culver City Mayor Scott Malsin in my campaign for the 54th Assembly District. I share Scott Malsin's concerns and interests regarding our state's need to help our cities grow sensibly and smartly while creating new jobs that can put unemployed and under-employed residents back to work full time."

Armenta charged Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, Sebastian's father, of influencing the Governor to set the special primary election for December 3 during the Jewish holiday of Chanukah.

Malsin, who resigned his council seat to keep lifetime medical benefits for his family and then was defeated when he ran to regain his council seat four months later, explains his actions in a letter to the editor found on page 9 and on the Observer's website at

Reader Comments


ekeout writes:

I always felt and shared Walker is the best journalist in Los Angeles area. His Westside reports are always been microcosm of the macrocosm of Los Angeles politics. However, I am disappointed in his single-sided bias journalism on Chris Armenta whom I do not even know to date. Gary did not vet the claims Armenta was stating as facts and called it negative campaigning... He gave free ink to Ridley-Thomas endorsers. Only conclusion is Walker and Ridely-Thomas are both African American politicos.