key vote in favor of $125 million in public financing for a controversial redesign of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). This came after a meeting with Michael Lynton, then-CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment and a LACMA trustee, who agreed to have Sony donate $25,000 to AAVREP, the political action committee founded by Ridley-Thomas. Sony's donation was three times larger than for any other California candidate or committee that year, and was understood to be in support of the school board campaign of a Ridley-Thomas protégé. While the funds were solicited and agreed to before the board election, the donation was made one month after the election so that it would not be publicly known during the campaign. Excessive car washing During the 2015 California drought Ridley-Thomas ordered one of his two county-provided black luxury cars (Chrysler 300 limited) to be washed 2 times a week. After Governor Jerry Brown's April mandate ordered a 25% reduction in urban water use, Ridley-Thomas increased the frequency of his sedan washing to over 3 times a week, while maintaining a wash schedule of 2.9 times per week for the second Chrysler sedan he maintains, more than any other county supervisor. $100,000 USC bribery In Spring 2018, Ridley-Thomas' political campaign fund—Mark Ridley-Thomas Committee for a Better L.A.—gave $100,000 to the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. After the school received the money, the school's dean, Marilyn L. Flynn, reached out to Peter Manzo, CEO of United Ways of California advising that the school was sending a $100,000 donation to be put in the account of the Policy Research & Practice Initiative (PRPI), a think tank run by Ridley-Thomas' son and former assembly member Sebastian Ridley-Thomas. The LA Times reported that a concerned employee went to the university's compliance office in June, 2018 and reported alleged inappropriate financial transactions and agreements involving dean Flynn and an elected official. After consulting legal counsel, school administrators subsequently referred the incident to federal authorities for a criminal investigation. Fossil fuel pay to play During his 2020 race for Los Angeles City Council, environmental activists criticized Ridley-Thomas for his acceptance of donations from the fossil fuel industry. Of the major candidates in the race, Ridley-Thomas was the only one who accepted such donations. These donations included at least one from E&B Natural Resources Management, which operates a drill site in the district. While the other four