Mayor of Moorpark Steps Down After Newspaper Uses Quote of Racial Slurs

Thomas C. (Bud) Ferguson resigned as Moorpark’s mayor Wednesday after he was quoted in a newspaper as using racial slurs.

Ferguson, who has been under fire because of allegations of political corruption made by former Councilman Danny Allen Woolard, will remain a City Council member.

The five-member council, including Ferguson, voted unanimously to appoint Councilman Clint Harper as the Ventura County city’s new mayor, an honorary post. The mayor’s main duty is to preside over council meetings.

“I am stepping down from this position for a good cause,” Ferguson said. “I made a mistake and I am paying for it.”

Earlier, Ferguson apologized for using the word nigger in an interview reported in The Enterprise, which covers Moorpark and Simi Valley, on Tuesday. But “using such words does not make me a bigot,” he told the council.

Ferguson last month had vowed to hold on to the mayoralty when he was pressured to resign because of the scandal stemming from statements made by Woolard, who resigned last year after admitting that he embezzled $5,500 from a post office where he worked. Woolard has alleged that Ferguson helped him get thousands of dollars of loans to influence his vote.