Council Member Ends Hunger Strike: Petition Goal for Ethics Commission Met

 Ending Hunger Strike after 1000 Signatures From Community Members,

Priforce Forces Council Majority's Hand

Community Weighs In, 

Ball Now in Council Colleague's Court

Council member Kalimah Priforce ended his ten day hunger strike yesterday after an online petition in support of an Emeryville ethics commission showed more than 1000 signatures, the number he said he would need to end the strike.  The change.org petition, 1049 signatures strong at the time of this story's posting, is meant for Emeryville residents and surrounding neighbors to show their displeasure at the Emeryville City Council for refusing an independent ethics commission to be implemented to compliment the existing Code of Ethics.  

The fear, publicly expressed by the City Manager and the City Attorney when the Code of Ethics was certified in September 2023, is that without an ethics commission working to enforce the Code of Ethics, the City Council would be the enforcement arm for the ordinance and they would be tempted to politicize or weaponize it.  That fear has been well founded with the recent censure and sanction of Council member Priforce by the four other Council members even while they have refused to hold Council member Courtney Welch to account using the same Code of Ethics.  For an elected political body majority to use a law as a cudgel against a political enemy while holding themselves free from constraint by the same law is a classic polarization or weaponization that an ethics commission would not allow. 

Council Member Priforce
Last night he ate food for the 
first time in ten days.

 

The petition is designed to force the City Council’s hand, owing to the fact that the Council majority has thus far steadfastly refused to allow an independent ethics commission.   New Mayor David Mourra, when voting to certify the Code of Ethics in 2023, hinted he would be amenable to the formation of a commission at a later date, “The Code of Ethics is a good first step” he said as the Council prepared to vote on the new law. Offering a motion for a Council vote, Mr Mourra left an independent ethics commission out, at least at the outset,  “Lets take this first step and adopt this and see how things go”, he told his colleagues. Since then however, Mr Mourra has hardened his position against the idea of an ethics commission as have Council members Welch and Kaur, against a damning documented violation of the Code by Courtney Welch in September.  

The signatures collected in support of an independent ethics commission will be either taken up by the City Council as an impetuous to establish a commission by fiat or the incipient citizen activist neighborhood group Emery Rising will move forward with a ballot initiative for Emeryville voters to decide, says Council member Priforce.  

Mr Priforce told the Tattler, "As a Black man in America, I was born censured and sanctioned. The solipsistic behaviors of my council colleagues have proven the unchecked power distance that exists between City Hall and the people of Emeryville. This petitioned victory was about Emery Rising bringing the fight back to the people and letting them decide if Emeryville should remain stuck in the shadows of being the rottenest city or if an independent public ethics commission should be part of a future that unites us with a hope that moves us forward."  Conjuring a Star Wars meme, Priforce called the signature petition and looming ballot initiative,  "A New Hope".

Coming off the hunger strike, Council member Priforce reports that he is in good spirits but weak and only eating very sparingly for the time being upon the advice of his doctor.

This is what the petition website looked like at 9:00 last night.

Biggest Deficit in Emeryville History: Bauters Blames Planning Commission

 Eight Years as Chair of the Budget Committee, John Bauters Owns Emeryville's $11.8 Million Deficit

But

Planning Commission is Blamed

Mayor Welch Too Serves On the Budget Committee, Lies to Voters

The City of Emeryville has gone public with the fact it has an $11.8 million budget deficit, the worst in Emeryville history, as reported by paid consultant Brian Moura in a recent address to the City Council.  It was such an embarrassing announcement for outgoing City Council member John Bauters, the eight year Chair of the Budget and Governance Committee, that seeking a scapegoat, he blamed the Planning Commission at the November 19th City Council meeting.

Mr Moura who is unrelated to Emeryville’s vice mayor David Mourra, told the Council “In terms of this fiscal year, 2024-’25, we’re projecting an $11.8 million shortfall with a decline of revenues of $5.5 million and an increase in expenses of $6.3 million”.  An outsider expert looking in, Mr Moura said reduced development fees from what was expected drove the shortfall because  “a major component of your [Emeryville’s] revenue picture” come from such fees.  Specifically, many life science/biotech firms that had expressed interest in building lab space in Emeryville failed to materialize and with the fall out came a loss in expected revenue that would have been generated from all the fees associated with the biotech building boom.

Scooter King Emeryville City Council Member
John Bauters
He offered a boatload of taxpayer money to host
an electric scooter race in Emeryville in 2023.

Immediately upon the finish of the report delivered by the consultant, eyes turned to John Bauters, who has been the Chair of the Budget and Governance Committee for eight consecutive years.  Mr Bauters wasted no time in shifting blame, he acknowledged that all the bio-tech development fees had been put in Emeryville’s fiscal health basket but he said he wasn’t responsible.  Rather, Bauters said it is the Planning Commission that is to blame.  He said they never should have approved all the bio-tech projects developers had been proposing over the last few years, supply outpacing demand.  “Developers respond to the market and they bring [their proposals] to the Planning Commission where it gets reviewed”, Bauters said.  He went on to falsely claim the City Council (with him as mayor) doesn’t have the final say for such projects. “Rarely does it [development decisions] touch the City Council. The Council doesn't go around telling property owners ‘you should build life sciences or apartment buildings” he said, despite the fact that’s exactly what happens.  After Council member Kalimah Priforce told the assembled crowd City Council leadership is responsible for the budget fiasco and that the City should not be spending money it doesn’t have hoping against hope for big fat developer fees to balance the budget.  Mr Bauters was hearing none of that fiscally prudent talk from Mr Priforce and he doubled down on his shifting the blame to the Planning Commission, “Leadership should only take responsibility for how it budgets the City [not how the City is developed]”, he said, reversing eight years of his activism developing the city, specifically with bio-tech projects (and apartment towers).

Courtney Welch Lied to the Voters About the Budget
Photo of one of Mayor Welch's re-election flyers
She's on our Budget Committee so she knows this is false.

Council member Priforce pushed back against the excuses being proffered by the many term mayor Bauters, stating, “The leadership has to own this”.  Mr Priforce noted how the Berkeley City Council and the Oakland City Council have both listened to the developers selling bio-tech and that it is revisionist and false history for the person most responsible for this to claim he wasn’t listening as well.  All three cities built out their bio-tech sectors vigorously over the last several years, contributing to the glut in the market.  

For her part, Mayor Welch, who is the other council member on the Budget and Governance Committee, said Priforce was wrong to be blaming anyone for the historic $11.8 million deficit hole.  Ms Welch it should be noted, during her November re-election fight, told voters she should be returned to the Council because she was so assiduously watching the budget, she’s maintaining a “financial solvency city” she said on one of her campaign flyers, a claim she knew to be false when she said it.

Adding insult to injury, Councilman Bauters threw in an extra $10,000 for the taxpayers to pay, at a last minute parting grudge shot at Mr Priforce when he added the provision to print and mail to every Emeryville household, a bogus censuring and sanctioning of Mr Priforce done at his last Council meeting.  Mr Bauters didn’t say how the $10,000 in public money would be raised to help him in his personal vendetta against Council member Priforce and none of the other three Council members that voted to spend the money provided an answer to that.  Presumably it will just be added to the $11.8 million City Hall deficit, already pegged at more than $140 for every resident.  The addition of the $10,000 mailer personal vendetta against Mr Priforce as it turned out, was John Bauters last act as an Emeryville City Council member as he retires on Tuesday.

Mayor Bauters two years ago, pushed forward a city wide City of Emeryville scooter race that would have cost about $1.5 million, some coming from public coffers, with vague promises of garnering some revenue but also "raising Emeryville's visibility" he said at the time.  The sponsor of the race event pulled out before Emeryville could write the check.

Also noteworthy, in 2022, Mayor Bauters claimed to be an expert at budgeting and finance and with fiscal expertise needed at the mayor level, he said he needed to be re-appointed mayor, skipping Council member Scott Donahue whose turn it was to be mayor.  Council member Donahue was said to not be as knowledgeable about how to keep the City in good fiscal health as Mr Bauters, an assertion that set against the departing of Bauters and his $11.8 million deficit he's leaving us, now seems like hubris.

November 19th City Council meeting is below:  Budget discussion starts at 1:44:24.  The first announcement of the $11.8 million deficit occurs at 1:46:32.

https://www.youtube.com/live/o7OntshGbR0?si=ZdNb3A7VeS5As7qO

People Power: We Can Demand Equal Treatment of All Citizens at City Hall

 

Emeryville Needs An Ethics Commission

Your Signature Will Force the City Council to Be Accountable Under the Law

The City Council majority has shown us they cannot be trusted with being the sole arbiter for Emeryville’s Code of Ethics.  They were warned by the City Attorney and the City Manager to resist the temptation to politicize and weaponize the new law and that’s exactly what they have done.  They are using the Code of Ethics to go after political enemies while they leave themselves unaccountable and untouchable.   They have put themselves above the law.

They have censured and sanctioned the dissenter on the Council, Kalimah Priforce, but they refuse to investigate the violations of the Code by Council member Courtney Welch.  It is NOT the opinion of the Tattler that Ms Welch has violated the Code, the City Attorney (who wrote the law) says she violated it.  But they WILL NOT hold her to account.

The government that investigates itself will find they’ve done nothing wrong without independent oversight.  That’s what Emeryville now desperately needs: an independent ethics commission (like other cities).  The ethics commission will serve as a check and balance to City Council overreach.  This Council majority has shown itself to be too political to handle the kind of capability unchecked power gives them.  People of Emeryville and the surrounding community: Let’s check their power.

Please sign the petition to form an independent ethics commission to serve as a backstop for Emeryville’s Code of Ethics.  Sign and do your part to make Emeryville more democratic. 

Sign the petition HERE

 https://www.change.org/p/establish-public-ethics-oversight-in-emeryville-california

Priforce Recall Invoked Amid Council Bombast and Theatrics

Retaliation on Display at the City Council Chambers

Bauters Directs Recall Friends to Emeryville

Right Wing Billionaire Forces Threaten Priforce Recall

Priforce Begins Hunger Strike:

Independent Ethics Commission Demanded

In an unprecedented action Tuesday night, the ‘Gang of Four’ City Council majority voted to censure and sanction their colleague Kalimah Priforce for alleged violations of Emeryville’s Code of Ethics after another ‘gang of four’ non-residents at the meeting announced their plans to initiate a recall campaign against the beleaguered Councilman.  The recall Priforce announcement was brought by the wealthy Piedmont resident Chris Moore, in attendance last night, as well as three of his associates, all who helped run the November recall campaigns against the Alameda County DA and the Mayor of Oakland.  Noteworthy too was the final curtain call from the retiring Council member John Bauters who made his last official act as an Emeryville City Council member to modify the vote for censure/sanction by adding a directive to the City Clerk to produce, print and mail to every Emeryville household, the text of the Priforce censure/sanction resolution.  The cost to the taxpayers for the non-required anti-Priforce mailers will be in excess of $10,000.

Council Member Kalimah Priforce
He got a check up before his hunger strike
for an independent ethics commission.

Councilman Priforce sees the event as a major distraction with unintended consequences for Emeryville, “To keep me from fulfilling my campaign promises to make our city safer, economically healthier, and help our residents, workers, and small businesses stay in Emeryville - they orchestrated this censure and sanction meeting in hopes that their political theater would make them look good. It did the opposite. It exposed them.”

Trying to refocus the community, Mr Priforce has announced he has begun a hunger strike against the refusal of his colleagues to set up an independent ethics commission.  The City Manager, the City Attorney and (ironically) even John Bauters warned against the weaponization of the Code of Ethics, an eventuality that’s now out of the barn. An ethics commission would be a moderating force against the kind of abuse that the Council is now engaging in but Mr Bauters and Mayor Welch have both said they will not allow any ethics commission.  Exasperated at the Council’s refusal, Mr Priforce announced his hunger strike last night: “After the meeting, I launched my hunger strike to bring a thousand signatures to our Emery Rising online petition for an independent public ethics commission: CHANGE.ORG/EMERYRISING.  Each day of this hunger strike will be a day that gets us closer to ending entrenched corruption in Emeryville.”

Piedmont resident Chris Moore
He directed the recall of DA Pamela Price
and helped with the Sheng Thao recall.

The nascent recall of Mr Priforce by these out of town conservatives would likely be controlled by Chris Moore, the man behind the splashy Alameda County November recalls.   Mr Moore, who used his copious fundraising skills to attract billionaires to chip in, served as the campaign manager for the recall of District Attorney Pamela Price and also he was on the team working to recall Mayor Sheng Thao.  Those campaigns were funded by a billionaire hedge fund manager, real estate lobbying groups like YIMBY, Cryptocurrency gazzilionaire Jesse Polack and other corporate groups.  Mr Moore’s associate, San Francisco resident Ed Escobar, warned Mr Priforce his recall is coming and it will be done by him and his colleagues that led the successful recalls earlier.  “As you know, we’re quite capable in that department.  We are the recallers and we get results”, he told Council member Priforce at Tuesday's meeting.  He told the Tattler money will not be an obstacle in recalling Priforce, hinting at a lopsided battle against voters in little Emeryville.  With Mr Priforce's term up in two years, any recall would need to start quickly because voters are  harder to win over for a recall the closer it is to an election.  On that score, Mr Priforce has not said whether he will seek re-election. 

Addressing the descent of wealthy right wing friends of John Bauters into Emeryville, come to bring Emeryville to heel, Council member Priforce was not amused.  He indicated the current trajectory of the Council majority is disturbing and will not be good for average citizens, “The politics of bigotry utilized by members of our Council has invited MAGA to our city’s front doorstep and that welcome mat will lead to an increase in gentrifying forces that will fundamentally change the nature of our city.” he said.

San Francisco resident Edward Escobar
"We're the recallers and we get results."

Mr Bauters, who will be retiring from politics on December 10th, lashed out at his long time nemesis Councilman Priforce, adding the last minute flourish of the mailers that will cost more than $10,000 for Emeryville taxpayers.  Mr Bauters, who has been the chair of the Budget and Governance Committee for eight years, drove Emeryville into insolvency with an $11.8 million deficit this year, the largest deficit in Emeryville history.  With no way to finance the parting shot at Councilman Priforce, the $10,000 spent on the anti-Priforce mailers will be added to Emeryville’s $11.8 million hole.  The theatrics of the vacating Bauters drew condemnation from Mr Priforce, “John Bauters believes in fiscal austerity for the rest of us, but practices wasteful spending for himself. Having taxpayers expense his personal vendetta against the Black man that helped foil his county supervisor prospects isn’t fiscally conservative or pragmatic, it's petty and unethical.” he told the Tatter.

Recall van taken before the November 5th
election:  The same tech bro billionaires that 
supported the recalls supported Bauters' election.

Why do conservatives and corporate Democrats like 
John Bauters if he's the progressive he says he is?

Breaking News Priforce Censored/Sanctioned

 Breaking News

In a room full of Council member Priforce supporters tonight the Emeryville City Council voted 4-1 (Priforce dissenting)  to censure and sanction Council member Priforce. Story to follow.

Council Member Priforce Faces 'Political Lynch Mob' at Tuesday's Special Council Meeting

 Councilman Priforce Faces Six Counts Tuesday

Condemnation Brought By Teflon Mayor

Emeryville's most dependable progressive voice on the City Council may be purged from every city committee and formally censured for ethics violations Tuesday as an aggrieved City Council majority closes ranks.  But the Council majority’s accusations against their colleague Kalimah Priforce and the process under which they were brought, raise their own questions - questions concerning the weaponization and politicization of Emeryville’s Code of Ethics ordinance.

Emeryville City Council Member 
Kalimah Priforce
The progressive conscience of Emeryville's
City Council.

The lone progressive among his more conservative colleagues, Councilman Priforce has clashed with the majority over tenant's rights and rent control, as well as local control of housing policy since his election to the Council, earning him the enmity that could now silence his voice.  The silencing will be the topic at a Council Special Meeting on Tuesday at 6:00 pm.

An inspection of six charges against Mr Priforce brought by Mayor Courtney Welch present a scattershot of violations seemingly designed less for accountability and more with retribution in mind.  Of the six, four are shown to be demonstrably false and two a politicized use of the law based on selective enforcement.  Ms Welch is also demanding an apology from Mr Priforce.

Tuesday’s censure/sanction vote comes amid a charge delineated by the city attorney and brought by the Tattler editor against Mayor Welch for also violating the Code of Ethics, however the Council majority has disregarded the charge against the Mayor.  The two disparate outcomes - Priforce and Welch, stemming from the same violation of the same ordinance at the same time, brings the specter of cronyism and corruption on the Council majority and a powerful argument for those seeking the formation of an independent ethics commission.

Because the City Council refused to allow an ethics commission to adjudicate ethics violations as other neighboring cities do, the enforcement of the Code of Ethics in Emeryville is in the hands of the City Council itself.  Findings aren't required to be factual and they don’t carry the force of law, so punishments meted out by the Council majority may be based on nothing more than their feelings.


The Charges 

Councilman Priforce faces the following six charges:

1)  Disclosure of confidential information

2)  Violations of the Fair Political Practices Commission 

3)   Failure to impress upon two candidates for Council he supported, the need to file their FPPC forms accurately 

4)   Speaking in harsh terms publicly against members of the public and specifically a City committee member

5)   Failure to sign the Code of Ethics certification

6)   Falsely claiming to be running for mayor in the November election


The Charges Examined 

1)   During Nov. 19 2023 Council meeting, Mr. Priforce, reporting on the happenings of a just concluded closed session meeting, entered into the record that Mayor Courtney Welch grew so passionate and heated in her criticisms of Mr. Priforce, that her voice could be heard by the public outside the chamber along with on the sidewalk outside the building. See video link below (go to 15:38 - 19:16) 
In addition, under California’s Brown Act, Title 5 states: "A local agency may not take any action against a person, nor shall it be deemed a violation, for doing the following: expressing an opinion concerning the propriety or legality of actions taken by a legislative body of a local agency in closed session, including disclosure of the nature and extent of the illegal or potentially illegal action."  This charge by the City Council majority against Mr Priforce is thus false.

2)  Mr. Priforce appears to have missed one or more candidate deadlines for reporting donations and campaign spending to the state Fair Political Practices Commission.  While this is concerning, it is by no means out of the ordinary, even among Emeryville candidates to fall afoul of fairly Byzantine regulations.  At the end of the day, the FPPC handles its own enforcement. The council, by weighing in, appears to be attempting to  exaggerate a pedestrian oversight into some disqualifying scandal.  Mr Priforce has since brought all his FPPC filings up to date to April 2024.  This finding is selective enforcement and therefore is political in nature.

3)  Two candidates Mr. Priforce endorsed failed to comply with certain state Fair Political Practices Commission regulations. The Council's resolution would punish these candidates by proxy, by sanctioning Mr. Priforce for their oversights.  Punishment by proxy is wrong and so this finding is false.  

4)  On the receiving end of a campaign of disparaging character attacks on social media by an advisory committee member, Mr Priforce, at a July 2023 Bike Committee meeting, asked for better online decorum and criticized that member at a Council meeting for making little effort in their application to the committee.  Council member Priforce is being subject to censure for trivial actions that took place prior to the creation of the Code of Ethics.  It represents selective enforcement with no stated statute of limitations. Charging a person before the law exists makes this political in nature.

5)  The resolution would censure and sanction Mr. Priforce for failing to sign the city's Code of Ethics ordinance. 
Mr. Priforce, who says he was a proponent of the measure, claims his colleagues undermined the ethics code by refusing to establish an independent enforcement commission. Therefore, he says, he abstained from supporting it. 
It appears as though Mr. Priforce is being accused of voting with his conscience and against what he views as a measure that could be politicized, which it appears has come to pass. How one votes, a constitutional right, cannot be criminalized by a municipality.  A Council member’s vote cannot be turned into malfeasance.  Finding number 5 is thus false.

6)  Traditionally, Emeryville's Council has rotated the largely ceremonial office of mayor. In 2023, when custom held it was Mr. Priforce's turn at vice mayor position and then the follow up to mayor the next year, the majority skipped him and instead chose David Mourra.
 This year, while campaigning, Mr. Priforce, in endorsing two other candidates, told the public that if both of his preferred candidates were successful, that he could ascend to the mayor's office.  To accuse someone of claiming to run for mayor when local citizens don't elect the mayor and the mayor's office isn't on the ballot, is patently absurd. 
The statement Mr Priforce made about running for mayor is not unethical in any way and the charge against him is therefore false.

Precedent: Censure/Sanction Reserved For Crimes

The action Tuesday by the Council majority is only the second time in modern Emeryville history censure/sanction has been invoked.  Before the Code of Ethics was written, the Council majority voted to censure Council member Ken Bukowski for public corruption.  Mr Bukowski was alleged to have voted in the interest of a private corporation on the Council while working for and taking money from the same corporation; a crime in the state of California.  Mr Bukowski denied the charges and he was not arrested but he was ultimately censured by the City Council.  Mr Bukowski was not stripped of his city committees.  The sanction punishment came later, after further tawdry behavior was revealed and it involved him being removed from all regional committees. 

Mr Priforce on the other hand, is not charged with having committed a crime but the sanction punishment, his removal from all committees including all regional committees and removal of travel benefits, is worse than what the Council meted out to Mr Bukowski for his much more egregious criminal and ethics violation.  

The City Attorney and the City Manager expressly warned the City Council in 2023 against what they have now done: weaponize Emeryville's Code of Ethics.  An independent ethics commission would almost certainly not have brought these charges against Council member Priforce and the forces within Emeryville's citizenry that have called for a commission are now given a powerful rallying cry.  People wishing fair play, less drama and bombast from their City Council will be emboldened by Tuesday's action to join their ranks. 

Here is a petition concerning the formation of an Emeryville ethics commission:  https://www.change.org/p/establish-public-ethics-oversight-in-emeryville-california

The video that landed Mr Priforce in hot water with the Mayor of Emeryville is in the link below.  Go to 1:18:11 - 1:21:49 in the video to see the comments from Mr Priforce that so outraged the Mayor that she brought charge #1 (disclosure of confidential information) against him.  Watch the video and ask yourself: Is an ethics charge warranted?  Any normal (disinterested) person will say NO.  This video shows the level of depravity that now exists among the anti-Priforce zealots on the Emeryville City Council majority.  Council member Priforce said NOTHING that could even loosely be considered unethical yet he now faces charges for that.  Please judge for yourself:

https://www.youtube.com/live/o7OntshGbR0?si=E8PF9H9jHiy1AHxc

Advertisement from Council member Priforce encouraging people to attend Tuesday night's event.

Breaking: Mayor Welch Releases Charges Against Council Member Priforce

Breaking News

Mayor Courtney Welch has finally released the charges she has been leveling at her colleague Council member Kalimah Priforce, for breaches of Emeryville’s Code of Ethics and Conduct to be voted on at a December 3rd City Council ‘special meeting’ at 6:30 pm.  Ms Welch, part of what’s being called the ‘Gang of Four’ Council members, is hoping Mr Priforce will be censured and even sanctioned for the charges.  For his part, Council member Priforce denies the charges.

Mayor Welch violated the Code of Ethics and Conduct herself when she went on a name calling rampage on her social media accounts against the editor of the Tattler, but the Gang of Four have steadfastly refused to bring the charges up for a vote.  Name calling on social media by Council members is expressly forbidden according to the City Attorney John Kennedy as it constitutes a violation of the Code.  The Code of Ethics and Conduct was written by Mr Kennedy and certified by a vote of the Council in September. 

The Gang of Four City Council members are Courtney Welch, David Mourra, John Bauters and Sukhdeep Kaur.  They are refusing to be held to account for their own violations of the Code of Ethics as they press charges of violations of the Code against Council member Priforce.

The Tattler will report the whole spectacle as it unfolds.

The City Council Resolution against Mr Priforce can be seen HERE.

https://www.scribd.com/document/795685615/The-Political-Lynching-of-Emeryville-Councilmember-Kalimah-Priforce-Dec-3-2024

Nikki Bas Declares Victory in the County Supervisor Race Over John Bauters

Breaking News

Tonight Oakland City Council member Nikki Bas has declared victory in the race for Alameda County Board of Supervisors district 5 against Emeryville City Council member John Bauters.  The pro-labor Bas made the announcement after the Alameda County Registrar of voters released the latest tranche of votes in the hotly contested race that placed her against the anti-labor Bauters.  The County has said there are a few straggling votes that still needs to be counted.  However it is extremely unlikely Mr Bauters will make up the 415 votes to overtake Ms Bas.  Mr Bauters has not conceded the vote as of 6:40 pm tonight. 

The tally after the 5 pm release is: 

Bas 50.15 % at 71,135 votes

Bauters 49.85% at 70,721votes

Ms Bas mounted an extraordinary comeback from election night when at 1:00AM the County released the “unofficial final results” of the race showing Bauters ahead 53.4% (26,005 votes) over Bas at 46.6% (22,676 votes).  Ms Bas performed well in the poorer areas of the district while Mr Bauters, appealing to conservatives, did well in the affluent hills and Emeryville. The race spells the end of John Bauters' political career, barring some future comeback as he bet it all on this race, giving up his City Council seat as a consequence.

Ms Bas released the following statement:

One year ago, I answered the call from community-based advocates and Labor leaders to advance a vision of an equitable, prosperous and healthy future for every Alameda County family. Today, it appears that District 5 voters have selected me as their next representative to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. I will bring an unflagging commitment and engage the community to serve every resident by expanding affordable housing and effective solutions to homelessness, accessible healthcare, good jobs, and safe communities. During this consequential moment, I am thrilled and humbled to join what will be our County’s first majority-female Board. Let’s get to work!

Council Hypocrisy: Mayor Welch's Ethics Violation Ignored

Refusing Welch Charge, City Council Majority Politicizes Code of Ethics

Weaponizing the Code Against Political Enemies, Council Majority Uses New Law to Make Themselves Unaccountable

Welch Guilty But Cannot Be Touched

Meanwhile

Priforce To Be Brought Down

In September, after the City Council received a citizen complaint against the Mayor for violations of Emeryville's Code of Ethics described by the City Attorney, the Council majority chose to ignore it and instead they have taken up a complaint of their own against their colleague, Kalimah Priforce, for what the Mayor says are violations of the same Code.  This City Council politicizing of our Code of Ethics was predicted and warned against in 2023 by the City Manager, the City Attorney and ironically, Council member John Bauters who joined in at the time, cautioning the rest of the Council about “weaponizing” the Code as the Council prepared to certify it.  Council member Bauters is one of the gang of four Council members now weaponizing Emeryville's Code of Ethics.  Mayor Welch violated the Code by engaging in name calling against a citizen from her social media account, a specified prohibited act according to the City Attorney.
  

Mayor Courtney Welch
She is not constrained by the Code of Ethics
but her political enemy on the Council is.
It's an enviable amount of power she's
 been granted by her friends on the Council.

Emeryville citizens are now privy to antics at City Hall around this new law - they are going to see minority Council member Priforce censured by the Council for violating the Code of Ethics, but not the majoritarian Mayor Welch for doing the same thing; the very definition of politicizing.

The violations committed by Mayor Courtney Welch are direct and clearly identified by the City Attorney John Kennedy, author of the Code, but the charges against Council member Priforce have not yet been named by the Mayor, who brought the charges at the November 5th Council meeting to be followed through at the December 3rd Council meeting.  The City Council voted 4-1 (Priforce dissenting) to forward the Mayor's charges to censure Mr Priforce.  The charges against Mayor Welch on the other hand were brought by the editor of the Tattler and ignored by the Council majority, the favor of even an acknowledgement of receipt of the complaint, was not received. 

Council Majority Weaponizes New Law 

In September 2023 when the Council was voting to adopt the new law, then mayor John Bauters joined with the City Attorney and the City Manager, apprising his colleagues against the temptation to “weaponize” the new Code of Ethics in order to damage political opponents.  Mr Bauters told his colleagues, “The Code of Ethics is not intended to create winners and losers.”

The double standard exhibited by this behavior of the Council majority can be described as hypocritical and cynical but also it reveals a willingness to subvert and politicize the Code.  Council member Bauters is now himself complicit in the  politicized polarization of this law meant to rein in misconduct by the Council and other City officials.  Also complicit is Vice Mayor David Mourra,  Council member Sukhdeep Kaur and of course Mayor Courtney Welch.

This Council majority have succumbed to the allure of using the Code to hold a political adversary to account while at the same time refusing to be held to the same standard themselves; a clear politicization and weaponization of the new law. Without a check or a balance that could be gotten from an independent ethics commission as other cities have, Emeryville’s Code of Ethics has been revealed to be flawed law, flawed to the point that it is stoking discord, something the City Attorney specifically warned the Council against.

Mayor Welch Violates the Code

City Attorney Kennedy and City Manager Paul Buddenhagen produced an instructional video (see below) for the Council (and other City officials) to assist them in how to not violate the Code.  Mr Buddenhagen was explicit, “We don’t want this [Code of Ethics] to be weaponized.  We don’t want this to be a thing that initiates discord.”   

Mr Kennedy went on to describe exact prohibitions in the law violated by Courtney Welch against members of the public, “When they are acting in social media, they [the Council] are acting in their roll as a city official”, Mr Kennedy said in the training video.  He continued, “The Code of [Ethics and] Conduct is intended to show there is a certain threshold you have to follow here.  One is that you need to practice civility and decorum in discussion and debate.  So name calling, personal attacks, all of those things could potentially violate the Code.” (italics added)

The Code of Ethics is explicit and implicit in its description of unacceptable behavior like what the Mayor frequently exhibits.  From the Code: "Members shall refrain from abusive conduct, personal charges or verbal attacks upon the character or motives of other Members, the public and staff.  This requirement is applicable to Members at all times."

 

After the Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct was certified by the Council, Mayor Courtney Welch went on a rampage of name calling from her Twitter/X account, (cw4emeryville) calling the Editor of the Tattler a “misogynist” and a “liar” added to the earlier epithets “fuck boy” and “racist” (the latter two names were issued before the Council certified the new law and so she can’t be held accountable under the law for those two).

An independent ethics commission, like Emeryville’s neighboring cities have, would not likely have let the Mayor off the hook for so blatantly violating the Code in this case and fittingly, it was Council member Priforce that did try for a commission to be set up simultaneously with the Code of Ethics.  But the Council majority refused Mr Priforce’s request at their September 2023 meeting.  Vice Mayor David Mourra said he was not against the idea of an independent commission but he thought the Code should be certified first, “As a first step, it makes a lot of sense” he said.  However, the Council has not moved on setting up a commission and in fact, Mr Bauters subsequently said NO to the prospect.

Mayor Welch was contacted for comment on this story but she did not reply.  

The 'Code of Ethics and Conduct for Elected and Appointed City Officials' (Resolution 23-125) strangely, cannot be accessed at the City of Emeryville's website but the citizen activist group Emery Rising has provided a URL to it HERE.  

The meeting where the Mayor will bring charges against Council member Priforce for violations of the Code of Ethics and Conduct is Tuesday December 3rd at a 'Special Meeting' in the Council Chambers at 6:30 pm.  Anyone can attend.

Instructional Video for the City Council on how not to violate 

the Code of Ethics.

5:00: A City staff member asks about social media accounts

5:55: The City Attorney explains they have to act with decorum, even on their social media accounts.

They cannot call people names on their social media he says emphatically.

Mayor Welch heard this but she violated it anyway.

Bauters losing ground in County Supervisor's Race, Now Trailing Bas

 Breaking News

The latest tranche of votes were just released by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters and they show Emeryville City Councilman John Bauters now trailing Nikki Fortunato Bas 68,630 to 68,736 votes in the Alameda County Board of Supervisor's race (district 5).  According to sources in the Bas campaign, a "few more hundreds' of votes still need to be counted.  The County Registrar has not said from what regions within the district the last few votes that remain to be counted are.  Today's tranche leaves Mr Bauters 106 votes short in the 49.96% to 50.04% race.  

Breaking: City Council Majority Votes to Agendize Censure of Council Member Priforce

Breaking News:

Tonight at a special Emeryville City Council meeting, Mayor Courtney Welch moved to censure her colleague Kalimah Priforce for “numerous violations” of Emeryville’s new Code of Ethics to be voted on at a future City Council meeting.  The vote was 4-1 to agendize the item (Priforce dissenting).  

This is the first use of the Code of Ethics since it was certified by the City Council last year.

The Mayor did not describe what ethics violations she thinks Mr Priforce violated but even without any general description, her three colleagues voted to place the item on a future agenda.  None of the three Council members who voted with Ms Welch to agendize a censure, not David Mourra, John Bauters or Sukhdeep Kaur, publicly asked the Mayor what violations they were being asked to vote on, raising the specter of a possible private pre-discussion by Council members.  If such a discussion happened behind closed doors, that could constitute a Brown Act violation.  

The City Attorney, John Kennedy, gave a presentation to the City Council some months ago wherein he described that Council members or even City committee members are proscribed by the Code of Ethics; among the violations he listed is “calling people names” on social media.  Because the Mayor Courtney Welch (and Planning Commissioner Dianne Martinez) both violated this mandate, the Tattler submitted a complaint to the Council in October but they refused to hear it.  This fact plus tonight’s opaque misadventure shows how the new Code of Ethics has already been politicized by this Council majority.  The Tattler will report on how the Code of Ethics is being abused by the City Council in a future story.

Council member Priforce responded to the Council's action tonight, telling the Tattler, "None of this is a surprise to me or should be a surprise to anyone who has been following the hostility of this council towards me since before I took office with their collegiality pledge, the attacks I received on the evening I took office, and on multiple occasions they've attempted to silence or trivialize my presence on the council. They are afraid of my voice. They are afraid of the people's voice. It's not about me, it's about what I represent. So rather than laugh at their theatrics, I focused on the task at hand, support Calvin and Mia in their campaign to be our future council members and return city hall back into the hands of the people."

Cryptocurrency Titan's Last Minute Money Dump to Mayor Welch for Her Re-Election Bid

Breaking News:

Cryptocurrancy Bro
Jesse Pollak
He sees a good investment 
in Courtney Welch.

Emeryville City Council member (mayor) Courtney Welch’s re-election campaign received $5000 from right wing cryptocurrency entrepreneur Jesse Pollak in the last FPPC cycle before the election.  Ms Welch, who has long denied any connection to corporations and taken on a campaign slogan of “Working for the People”, seems to have waited until the very end to accept the money, upping her chances at election without having to explain the corporate money. Council member John Bauters has also taken money from the tech bro gazillionaire (and others) even as he denied it to various groups he sought endorsement from. 

Councilwoman Welch has flat out denied allegations of being a corporate Democrat from many progressives in the East Bay and she has publicly punched back against any making the allegation.  

Mr Pollak is part of a group of very wealthy right wing campaign donors who are funding the anti-labor candidacy of John Bauters for County Board of Supervisors and to swing the recall campaigns against the Alameda County DA and the Mayor of Oakland.

After the election, Ms Welch will presumably have a harder time denying she is a corporate Democrat (unless she goes with a Trump style double down).

Mayor Welch Says She's a Targeted Victim of a Green Party Typo

Election Nuttiness:

Fueled By 'Outrage Porn', Emeryville's Mayor Says Green Party's Typo Was Done On Purpose

Mayor Claims Victim Status Regardless of Apology

She Made the Same Error Herself in 2021, But Her Error 

Was Just "A Simple Mistake" She Says 

Emeryville’s mayor is crying foul over a typographical error made by the Green Party in their voter guide that she says was purposeful and meant to demean her and she is refusing to accept an official retraction for the error offered by the Greens.  Instead, she is repeating the slight all over social media despite the fact that she made the same mistake in her official candidate’s statement run up for her 2021 City Council run.  

The Green Party error came in their Green Voter Guide that left out the word ‘non-incumbents’ in a block of text.  So the original stated, “Council member Priforce’s slate of two, the only African Americans running for council, are Mia Esperanza Brown and Calvin Dillahunty.”  As corrected, it was changed to “Council member Priforce’s slate of two, the only African Americans non-incumbents running for council, are Mia Esperanza Brown and Calvin Dillahunty" (our italics).

Mayor Welch says she's Black and the Green Party is trying
to take that away from her.  It's so unfair!  But it's exactly like
how she tried to take away Brynnda Collins' Blackness in 2021. 
Brynnda has been Black since her birth but Courtney just ain't seein' it.

But in 2021, Council member Welch was on the other side of the same error, an error SHE made.  In her official Alameda County Candidate Statement from 2021, candidate Welch stated she is “…the first Black woman in 34 years to seek a seat on the Council.”  In fact, a Black woman, Brynnda Collins, sought a seat on the City Council in 2016.  After her statement was shown to be factually incorrect, the statement Ms Welch submitted to the County Registrar under oath as being factual, Ms Welch was forced to file voluminous legal paperwork with the County, correcting the mistake. 

Candidate Welch admitted she made a mistake with her 
false claims in 2021.  She admitted it only when Alameda County 
forced her to correct the error. 

At the time, the Tattler didn’t report on the story because we took Ms Welch at her word it was a simple mistake.  However, after she won the 2021 election, Council member Welch has been shown to be a petulant vulgarian, quick to lay accusations on and name call her constituents who disagree with her policies and her dissenting City Council colleague, Kalimah Priforce.

Not satisfied with the Green Party’s apology and retraction of the typo, Mayor Welch has continued to bring up the issue on social media, claiming without evidence, the first version of the voter guide was not a mistake.  She is not mentioning to her followers that the Green Party has corrected the error.  

What Mayor Welch is claiming is that the Green Party of Alameda County, by their typo, they're trying to take away her 'Blackness', the same thing, exactly, that candidate Welch did in 2021 to Brynnda Collins with the typo in her Candidate Statement when she tried to take away Ms Collin's 'Blackness'.

Perhaps sensing further political gain that could be made, Mayor Welch, who is Vice President of the organization Black Elected Officials of California (BEOC), released a public letter of condemnation against the Green Party of Alameda County stating the typographical error by the Greens had “deliberately misled” the people and they had therefore “undermined the democratic process".  Further, BEOC claimed, without providing evidence, “We are especially troubled by what appears to be a pattern of targeted disinformation against people of color and women.”  However, BEOC refused to provide any examples that would bolster their claim of such a pattern created by the Green Party, a political party that has anti-racism and anti-sexism among its Ten Core Values.  Finishing up their letter, BEOC demanded another public apology from the Greens.  

 However, the Greens were having none of that.  After calling the hyperbole from Mayor Welch a "political tactic", Green Party County Council member Greg Jan wrote a responce to the BEOC that explained they had already publicly apologized for the typo error and made the correction in their Voter Guide the same day they were alerted to it.  Mr Jan's letter shamed the Mayor and even connected Council member John Bauters into the Welch fabricated imbroglio, stating: “We do ask that Courtney Welch refrain from using her position as Vice-President of your body from further bullying the Green Party of Alameda County and our electorate with baseless attacks just as she and John Bauters have done with their elected positions against their council member colleagues.”

Seemingly incapable of shame, Mayor Welch has continued on with her attacks on the Green Party, inferring bad faith in their motives, prompting a response from Mr Jan who told the Tattler yesterday, “This Mayor doesn’t seem to want to accept our apology we publicly announced for the typographical error (in our Green Party Voter Guide).  It’s strange since the Mayor herself made the same error in her Candidate’s Statement last time when she ran for Council. We apologized for the typo and we’re moving on.  We think the Mayor should too.” 

Mayor Welch did not answer our requests for comment.

Outrage porn (also called outrage discourse, outrage media and outrage journalism) is any type of media or narrative designed to use outrage to provoke strong emotional reactions for the purpose of expanding audiences or increasing engagement.

Election '24: Elsie Joyce Lee Represents a Change for Emery Unified School District

Change Needed at Emeryville's Schools:

Elsie Joyce Lee For Emery School Board

Vetted by the People, Not the School Board

Opinion

By Tattler Editor Brian Donahue

The Tattler has long reported on the dysfunction at our little school district and this year it’s no different. Because we should not let dysfunctional government continue and because Emeryville’s schools are highly dysfunctional, we should vote for a new face with new ideas to break up the ossified insularity here.  We should vote for Elsie Joyce Lee for Emery Board of Trustees (School Board) because she represents the change that’s needed.

Emery School Board Candidate
Elsie Joyce Lee
A new voice for EUSD, vetted by
the people, not the School Board.

There are two Board seats in contention.  The incumbent running for re-election and the husband of the existing Board member Regina Chagolla, who’s also running, represent the status quo, the ‘no change team’.  Challenging them is Ms Lee, the change agent. 

My name, Brian Donahue, also appears on the ballot but I don’t want to be on the School Board.  I don’t want to win.  I only ran to force an election and give voters a chance to have a say in how their schools are governed.  Because I don’t want to be on the School Board this year, I’m directing anyone that would vote for me to vote instead for Elsie Joyce Lee and only Elsie Joyce Lee, a classic ‘bullet vote’ strategy.  This 'one vote only' strategy provides pro-change voters the best chance to get Ms Lee elected.  

Because I entered the race and forced an election, my job is here is finished.  Now it’s the job of the electorate to put a new face with new ideas on our School Board.

Emery Unified School District is academically the second worst school district in Alameda County (when controlled for the percentage of student English learners) and Emery gets the most funding, by far, over any other school district in the county.  Emery is funded at almost $28,000 per student per year.  The second highest funded district in Alameda County is Piedmont Unified at about $18,000 per student.  

Low scores and high funding: that’s a unique level of dysfunction that highlights Emery's unique level of mismanagement.  

Shockingly, the existing School Board members are defending the dysfunction, stating inexplicably, that we need to “keep Emery on track” .  They excitedly point to the fact that two years ago, Emery was the school district with the worst academic results of all 15 districts in Alameda County but now we’ve moved up to second worst, and that’s somehow worth rewarding them with your vote.  What they're not saying is at this rate of improvement, Emery will finally be a good school district in half a century hence. 

We Emeryville residents are very generous to the schools.  Our school parcel tax rate is legendary among districts around the Bay Area.  Other districts are jealous of the money Emeryville property owners lavish on their schools.  But while it's imperative for voters to adequately fund public schools in the community as we have done, we can't then just walk away.   We can't just continue to throw money at the school district and expect our job to be done.  We also need to hire good stewards for all the money we're investing.  The existing Board is remiss in their duty to the taxpayers, yes.  But more importantly, they are failing the students at Emery.  We need a change here in this locus of dysfunction.  Candidate Elsie Lee provides a chance for such a change. 

Ms Lee was not informed about this opinion piece before posting. 

Please see Ms Lee's impressive performance at the League of Woman Voters Candidate's Forum: School Board Forum HERE

https://youtu.be/Zs7RTtnwhFA?si=CcEKXHqj--czjX34

Emery's test score results are the second worst among Alameda County school districts
(when controlled for percentage of English learners).

Source: California Department of Education

Low test scores and high funding means
Emery is poorly managed.  The children suffer
when the schools are so terribly managed. 
Even though Emery is by far the highest funded
school district in the county, they spend the smallest
percentage on instruction (19% of budget).  Most of the
money goes to corporate educational consultants.

Source: California Department of Education

The Tattler Delivers to the People of Emeryville, a Choice in the Governance of Their Schools

 The Tattler Brings You 

An Election!

Emeryville Citizens Will Be Able To Vote For School Board This Year Because of the Tattler

Commentary

By Tattler Editor Brian Donahue

I’ve lived in Emeryville for 42 years and during that time, the citizens here have been able to vote for their school board only a few times.  Usually, the Alameda County Registrar of Voters does not hold an election in Emeryville because nobody seems to want to run for the school board position if incumbents are running, which they almost always are.  This year is different.  Because I decided to run, there will be an election and the people get to have their say about who runs their schools, a rare occurrence in Emeryville history.  Insularity is the thing at Emery Unified School District, democracy, generally not well-received.

How individuals rise up and become new Emery School Board members is by appointment by the Board rather than by election by the people.  It’s all legal. Insularity is locked in at Emery.

Here’s how it works in six steps:

1)  A Board member tells their colleagues they want to resign before their term is up.

2)  The rest of the Board appoints a favored replacement for a short term (until the next election).

3)  The appointed new Board member announces they are running as an incumbent in the next election, benefiting from the incumbent advantage.

4)  Nobody rises up to challenge because of the well known incumbent advantage.

5)  The County Registrar of Voters does not hold an election.

6)  The friend, newly appointed by the Board, gets to be on the Board for a full new term (unless they too quit early) without ever facing Emeryville voters.

This year I threw a monkey wrench into all that.  

Here’s how I forced an election this year:

1)  The two incumbents indicated they were going to run for re-election to the two seats in contention.

2)  I waited until two days before the deadline to see if anybody registered to challenge the two incumbents (which I hoped for but doubted would happen).

3)  Sure enough, nobody registered to challenge the two incumbents.

4)  I quickly registered, thereby forcing an election.

5)  The incumbent, Kimberly Solis, who was herself earlier appointed to the Board, withdrew her registration to run for re-election.  She obviously was waiting to resign until right after winning a second term with no election, enabling the Board to appoint her replacement (until I messed that up).  Her withdrawal forced step 6 to happen.

6)  The Alameda County Registrar extended the deadline to register by one week as they legally are required to do when this happens.

7)  During the extended registration period, with two seats up and only one incumbent, a new challenger who wants the seat and who would be good at it (Elsie Joyce Lee), quickly registered.  Democracy flowered.

8)  The Board quickly found a favored replacement to run for the open seat against Elsie Lee (and I); the Board's choice is the husband of an existing Board member (who will get something close to an incumbent advantage in the election with the whole Board’s endorsement). 

Elsie Joyce Lee was not going to run for the Board until she saw a seat open without an incumbent. As a result, now there are four people running for two seats; one a straight incumbent, one, the husband (a near incumbent who may not get the full incumbent advantage), Elsie Lee and I.  This brings the possibility of the rarest of things, a new face and new ideas at Emery Unified, vetted by the people instead of the School Board.  

Seeing how Ms Lee, a very good candidate for any school board, is trying for the one open seat against two competitors (me and the husband of the existing Board member), I will make an announcement about this soon.

Emery schools are terribly run, just as they have been for years.  We’re the second worst school district in Alameda County (more on that in a future Tattler story).  At the same time, Emery is the best funded school district by far, in the county.  To be second from the bottom and at the top for funding means the management is terrible.  The culture that enables this terrible condition at Emery to continue for decade after decade is the cynical insularity promulgated by the School Board, their friends and family members.  A real election with the people of Emeryville deciding, could be the beginning of much needed change.  

My Turn: Council Member Kalimah Priforce

 Council Member Kalimah Priforce Weighs In-

My Turn

Council Member Kalimah Priforce

The Tattler has always made itself available to all elected officials in Emeryville to use as a platform to reach out to the citizens for whatever reason they wish.  We call it 'My Turn'.  All electeds are always invited at any time to submit information in the public interest and the Tattler will post it verbatim.  Council member Priforce has requested a Tattler space in kind and we accommodate all Emeryville elected officials in this request.  

The submittal from Mr Priforce this time is a little unusual in that he requested the Tattler ask him questions regarding the November election and his run for changing the mayoral selection process in Emeryville.  He said he would respond for the Tattler's My Turn feature.  Here then is the result of that, for your edification:

The Tattler: Emeryville voters don’t elect our mayors and yet you were endorsed to be mayor by Our Revolution East Bay and Igor Tregub, Chair of the Alameda County Democratic Party recently accused your voter guide mailers as confusing voters. Can you elaborate?

Kalimah Priforce: Emeryville’s mayor is selected, not elected.  It’s a broken system that can be fixed with this Nov. 5th election by voting for Mia Esperanza Brown and Calvin Dillahunty.  If you aren't registered to vote in Emeryville, you can still vote in person at the voting booth. Just bring proof of residence with you just in case.

When Mae Jamison became the first Black woman to be in space on the Endeavor shuttle in 1992, she was approached about what this history-making moment meant for her. Her response was that it was an opportunity to bring more seats to the table.

The problem with our politics in Emeryville is that the table is shrinking as the city is growing.  That table is the affordability to work, live, and thrive in Emeryville. The table is the ability to own a residence as a first time home buyer.  The table is the ability to move into Emeryville and stay in Emeryville.

As we were designing the voter guide mailers that had drawn so much attention, I labeled the ideas and feedback from the Emery Rising Neighborhood Group into a folder on my computer as “Project Folding Chair.”  The mailer would be a folded piece that featured Mia and Calvin as the candidates to vote for, and allowed me to remind Emeryville voters what is at stake with this upcoming election by sharing how I was skipped as their next mayor.  If it can happen to me, it can happen to all of us.

Shirley Chisholm is popularly quoted as saying, “If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.”  The most important table that is shrinking in Emeryville is how decisions are made and how city planning is directed by the city council.  That is why we are facing a budgetary shortfall. The same ideas are being circulated because they are generated by the same special interests.

So, no - no one can “vote” me as mayor, but as I shared in my blog (www.votepriforce.com) about this controversy, my running for mayor is about supporting candidates who have the vision and character to restore what was broken and will return us to our rotational mayorship model but codified to give everyone a fair chance to be mayor, including myself - the lone dissenting and progressive voice on this council.  I’m Haitian.  I never have a problem standing up to colonizers and their sycophants.

I’d like to thank Our Revolution East Bay for endorsing my mayoral run and all those who believe in my work in Emeryville, including Van Jones who also endorsed my mayorship run.  For some reason, they get it, but Igor Tregub of the Alameda County Democratic Party doesn’t.  But then again, he’s just looking out for his friend, Courtney Welch, and turning friendship into politics at a time when our local party is facing not one, but two recalls.

Tell our readers more about Emery Rising.  Is it like Residents United for a Livable Emeryville (RULE) that helped elect council members into office?

Emery Rising is very different from RULE.  We are a neighborhood group spun out of the Emeryville Tenant Union which is based on the Berkeley Tenant Union.  Calvin and Mia are members of the ETU that grew out of the Courtyards 65th Tenant Board.  The basis for the growth of community organizing was our recognized need for single-family homeowners, workers and small businesses, and even churches to have a seat at the table.

If you aren’t at the table, you’re on the menu.  These groups have all seen the corporatization of Emeryville and how planning decisions are being made without community input - just surveys city hall sends out that are barely responded to in a city of 13,000.  Just as the Berkeley Tenant Union is helping to guide the Emeryville Tenant Union, REP-SF which stands for Race and Equity in all Planning Coalition have been successful in San Francisco at bringing diverse voices together to build collective power at the city planning level that prioritizes the dignity, health, stability, and aspirations of our communities, by placing the needs of the people over profit.

Emery Rising is coalition structured so we can not accept individual members.  We can only accept groups. Group membership can be as small as five people and as big as a thousand.  This encourages grassroots organizing within pocket communities in Emeryville, and we will soon be set up so that these groups will be non-profit fiscally sponsored so they can raise their own tax-exempt funds, take out insurance, and operate as legal entities but without being over-burden with paperwork.  That is what makes us a neighborhood group that can transform our politics, because Emeryville needs it.  We will be hosting workshops and events after the November election.

Although it was my FPPC ID on the mailers, it was designed with community input by the Emery Rising community.

There has been controversy surrounding the Green Party of Alameda County endorsement of Mia Esperanza Brown and Calvin Dillahunty and of you as mayor with their distributed voter guide and Courtney Welch’s claim that her race wasn’t acknowledged.  Can you address this?

Yes, and Igor Tregub “denounced” and called on everyone in the Alameda County Democratic Party to denounce the Green Party’s typographical error.  There are only so many times a person can “cry wolf” before people get the idea of what is happening and tune out. I'm glad Emeryville is getting this attention, so I thank Igor for that.

Currently of the six candidates for city council, only three have been endorsed by a local political party, Courtney Welch (Democratic Party), Mia Esperanza Brown (Green Party), and Calvin Dillahunty (Green Party).  All six candidates are registered democrats vying for three city council seats, two of them incumbents.

In order to be endorsed by the Democratic Party, there had to be a voting threshold to be met by its voting body - none of whom live in Emeryville. Only Courtney Welch met that threshold, and there’s a reason why.  Voting members were called and instructed to only vote for her. Some of them refused, others were outright disgusted by their request (gentle threats) and informed me, while others, those closest to her, capitulated.

I will add the voting results to my blog so everyone can see that she was bullet-voted several times when there were three possible picks out of six.  That tells me several things: (1) the people who chose to only vote one person don’t give a damn about us in Emeryville, especially since they don’t live here and are not vulnerable to their voting-outcomes, and (2) the other candidates who she endorsed and have endorsed her never had a chance for an endorsement and were essentially sabotaged.

Some people voted ideologically or were persuaded by the endorsement forum to support Mia and Calvin because they strongly oppose what is happening in Emeryville and stand with the Emery Rising movement, but those who decided to only vote for her when Sukhdeep, Matthew, and Sam agree with the mayor on practically everything - shame on them.  At the end of the day, no matter the beef, tension, or outright opposition I have with Sukhdeep, Matthew, and Sam, all three are still Emeryville (Sukhdeep alone has lived here two more years longer than I have), so when you mess with Emeryville, you mess with me (well maybe not Sam…I’ll go into details as to why with one of the next questions).  Growing up in Brooklyn taught me that.

The Green Party of Alameda County responded to my request that they correct their endorsement text. They explained to me that “non-incumbent” was unintentionally not included and that they would rectify it and produce a statement to address the outrage theatrics that were being performed by my fellow democrats.  I took them by their word and they did what they said they would do.  From what I know the Green Party takes a lot of cues from the Tattler, but the people I messaged were separate and kind enough to make those changes.  You didn’t write that endorsement and I don’t think it’s fair for anyone to allude that you did.

There are three seats available for City Council, would you consider a third candidate besides Mia Brown and Calvin Dillahunty?

Out of the remaining four, I’d be open to consider Matthew Solomon for the third seat.  I think Matthew can better listen to constituents once he finds his bearings as a leader.  My impression of Matthew is that of a follower.  If caught between choosing to side with the people versus the status quo, I think he would buck to convention.  With all the housing committee meetings I’ve attended, I study body language and Matthew seemed to always look towards Ned Resnick, the California YIMBY policy director, for approval.  He considers himself a YIMBY which raises several red flags. 

For example, when John Bauters pushed for Emeryville to have the East Bay’s tallest high-rise (dubbed Mount Bauters) with the Onni Group that would have had 638 apartments and only 55 of them three bedrooms - all rentals, would he have sided with the people or Bauters?  Or when Bauters pushed for the Trader Vic’s development by Trachtenberg Architects that would have placed a rental property next to a condo haven without community input.  When the people of Watergate stood up for themselves and rejected the plans, would he have sided with Bauters or the people of Watergate? 

Or when John Bauters invited an electric scooter competition to race through our streets but could not raise the sponsorship to pay for it and thus if we would have pursued it, our taxpayers would have footed a million dollar bill, would he have sided with the people or Bauters?   I just don’t see him as a strong candidate but a repeat of the last ten years of the YIMBY takeover of our city, but he has potential to be more.

I couldn't even see Sukhdeep Kaur’s 'pizza bribe' mailer coming from a mile away.  Last week I had to deal with two resident evictions in Emeryville.  The last thing the people of Emeryville need is a pizza discount and it's disappointing that she thought it was okay and not tone deaf when people are struggling to pay their own bills.  It delivered a, “let them eat pizza/cake,“ message to neighbors of mine who didn’t take it kindly and tossed them in the mailroom trash.

If Ally Medina hadn’t intentionally held on to her seat until after the November election, Brooke Westling would have been a council member.  Unfortunately, Emeryville lost out on a brilliant woman with a lot of love for Emeryville who would have been strong enough to stand up to the status quo.

From the 49 minute video mark on the December 19, 2023 meeting to the 2 hour 2 minute mark, Emeryville residents can view on YouTube an opportunity for city council to enact better-than-ADA policies around easier door access and mobility for our seniors and differently abled - get flushed down the drain.  And for some reason, Sukhdeep Kaur blames others for why the legislation did not pass rather than take responsibility for not getting it through and I made a lot of effort for it to.  Sometimes Sukhdeep can stand on her own, but it's extremely rare because she looks for her power to come from the top and not from the people.

While I was collecting signatures for Mia and Calvin at the Emeryville Public Market, I was with my sister and her trivia team when I was approached by Sam Gould.  He asked me who I was gathering signatures for and I told him it was for city council candidates.  He asked me if I were able to gather them on behalf of the other candidates.  I directed him to speak to the city clerk if he had any elections-related questions or to schedule office hours with me - as his council member, and ended the conversation.

I was sitting down and he was standing over us - this unhinged White man questioning a diverse table of people that included women, Black, queer, and differently-abled just off of work and wanting to have a relaxing time.  You and I have had conflicts about why I don’t approve or excuse when it’s done by you.

He then turns to my sister and asks her who I am gathering signatures for.  My sister, a Black woman from Brooklyn, looked at me with an uncomfortable expression on her face, and so did everyone else at the table. I got upset and demanded he leave us alone.  He wouldn’t. Another friend of ours at the table told him to go away and that he was creeping everyone out.  I suggested that they take out their cameras, and that was when he walked away.

If you have noticed a surge in online negative comments on matters related to Emeryville, Sam Gould creates most of them.  I tried warning the Emeryville public that his trolling behaviors were problematic, but it remains his preferred method of attack, by using anonymous postings with pseudonyms.

As a hacker, there are ways for me to uncover this kind of activity, and with a network of friends to help me, all the digital fingerprints lead back to him and his friends.  As negative as his postings are, the biggest issue I take with him is a lack of service.  I don’t believe he is someone Emeryville voters can trust to fight for them.

At the student’s candidate forum, he gave Emeryville the grade of “A-” for how the city is doing.  He not only tows the YIMBY line like Matthew, he sincerely believes in it.   If you read his answers to questionnaires, he talks more about trickle-down housing economics or transportation than he does about the people of Emeryville.  I believe that if he is elected, he would be Emeryville’s next Ally Medina.

Overall, I don’t care for their group-think politicization of ECAP. Early on as council member, I supported the city investing more into ECAP so that the food bank can be more independent and my plan involved providing them org-to-org mentorship, a residence for Nellie Hannon, and support for a succession plan. They didn’t get that because city staff were directed to lock ECAP into their housing plan.  I left it alone because those decisions were being made around John Bauters' ego and that’s never a good thing. 

As a non-profit, ECAP is in a vulnerable place to be so dependent on the city for support and then is touted for photos-ops, or in the case of the League of Women Voters (Berkeley, Albany, Emeryville) as a candidate question about food insecurity in Emeryville when a majority of those who use our food bank are not residents of Emeryville.  I’ve spoken to the heads of food banks in our region and they have commented on the politicizing of ECAP that prevents the organization from merging with others to provide better services to the public.

What are your politics? You claim to be a progressive and a Democrat but you seem to be non-typical. What can Emeryville voters expect from a Mayor Priforce, should Calvin and Mia win and vote to change our mayorship selections?

I am a Progressive, but in California so many claim to be.  I don’t believe in playing the game “who is more progressive.”  A woman’s right to choose, marriage equality, Black Lives Matter, don’t ruin the earth - all these things shouldn’t be what makes people progressive.  They should be what makes us American, because these values are American values - the bare minimum.

To be a progressive is to see and want progress towards the fulfillment of what our constitution promises but fails to deliver.  On the ballot are issues like removing carceral slavery and rent control - in 2024.  That means that as blue as our state claims to be, there is something broken with our politics and that liberalism is highly subjective when faced against corporate greed and monopolization forces (neoliberalism).

So I can be considered a progressive populist.  Populism right now has been hijacked by the right-wing because the left have failed, with each election, to connect with those who want systemic and structural change - on both sides of the political spectrum.  Platitudes don’t keep our lights on or help us find childcare or even feed our babies.

For example, if I were mayor, my first future agenda item would be placing on the ballot box a change to Emeryville’s status from being a general law city to being a chartered city.  Not only will this help us financially, but would require us to have an independent public ethics commission. 

Why is this important?

Some people have heard of the incident of Mayor Courtney Welch screaming and yelling at me that it reached the entire building.  Mia Esperanza Brown was one of the first people to talk to me about it. If she were to make an ethics complaint with the city attorney, it would be rejected.  The way the newly formed code of ethics process works is that only a council member can make a complaint against a council member, not a constituent.

If a council member wants to bring a formal complaint against another council member, that council member must first request a future agenda item at an upcoming public council meeting and receive majority support of the council for that matter to be placed on the agenda.  The council member bringing the complaint is required to submit to the city attorney the factual allegations and relief requested within 10 days after the council agreed to place the matter on a future council meeting agenda.

The council member against whom the complaint was filed must be afforded notice of any proposed action to be taken by the council and an opportunity to refute the allegations.  Finally, any discipline imposed by the council is determined by majority vote of a quorum of council members.  This can be found on page 10, Section C of “Council Members” under “Sanctions for Violations of Code of Ethics and Conduct by Members”.  This convoluted process was created to keep the power within the city council and thus we don’t have credible oversight.

What’s also not my politics is this trend of delegitimizing.  Delegitimizing was a tactic that was made popular by Republicans during the birther controversy created by Donald Trump used against President Obama. Nancy Rosenblum of Harvard U in 2016 wrote “Why Americans Must Resist Delegitimizing Partisan Combat,” which talks about how people are silenced for disagreeing with one another.

Courtney Welch and Igor Tregub launched a “denouncement” attack against the Green Party of Alameda County for their mistake, but Courtney Welch made a similar mistake in 2021 when she claimed she was the first Black woman in 38 years (at that time) to run for office when it was found to be untrue.  Do I think she should have been delegitimized for that?  No. Less than one year later, Eugene Tssui made a similar mistake by claiming he would be the first Asian on city council, and didn’t acknowledge that Emeryville had a Filipino mayor.  He didn’t know, but who jumped on him about that? John Bauters, Courtney Welch, Ally Medina, and Dianne Martinez - the person this offended.

I offered to Dianne Martinez an opportunity for Eugene Tssui to apologize to her and make amends.  She refused. I had then suspected that it was because the “outrage” was playing so well on social media.  At the next candidate forum, I squashed it by suggesting we all move on from the gaffe. I think that was the moment they all realized I was not like them and never could be.  It’s also why I’ve muted them all from my social media, but constituents who find their attacks reprehensible send me screenshots then I apologize to them on behalf of the city for their behavior.  I believe that should Calvin and Mia not be elected, this politics will continue.

So it's not surprising all their efforts to delegitimize The Emeryville Tattler.  What people don't understand is that if this publication didn't exist, what and who would fill the void of holding elected officials accountable?  I don't see anyone else stepping up and unfortunately The E'ville Eye isn't enough.  The E'ville Eye serves a different purpose and sometimes a different audience, but some of the breaking news and exposé stories that have appeared here are part of our history as a city.

Do I agree with everything the Tattler does?  No.  Do we agree to disagree when it comes to your tactics? Yes. But somehow Americans want to feel safe without asking how our military actually does that, or what our police officers actually have to go through.  I'm vegan and I see people eating animals without ever stepping into a slaughterhouse and killing livestock themselves.  We want the product, not the process.

Some of the Tattler's methods are questionable, but the things you uncover have tremendous value to the people of this city.  The Black Panther Party were once considered a nuisance and now they have attained legendary status.  So it's not surprising that many of them would prefer The Emeryville Tattler be out of the picture.

I'd like to put to rest this delegitimizing that you are somehow racist or misogynistic because you dare question women or Black people.  Fraudulent identity politics is exhausting.  You certainly can get obsessed and funnel visioned, but are you the one that plummeted Emeryville's Black home ownership numbers?  City Hall did that, and yet you're the racist?  God save us all from these political platitudes.

My only request is that you tone down your physical presence in front of people once they have shared that they are uncomfortable and that you don't show up to private events and private spaces asking your questions or while people are working (because you wouldn't want them to show up to your job site) when they reject your questioning.  I understand you take these steps because city hall and elected officials have not been responsive in ways that they could not get away with if this was Sacramento or even Oakland.

Just the fact that I can trust you to publish my admonishment of these matters demonstrates integrity.  The Emeryville Tattler has an important place in our political accountability discourse.  We govern better as public servants because of both publications, the E'ville Eye and the Emeryville Tattler and I'm probably the first elected in Emeryville history to state that on the record.  You need to come up with a succession plan!

What if Mia and Calvin don’t win and you don’t become mayor?

I’ll continue to serve the people of Emeryville in my current capacity as council member.  Of course, I won’t be able to lead better tenant protections or help institute policies that would make Emeryville nationally renown for public safety and affordability, but I’m still a hacker, so I’ll figure out ways to make an impact, because that is what we do.

The Progressive Caucus of the California Democratic Party has named me Bay Area Vice-Chair and so my ideas and talents will continue to be channeled politically, but to support progressives regionally and statewide.

I’ve learned in life that when things don’t work out, it’s usually because I was thinking too small and God wants me to go bigger.  That is why all those petty social media comments from any of Sam Gould’s fake online personas or by some random astroturfing YIMBY doesn’t land on me and aren’t worth a response.

If anything I find them quite amusing, because my day-to-day world is only local when it comes to addressing the needs of Emeryville residents, businesses, and workers, but my non-municipal life is so much bigger and global in reach.  I also have a memoir to finish, “How To Raise A Hacker.”

I do need to work on my self-care admittedly.  I showed up to the harvest festival with a catheter attached to me that I hid from public view but needed to inform people in case they were expecting one of my famous hugs.  I came straight from the emergency room, napped for an hour, and sat with Our Revolution East Bay's first appearance in Emeryville, along with Calvin. 

I also want to be of better support to my baby brother who just got married.  In a few days will be the 24th anniversary of our eighteen year old brother who was shot and killed.  I just need to take care of myself better.  Not being mayor may actually be a relief!

I’ve done incredible work in my life and I’ll continue to do so. I’ve come too far to let anyone stop me.