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.
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| 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.
Priforce is a drama queen
ReplyDeleteA hunger strike is dramatic but what's with the rest of the city council? Why are they so afraid of an ethics commission? If they're not doing wrong, they have no reason to fear. It appears a little bit of drama is what it takes in Emeryville.
ReplyDeleteIt takes an act of public defiance to catch the attention of the public. Whether you call it "drama" or not, it clearly stands as evidence of a single man's conviction for doing what is sensible and right. It is glaringly clear that the City Council requires an independent commission for the Code of Ethics because they themselves seem to lack it. Kalimah, you have shown your value and dedication for moral integrity to the City of Emeryville! We should all be following the principles of Mohandas Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King as you Kalimah has done! A hunger strike is an act of non-violence to protest what is morally wrong and to bring it to attention of the public. Democracy is the right to protest FOR right!
ReplyDeleteWho signed this petition? Has anybody checked if these are these Emeryville voters or even real people? or just email addresses that he registered over the 10 days of his fake hunger strike. Given the lies and deception that got him censured in the first place, I'm sure he was probably lying about the hunger strike and probably drinking Jamba juice or something
ReplyDeleteWell, seeing that the petition says “ANYONE IN AND OUTSIDE OF EMERYVILLE CAN SUPPORT US BY SIGNING OUR PETITION”, it’s a safe bet some of the signers don’t live in Emeryville. Rob Arias signed it and I know he lives 30 miles away in Contra Costa County.
DeleteThe signatures are verified by Change.Org and their entire business model is based on verifiable signatures so it’s a safe bet every signer is a real person.
Because it’s not verifiable Council member Priforce didn’t cheat the hunger strike, that is not questioned except for people of bad faith like yourself.
It sounds like you don’t like the idea of an independent ethics commission or the idea of government accountability and checks and balances. There’s a good place for people like you: on the Emeryville City Council! The majority of your future colleagues there agree with you that there should be no check on their power and they should not be held to account. You should run for City Council…unless… you’re already on the Council?
Brian, I dare you to not mention Rob Arias for at least 6 months. It seems you go out of your way to drop his name, even if it has nothing to do with him. It’s annoying. If you succeed, I’ll give you a sandwich and a forehead kiss.
DeleteWouldn't an ethics commission just investigate him for the stuff he's been doing and got censured for? Not sure he thought this through very well.
ReplyDeleteAn independent ethics commission is an essential companion to any municipality’s Code of Ethics. The commission serves as an intermediary between a complainant and the accused. They weed out frivolous complaints or complaints that are of a political nature while forwarding legitimate complaints. Ultimately, the City Council will still likely have the final say about any specific complaint that makes it through the commission.
DeleteMr Priforce would have likely been spared the Council’s wrath because the commission would have thrown out all or most of the six charges Council member Welch brought (please read the November 27, 2024 Tattler story for details). Of the six, four were found to be false and have no merit and two were found to be examples of selective enforcement. That, plus the fact that the Council majority is refusing to bring charges after a public complaint against Ms Welch in September for her violating the Code of Ethics, is an indication of a highly politicized process, precisely what we were warned against by the City Attorney, John Kennedy, the man who wrote the Code of Ethics.
An example of a false charge is number six. In that charge, Ms Welch says Priforce should be censured and sanctioned because he refused to vote to certify the Code of Ethics (back in 2023). However, every Council member in Emeryville and elsewhere in California, is allowed to vote their conscience in every vote. Every vote can be YES, NO or ABSTAIN. By refusing to sign the Code of Ethics, Mr Priforce was abstaining. The Emeryville City Council majority cannot criminalize a Council member’s vote, which is what they did as revealed in charge number six. Ironically, Mr Priforce refused to sign the Code because he said his Council colleagues could weaponize the law without an independent ethics commission. He says he will sign the Code of Ethics as soon as Emeryville has the essential check and balance accounting that an independent ethics commission will provide.
What some readers might fail to recognize is censure vote is more akin to self licking ice cream cone than anything remotely resembling legal process. As City Attorney Kennedy himself responded when questioned during Council meeting, "This is not a criminal trial. This is not a civil trial. There is no discovery." There’s also no legal representation, no cross-examination, no expert testimony, no evidentiary hearings, no right to appeal. Does that sound like due process or a star chamber? What the Council did by cloaking themselves in the garb of judicial finery while acting arbitrarily and capriciously against a political opponent will serve only to empower those who heretofore had paid scant attention to goings-on at City Hall. Welcome to the spotlight Councilmembers. You will be held accountable.
ReplyDeleteSeems straight out of the Trump playbook. Do a bunch of corrupt and unethical things and then turn around and accuse the people who pointed it out of being unethical.
ReplyDeleteWith regard to the Courtney Welch violations of the Code of Ethics/Conduct, we have the dated text of the law and we have the dated screenshot of the violation of the law so it's a slam dunk. She was told the parameters of the law, she signed the law and then she violated the law.
DeletePriforce is a manbaby. Is he 5 years old and pouting because he got in trouble? I can't believe I voted for him
ReplyDeleteHe's a baby that wants accountability from the local government, that's why he's "pouting". Usually babies only want to assuage their own needs or desires. Priforce however is an entirely new kind of baby that wants equity and community engagement. That's a pretty strange baby indeed.
DeleteI'm a baby too. So are lots of Emeryville residents. In fact us babies are rising up. We're expecting City Hall to stop working for developers and start working for the people (the babies). Babies want the entire City Council to be beholden to the rules they put in place. We expect them to establish a baby run independent ethics commission. Babies like democracy.