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.

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

Letter to the Tattler: Emeryville Needs an Ethics Commission

Emeryville Should Have an Independent Ethics Commission Like Other Bay Area Cities 

Open Letter 

by Elisabeth Montgomery

The City of Emeryville recently devoted time and energy to establishing a Code of Ethics, which I applaud since small communities must stay engaged and diligent about upholding government standards in our democracy. The City Council was asked to begin this process based on behaviors exhibited by our councilpersons during the July hiring hearings in 2021 when several applicants were for the open City Planning Commission. One councilperson spoke in hostile words towards one or more applicants. Disclaimer - one of the applicants happened to be my husband Eugene Tssui. When researching how to send a complaint about a City Council member’s conduct, I discovered that Emeryville had no ethics code. “Who handles complaints against council members?” The reply from the legal department was, “City Council will decide if the complaint is valid.”

Emmy Award winning 
Emeryville resident
Elisabeth Montgomery

Thus, I began a journey to understand how a Code of Ethics can inform our city leaders about running our local government. I wrote letters to then-mayor John Bauters and spoke to city lawyers and clerks. I reviewed city council transcripts and spoke with regional organizations that assist cities in setting up a Code of Ethics. Like our US Constitution, I learned that developing a great Code of Ethics is a “living document” that is always “in progress” and needs annual reviews. 

One hallmark of a great Code of Ethics is not just writing up a legal template for the city staff and saying it is done. Instead, it requires gathering input from the residents and community. According to legal experts at the Institute for Local Government, the other explicit guarantee to be embedded in the Ethics Code is that the clear objective - when confronted by constituents with challenges to city staff conduct - the City Council should not be the only decision-makers on the issue. Instead, an independent governance body should help decide the case. This will assure elected officials avoid perceptions that their values are based on their views rather than the everyday ethics that determine our laws. 

The current Emeryville Mayor must take the next step to inform residents, gather input, set up an oversight committee, and update the Code of Ethics in 2024. 

Elisabeth P. Montgomery, Ph.D., GCDF is an international career development educator and an Emmy Award winning documentary film producer.  She has lived for 34 years in Emeryville with her husband Eugene Tssui, himself an international architect and author.  Mr Tssui's work is currently being shown at the New York Museum of Modern Art.  The couple have been advocating for an ethics commission for Emeryville for the last two years.  The current Mayor of Emeryville, John Bauters, has recently said NO to the question of an ethics commission for Emeryville.