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.
