Round Two in War Against City Council member Priforce
His Colleagues Refuse to Endorse Him For Assembly Delegate While They Endorse Council Member Welch
Mr Priforce Asked to Sign 'Collegiality Agreement'
An emerging discord among Emeryville City Council members has manifest in another unprecedented event Friday when the Mayor and two colleagues endorsed Councilwoman Courtney Welch for a delegate to the Democratic Party Assembly District 18, conspicuously leaving aside Councilman Kalimah Priforce, who is also running for delegate in the same election. Notably, the Emeryville City Council has never endorsed a candidate for the State Assembly, let alone snub a fellow Council member running as they did on Friday. The negation of Mr Priforce adds muscle to the new polity of hostility against him by the Council majority after the wholesale attack on Mr Priforce at his swearing in meeting.
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City Council member Kalimah Priforce
Since entering the City Council, his colleagues
have been hostile to him.
The Council refuses to say why.
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Propping up Ms Welch at the expense of Mr Priforce for Emeryville representation in Assembly District 18, Mayor Bauters was joined by Ms Medina and even newly sworn in City Council member David Mourra. In a show of force, the existing District 18 Assembly member Mia Bonta has also endorsed Courtney Welch and other corporate backed Democrats, revealing the political reach of Mayor Bauters who plays by the Democratic Party mainstream rules and gets favors like this returned.
Mr Priforce and Ms Welch are running for delegate on different slates with different guiding philosophies. Ms Welch’s slate of 14 candidates is noteworthy for its attachment to YIMBY, a developer lobbying backed organization that seeks to remove local regulation in housing policy. A central figure supporting Courtney Welch is her slate mate Zac Bowling, a software CEO and YIMBY backed candidate. Ms Welch too is backed by YIMBY, having received $1000 from the 'YIMBY Victory Fund'. Mayor Bauters has also received YIMBY money from YIMBY supporters it should be noted.
The YIMBY organization (Yes In My Back Yard) is backed by rightwing groups including the far right Koch Brothers. The organization has quietly reached tentacles into cities across the Bay Area in recent years as they get municipalities to reverse their rules constraining developers that would deliver livability for existing residents.
Councilwoman Welch was called out as a “corporate backed Democrat” by several local election watching politicos including the well known progressive Alameda resident, Democrat Dan Wood. Ms Welch has forcefully pushed back on the accusations on her Twitter account stating "From here on out, if you want to say I'm connect w/, to, involved in, etc something, cite your sources or shut the fuck up & that's on everything."
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Courtney "Shut The Fuck Up" Welch
Council member Welch is supported by the YIMBY
backed network East Bay for Everyone. Their agenda is
to overturn local municipal power and give it to housing developers.
Council member Priforce has been critical of YIMBY. |
The snubbing of Council member Priforce by his colleagues is added to the recently released pre-City Council election collegiality agreement they required him to sign. The agreement stipulated that Mr Priforce is to behave in a collegial manner at City Council meetings (never mind the fact that the Council majority themselves violated the collegiality they sought at Mr Priforce’s swearing in meeting).
For his part, Council member Priforce has taken the attacks and snubbing from his colleagues on the Council in stride. He told the Tattler, "As a Black man, a Buddhist Haitian Afro-Latine son of foster care, I'm used to being judged and non-engaged with out of fear and biased assumptions.” He said of his fellow Council members, “I have no power over darkness, only my own light.”
The City Council members did not respond to Tattler questions about the snubbing of Mr Priforce as he seeks to represent Emeryville in the Democratic Party except David Mourra who said he didn’t receive an ‘ask for endorsement’ from Mr Priforce.
California Democratic Party Assembly District 18 includes Emeryville, Oakland, Alameda. Emeryville voters registered as Democrats were asked to vote last Friday for 14 candidates although they can still vote by appearing at polling places outside Emeryville up until January 22nd. Winners will be announced in March.
UPDATE TO STORY: We received emails asking for us to include the full quote Council member Priforce supplied us with. We left part of the quote out initially to keep the story on track and to the point. Because Tattler readers have requested it, here's one better, a revised full quote from Councilman Priforce:
As a Black man, a Buddhist Haitian Afro-Latine son of the foster care system, I'm used to being judged and non-engaged with out of fear and biased assumptions. Today, an elderly White woman pulled me aside after church and told me, 'it's so good to have a Godly Black man on the city council.' That is what centers me throughout all this drama that looks more like student government than a real government led by mature, mindful adults.
But it's folk like her that remind me to pray for my colleagues and focus less on them and more on the mandate granted to me by the voters to make Emeryville a better village to work, live, and play in. I don't agree with many of the views expressed in this body, but any semblance of special interest influence that warps the destiny of our city, its residents, homeowners, and workers is something I will always fight against and address. Silence is complicity. I also suggest readers focus less on the sensationalism or the back and forth and more on the solid points being made.
Matthew 5:16 says 'Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works..." so I'm focused on my own good works and to continue to be a light that shines in darkness - like I've done all my life. I have no power over darkness, only my own light. What my colleagues say and do is up to them and I want no part in anything that doesn't serve the best interests of Emeryville."
SECOND UPDATE & CORRECTION: We erroneously reported that Councilman David Mourra was not asked to sign a collegiality agreement. We apologize for the error. At 8:31 tonight (1/10) Councilman David Mourra confirmed he in fact also signed a ‘Candidates Pledge’ (AKA collegiality agreement) given to him by his colleagues. Before we posted the story, we reached out to Council members Bauters and Medina to ask if Mr Mourra was given the Pledge to sign after we got tips from two independent sources that they did not ask Mr Mourra to sign it or even present it to him. The two Council members refused to confirm or deny.
The collegiality agreement cooked up for this election is unprecedented in Emeryville City Council history and this election with Kalimah Priforce (and David Mourra) running, was the first time there has ever been such an agreement presented to any Council candidates. No other Emeryville City Council members or Council candidates have ever been asked to sign such a document.
