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. |
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.
It seems like there's going to be more to this story. They seem way too angry with Priforce for nothing he did. I don't know but it seems like Priforce has something on them.
ReplyDeleteThis is the dumbest take. Like the Emeryville Onion. I had a good laugh though.
ReplyDeleteYou can see inaccuracies? Please point them out and if you are correct, we will retract and fix the story. If it's just that you don't like this information being public, then that's your opinion and your right to complain.
DeleteLOL this is great. I'm going to start referring to this blog as the Emery Onion. That's more on point.
DeleteCourtney Welch is going around calling Brian a fuckboy on Twitter and such. This is hate speech and has no place in our city council. Just stop.
ReplyDeleteYes, I've gotten the tweets. But don't worry, I've been called worse. I will say it is extremely impolitic for Councilwoman Welch to call her constituents names and to call out journalists who hold her to account in this way but this is the way she wants to play it. Look to future City Council meetings where I will make much hay out of the Welch derived epithets. It's going to be fuckboy this and fuckboy that in our hallowed Council chamber.
DeleteYou talk about collegiality a lot. Maybe you should try it yourself. Stop being negative all the time and disrespecting people. This blog is trash.
ReplyDeleteThe Tattler is not here to play nice. We're here to hold the power elite to account: be they the corporate elite or the government elite. What you call 'disrespecting' we call 'holding to account'. In this equation, only the government has to be courteous and 'respectful' (whatever that means). Journalists are not bound by those. If they were, they wouldn't be reporting the news.
DeleteHaving a blog is not the same as being a journalist. Get over yourself. I had a blog a long time ago, I never told people I was a journalist. This blog is your personal diary.
DeleteThanks for your opinion, Tattler reader. Here’s how the Encyclopedia Brittanica defines journalism:
DeleteJournalism: the collection, preparation and distribution of news and related commentary and feature materials through such print and electronic medias, newspapers, magazines, books, blogs, webcasts, podcasts, social networking and social media sites, and e-mail as well as through radio, motion pictures, and television. The word journalism was originally applied to the reportage of current events in printed form, specifically newspapers, but with the advent of radio, television, and the Internet in the 20th century the use of the term broadened to include all printed and electronic communication dealing with current affairs.
It’s been well documented that people on the right wing side of the political spectrum don’t like journalism (because that side benefits from obscuring the truth rather than revealing it). Politicians, too, tend to not like journalism because they don’t like to be held to account. Corporations and those that run them also don’t like journalism because when the truth is told about what they do, it tends to cut into their profits. People who don’t like journalism tend to attack it, especially if they are right wing, a politician or a CEO. Rightwing politicians who work for corporations tend to attack journalism the most.
Here at the Tattler, we have a long history of being attacked by these people. We aren’t deterred by the attacks because we realize it comes with the territory. Comments such as yours are appreciated because part of our modus operandi is support for democracy and community inclusivity. When we are attacked by the people described above, we take heart and a renewed devotion to what we do.
Get. Over. Your. Self. That other person was accurate, this is more like the Onion.
DeleteSure, whatever you say, Brian.
DeleteI still don't get why the council hates Priforce so much. Is it all YIMBY?
ReplyDeleteEmeryville would benefit by having both council members serve as delegates for the Democratic Party. I don't see why Mr Bauters and the rest of them couldn't have endorsed both. I does seem petty at least if not indicative of something bigger behind the scenes. They are not really doing the people's work here. They should stop all the infighting and tend to our business.
ReplyDeleteSpoke to Kalimah and the quote he read to me is so different than the one on here. I request changes be made immediately that uses all of his words. Not some. ALL of them. I don't get why they were left out! I support my brother and all he does and has been doing for the community. I will pray for the rest of them on this council that they find the wisdom to get over whatever it is that has them scared of this man and work with him. Don't make no sense for grown folk to act like this.
ReplyDeleteI included the full quote in an update I doing. They full quote was shortened because I wanted to keep the story moving along on track. Thanks for the comment.
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