Council Member Priforce Faces 'Political Lynch Mob' at Tuesday's Special Council Meeting

 Councilman Priforce Faces Six Counts Tuesday

Condemnation Brought By Teflon Mayor

Emeryville's most dependable progressive voice on the City Council may be purged from every city committee and formally censured for ethics violations Tuesday as an aggrieved City Council majority closes ranks.  But the Council majority’s accusations against their colleague Kalimah Priforce and the process under which they were brought, raise their own questions - questions concerning the weaponization and politicization of Emeryville’s Code of Ethics ordinance.

Emeryville City Council Member 
Kalimah Priforce
The progressive conscience of Emeryville's
City Council.

The lone progressive among his more conservative colleagues, Councilman Priforce has clashed with the majority over tenant's rights and rent control, as well as local control of housing policy since his election to the Council, earning him the enmity that could now silence his voice.  The silencing will be the topic at a Council Special Meeting on Tuesday at 6:00 pm.

An inspection of six charges against Mr Priforce brought by Mayor Courtney Welch present a scattershot of violations seemingly designed less for accountability and more with retribution in mind.  Of the six, four are shown to be demonstrably false and two a politicized use of the law based on selective enforcement.  Ms Welch is also demanding an apology from Mr Priforce.

Tuesday’s censure/sanction vote comes amid a charge delineated by the city attorney and brought by the Tattler editor against Mayor Welch for also violating the Code of Ethics, however the Council majority has disregarded the charge against the Mayor.  The two disparate outcomes - Priforce and Welch, stemming from the same violation of the same ordinance at the same time, brings the specter of cronyism and corruption on the Council majority and a powerful argument for those seeking the formation of an independent ethics commission.

Because the City Council refused to allow an ethics commission to adjudicate ethics violations as other neighboring cities do, the enforcement of the Code of Ethics in Emeryville is in the hands of the City Council itself.  Findings aren't required to be factual and they don’t carry the force of law, so punishments meted out by the Council majority may be based on nothing more than their feelings.


The Charges 

Councilman Priforce faces the following six charges:

1)  Disclosure of confidential information

2)  Violations of the Fair Political Practices Commission 

3)   Failure to impress upon two candidates for Council he supported, the need to file their FPPC forms accurately 

4)   Speaking in harsh terms publicly against members of the public and specifically a City committee member

5)   Failure to sign the Code of Ethics certification

6)   Falsely claiming to be running for mayor in the November election


The Charges Examined 

1)   During Nov. 19 2023 Council meeting, Mr. Priforce, reporting on the happenings of a just concluded closed session meeting, entered into the record that Mayor Courtney Welch grew so passionate and heated in her criticisms of Mr. Priforce, that her voice could be heard by the public outside the chamber along with on the sidewalk outside the building. See video link below (go to 15:38 - 19:16) 
In addition, under California’s Brown Act, Title 5 states: "A local agency may not take any action against a person, nor shall it be deemed a violation, for doing the following: expressing an opinion concerning the propriety or legality of actions taken by a legislative body of a local agency in closed session, including disclosure of the nature and extent of the illegal or potentially illegal action."  This charge by the City Council majority against Mr Priforce is thus false.

2)  Mr. Priforce appears to have missed one or more candidate deadlines for reporting donations and campaign spending to the state Fair Political Practices Commission.  While this is concerning, it is by no means out of the ordinary, even among Emeryville candidates to fall afoul of fairly Byzantine regulations.  At the end of the day, the FPPC handles its own enforcement. The council, by weighing in, appears to be attempting to  exaggerate a pedestrian oversight into some disqualifying scandal.  Mr Priforce has since brought all his FPPC filings up to date to April 2024.  This finding is selective enforcement and therefore is political in nature.

3)  Two candidates Mr. Priforce endorsed failed to comply with certain state Fair Political Practices Commission regulations. The Council's resolution would punish these candidates by proxy, by sanctioning Mr. Priforce for their oversights.  Punishment by proxy is wrong and so this finding is false.  

4)  On the receiving end of a campaign of disparaging character attacks on social media by an advisory committee member, Mr Priforce, at a July 2023 Bike Committee meeting, asked for better online decorum and criticized that member at a Council meeting for making little effort in their application to the committee.  Council member Priforce is being subject to censure for trivial actions that took place prior to the creation of the Code of Ethics.  It represents selective enforcement with no stated statute of limitations. Charging a person before the law exists makes this political in nature.

5)  The resolution would censure and sanction Mr. Priforce for failing to sign the city's Code of Ethics ordinance. 
Mr. Priforce, who says he was a proponent of the measure, claims his colleagues undermined the ethics code by refusing to establish an independent enforcement commission. Therefore, he says, he abstained from supporting it. 
It appears as though Mr. Priforce is being accused of voting with his conscience and against what he views as a measure that could be politicized, which it appears has come to pass. How one votes, a constitutional right, cannot be criminalized by a municipality.  A Council member’s vote cannot be turned into malfeasance.  Finding number 5 is thus false.

6)  Traditionally, Emeryville's Council has rotated the largely ceremonial office of mayor. In 2023, when custom held it was Mr. Priforce's turn at vice mayor position and then the follow up to mayor the next year, the majority skipped him and instead chose David Mourra.
 This year, while campaigning, Mr. Priforce, in endorsing two other candidates, told the public that if both of his preferred candidates were successful, that he could ascend to the mayor's office.  To accuse someone of claiming to run for mayor when local citizens don't elect the mayor and the mayor's office isn't on the ballot, is patently absurd. 
The statement Mr Priforce made about running for mayor is not unethical in any way and the charge against him is therefore false.

Precedent: Censure/Sanction Reserved For Crimes

The action Tuesday by the Council majority is only the second time in modern Emeryville history censure/sanction has been invoked.  Before the Code of Ethics was written, the Council majority voted to censure Council member Ken Bukowski for public corruption.  Mr Bukowski was alleged to have voted in the interest of a private corporation on the Council while working for and taking money from the same corporation; a crime in the state of California.  Mr Bukowski denied the charges and he was not arrested but he was ultimately censured by the City Council.  Mr Bukowski was not stripped of his city committees.  The sanction punishment came later, after further tawdry behavior was revealed and it involved him being removed from all regional committees. 

Mr Priforce on the other hand, is not charged with having committed a crime but the sanction punishment, his removal from all committees including all regional committees and removal of travel benefits, is worse than what the Council meted out to Mr Bukowski for his much more egregious criminal and ethics violation.  

The City Attorney and the City Manager expressly warned the City Council in 2023 against what they have now done: weaponize Emeryville's Code of Ethics.  An independent ethics commission would almost certainly not have brought these charges against Council member Priforce and the forces within Emeryville's citizenry that have called for a commission are now given a powerful rallying cry.  People wishing fair play, less drama and bombast from their City Council will be emboldened by Tuesday's action to join their ranks. 

Here is a petition concerning the formation of an Emeryville ethics commission:  https://www.change.org/p/establish-public-ethics-oversight-in-emeryville-california

The video that landed Mr Priforce in hot water with the Mayor of Emeryville is in the link below.  Go to 1:18:11 - 1:21:49 in the video to see the comments from Mr Priforce that so outraged the Mayor that she brought charge #1 (disclosure of confidential information) against him.  Watch the video and ask yourself: Is an ethics charge warranted?  Any normal (disinterested) person will say NO.  This video shows the level of depravity that now exists among the anti-Priforce zealots on the Emeryville City Council majority.  Council member Priforce said NOTHING that could even loosely be considered unethical yet he now faces charges for that.  Please judge for yourself:

https://www.youtube.com/live/o7OntshGbR0?si=E8PF9H9jHiy1AHxc

Advertisement from Council member Priforce encouraging people to attend Tuesday night's event.

Breaking: Mayor Welch Releases Charges Against Council Member Priforce

Breaking News

Mayor Courtney Welch has finally released the charges she has been leveling at her colleague Council member Kalimah Priforce, for breaches of Emeryville’s Code of Ethics and Conduct to be voted on at a December 3rd City Council ‘special meeting’ at 6:30 pm.  Ms Welch, part of what’s being called the ‘Gang of Four’ Council members, is hoping Mr Priforce will be censured and even sanctioned for the charges.  For his part, Council member Priforce denies the charges.

Mayor Welch violated the Code of Ethics and Conduct herself when she went on a name calling rampage on her social media accounts against the editor of the Tattler, but the Gang of Four have steadfastly refused to bring the charges up for a vote.  Name calling on social media by Council members is expressly forbidden according to the City Attorney John Kennedy as it constitutes a violation of the Code.  The Code of Ethics and Conduct was written by Mr Kennedy and certified by a vote of the Council in September. 

The Gang of Four City Council members are Courtney Welch, David Mourra, John Bauters and Sukhdeep Kaur.  They are refusing to be held to account for their own violations of the Code of Ethics as they press charges of violations of the Code against Council member Priforce.

The Tattler will report the whole spectacle as it unfolds.

The City Council Resolution against Mr Priforce can be seen HERE.

https://www.scribd.com/document/795685615/The-Political-Lynching-of-Emeryville-Councilmember-Kalimah-Priforce-Dec-3-2024

Nikki Bas Declares Victory in the County Supervisor Race Over John Bauters

Breaking News

Tonight Oakland City Council member Nikki Bas has declared victory in the race for Alameda County Board of Supervisors district 5 against Emeryville City Council member John Bauters.  The pro-labor Bas made the announcement after the Alameda County Registrar of voters released the latest tranche of votes in the hotly contested race that placed her against the anti-labor Bauters.  The County has said there are a few straggling votes that still needs to be counted.  However it is extremely unlikely Mr Bauters will make up the 415 votes to overtake Ms Bas.  Mr Bauters has not conceded the vote as of 6:40 pm tonight. 

The tally after the 5 pm release is: 

Bas 50.15 % at 71,135 votes

Bauters 49.85% at 70,721votes

Ms Bas mounted an extraordinary comeback from election night when at 1:00AM the County released the “unofficial final results” of the race showing Bauters ahead 53.4% (26,005 votes) over Bas at 46.6% (22,676 votes).  Ms Bas performed well in the poorer areas of the district while Mr Bauters, appealing to conservatives, did well in the affluent hills and Emeryville. The race spells the end of John Bauters' political career, barring some future comeback as he bet it all on this race, giving up his City Council seat as a consequence.

Ms Bas released the following statement:

One year ago, I answered the call from community-based advocates and Labor leaders to advance a vision of an equitable, prosperous and healthy future for every Alameda County family. Today, it appears that District 5 voters have selected me as their next representative to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. I will bring an unflagging commitment and engage the community to serve every resident by expanding affordable housing and effective solutions to homelessness, accessible healthcare, good jobs, and safe communities. During this consequential moment, I am thrilled and humbled to join what will be our County’s first majority-female Board. Let’s get to work!

Council Hypocrisy: Mayor Welch's Ethics Violation Ignored

Refusing Welch Charge, City Council Majority Politicizes Code of Ethics

Weaponizing the Code Against Political Enemies, Council Majority Uses New Law to Make Themselves Unaccountable

Welch Guilty But Cannot Be Touched

Meanwhile

Priforce To Be Brought Down

In September, after the City Council received a citizen complaint against the Mayor for violations of Emeryville's Code of Ethics described by the City Attorney, the Council majority chose to ignore it and instead they have taken up a complaint of their own against their colleague, Kalimah Priforce, for what the Mayor says are violations of the same Code.  This City Council politicizing of our Code of Ethics was predicted and warned against in 2023 by the City Manager, the City Attorney and ironically, Council member John Bauters who joined in at the time, cautioning the rest of the Council about “weaponizing” the Code as the Council prepared to certify it.  Council member Bauters is one of the gang of four Council members now weaponizing Emeryville's Code of Ethics.  Mayor Welch violated the Code by engaging in name calling against a citizen from her social media account, a specified prohibited act according to the City Attorney.
  

Mayor Courtney Welch
She is not constrained by the Code of Ethics
but her political enemy on the Council is.
It's an enviable amount of power she's
 been granted by her friends on the Council.

Emeryville citizens are now privy to antics at City Hall around this new law - they are going to see minority Council member Priforce censured by the Council for violating the Code of Ethics, but not the majoritarian Mayor Welch for doing the same thing; the very definition of politicizing.

The violations committed by Mayor Courtney Welch are direct and clearly identified by the City Attorney John Kennedy, author of the Code, but the charges against Council member Priforce have not yet been named by the Mayor, who brought the charges at the November 5th Council meeting to be followed through at the December 3rd Council meeting.  The City Council voted 4-1 (Priforce dissenting) to forward the Mayor's charges to censure Mr Priforce.  The charges against Mayor Welch on the other hand were brought by the editor of the Tattler and ignored by the Council majority, the favor of even an acknowledgement of receipt of the complaint, was not received. 

Council Majority Weaponizes New Law 

In September 2023 when the Council was voting to adopt the new law, then mayor John Bauters joined with the City Attorney and the City Manager, apprising his colleagues against the temptation to “weaponize” the new Code of Ethics in order to damage political opponents.  Mr Bauters told his colleagues, “The Code of Ethics is not intended to create winners and losers.”

The double standard exhibited by this behavior of the Council majority can be described as hypocritical and cynical but also it reveals a willingness to subvert and politicize the Code.  Council member Bauters is now himself complicit in the  politicized polarization of this law meant to rein in misconduct by the Council and other City officials.  Also complicit is Vice Mayor David Mourra,  Council member Sukhdeep Kaur and of course Mayor Courtney Welch.

This Council majority have succumbed to the allure of using the Code to hold a political adversary to account while at the same time refusing to be held to the same standard themselves; a clear politicization and weaponization of the new law. Without a check or a balance that could be gotten from an independent ethics commission as other cities have, Emeryville’s Code of Ethics has been revealed to be flawed law, flawed to the point that it is stoking discord, something the City Attorney specifically warned the Council against.

Mayor Welch Violates the Code

City Attorney Kennedy and City Manager Paul Buddenhagen produced an instructional video (see below) for the Council (and other City officials) to assist them in how to not violate the Code.  Mr Buddenhagen was explicit, “We don’t want this [Code of Ethics] to be weaponized.  We don’t want this to be a thing that initiates discord.”   

Mr Kennedy went on to describe exact prohibitions in the law violated by Courtney Welch against members of the public, “When they are acting in social media, they [the Council] are acting in their roll as a city official”, Mr Kennedy said in the training video.  He continued, “The Code of [Ethics and] Conduct is intended to show there is a certain threshold you have to follow here.  One is that you need to practice civility and decorum in discussion and debate.  So name calling, personal attacks, all of those things could potentially violate the Code.” (italics added)

The Code of Ethics is explicit and implicit in its description of unacceptable behavior like what the Mayor frequently exhibits.  From the Code: "Members shall refrain from abusive conduct, personal charges or verbal attacks upon the character or motives of other Members, the public and staff.  This requirement is applicable to Members at all times."

 

After the Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct was certified by the Council, Mayor Courtney Welch went on a rampage of name calling from her Twitter/X account, (cw4emeryville) calling the Editor of the Tattler a “misogynist” and a “liar” added to the earlier epithets “fuck boy” and “racist” (the latter two names were issued before the Council certified the new law and so she can’t be held accountable under the law for those two).

An independent ethics commission, like Emeryville’s neighboring cities have, would not likely have let the Mayor off the hook for so blatantly violating the Code in this case and fittingly, it was Council member Priforce that did try for a commission to be set up simultaneously with the Code of Ethics.  But the Council majority refused Mr Priforce’s request at their September 2023 meeting.  Vice Mayor David Mourra said he was not against the idea of an independent commission but he thought the Code should be certified first, “As a first step, it makes a lot of sense” he said.  However, the Council has not moved on setting up a commission and in fact, Mr Bauters subsequently said NO to the prospect.

Mayor Welch was contacted for comment on this story but she did not reply.  

The 'Code of Ethics and Conduct for Elected and Appointed City Officials' (Resolution 23-125) strangely, cannot be accessed at the City of Emeryville's website but the citizen activist group Emery Rising has provided a URL to it HERE.  

The meeting where the Mayor will bring charges against Council member Priforce for violations of the Code of Ethics and Conduct is Tuesday December 3rd at a 'Special Meeting' in the Council Chambers at 6:30 pm.  Anyone can attend.

Instructional Video for the City Council on how not to violate 

the Code of Ethics.

5:00: A City staff member asks about social media accounts

5:55: The City Attorney explains they have to act with decorum, even on their social media accounts.

They cannot call people names on their social media he says emphatically.

Mayor Welch heard this but she violated it anyway.

Bauters losing ground in County Supervisor's Race, Now Trailing Bas

 Breaking News

The latest tranche of votes were just released by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters and they show Emeryville City Councilman John Bauters now trailing Nikki Fortunato Bas 68,630 to 68,736 votes in the Alameda County Board of Supervisor's race (district 5).  According to sources in the Bas campaign, a "few more hundreds' of votes still need to be counted.  The County Registrar has not said from what regions within the district the last few votes that remain to be counted are.  Today's tranche leaves Mr Bauters 106 votes short in the 49.96% to 50.04% race.  

Breaking: City Council Majority Votes to Agendize Censure of Council Member Priforce

Breaking News:

Tonight at a special Emeryville City Council meeting, Mayor Courtney Welch moved to censure her colleague Kalimah Priforce for “numerous violations” of Emeryville’s new Code of Ethics to be voted on at a future City Council meeting.  The vote was 4-1 to agendize the item (Priforce dissenting).  

This is the first use of the Code of Ethics since it was certified by the City Council last year.

The Mayor did not describe what ethics violations she thinks Mr Priforce violated but even without any general description, her three colleagues voted to place the item on a future agenda.  None of the three Council members who voted with Ms Welch to agendize a censure, not David Mourra, John Bauters or Sukhdeep Kaur, publicly asked the Mayor what violations they were being asked to vote on, raising the specter of a possible private pre-discussion by Council members.  If such a discussion happened behind closed doors, that could constitute a Brown Act violation.  

The City Attorney, John Kennedy, gave a presentation to the City Council some months ago wherein he described that Council members or even City committee members are proscribed by the Code of Ethics; among the violations he listed is “calling people names” on social media.  Because the Mayor Courtney Welch (and Planning Commissioner Dianne Martinez) both violated this mandate, the Tattler submitted a complaint to the Council in October but they refused to hear it.  This fact plus tonight’s opaque misadventure shows how the new Code of Ethics has already been politicized by this Council majority.  The Tattler will report on how the Code of Ethics is being abused by the City Council in a future story.

Council member Priforce responded to the Council's action tonight, telling the Tattler, "None of this is a surprise to me or should be a surprise to anyone who has been following the hostility of this council towards me since before I took office with their collegiality pledge, the attacks I received on the evening I took office, and on multiple occasions they've attempted to silence or trivialize my presence on the council. They are afraid of my voice. They are afraid of the people's voice. It's not about me, it's about what I represent. So rather than laugh at their theatrics, I focused on the task at hand, support Calvin and Mia in their campaign to be our future council members and return city hall back into the hands of the people."

Cryptocurrency Titan's Last Minute Money Dump to Mayor Welch for Her Re-Election Bid

Breaking News:

Cryptocurrancy Bro
Jesse Pollak
He sees a good investment 
in Courtney Welch.

Emeryville City Council member (mayor) Courtney Welch’s re-election campaign received $5000 from right wing cryptocurrency entrepreneur Jesse Pollak in the last FPPC cycle before the election.  Ms Welch, who has long denied any connection to corporations and taken on a campaign slogan of “Working for the People”, seems to have waited until the very end to accept the money, upping her chances at election without having to explain the corporate money. Council member John Bauters has also taken money from the tech bro gazillionaire (and others) even as he denied it to various groups he sought endorsement from. 

Councilwoman Welch has flat out denied allegations of being a corporate Democrat from many progressives in the East Bay and she has publicly punched back against any making the allegation.  

Mr Pollak is part of a group of very wealthy right wing campaign donors who are funding the anti-labor candidacy of John Bauters for County Board of Supervisors and to swing the recall campaigns against the Alameda County DA and the Mayor of Oakland.

After the election, Ms Welch will presumably have a harder time denying she is a corporate Democrat (unless she goes with a Trump style double down).

Mayor Welch Says She's a Targeted Victim of a Green Party Typo

Election Nuttiness:

Fueled By 'Outrage Porn', Emeryville's Mayor Says Green Party's Typo Was Done On Purpose

Mayor Claims Victim Status Regardless of Apology

She Made the Same Error Herself in 2021, But Her Error 

Was Just "A Simple Mistake" She Says 

Emeryville’s mayor is crying foul over a typographical error made by the Green Party in their voter guide that she says was purposeful and meant to demean her and she is refusing to accept an official retraction for the error offered by the Greens.  Instead, she is repeating the slight all over social media despite the fact that she made the same mistake in her official candidate’s statement run up for her 2021 City Council run.  

The Green Party error came in their Green Voter Guide that left out the word ‘non-incumbents’ in a block of text.  So the original stated, “Council member Priforce’s slate of two, the only African Americans running for council, are Mia Esperanza Brown and Calvin Dillahunty.”  As corrected, it was changed to “Council member Priforce’s slate of two, the only African Americans non-incumbents running for council, are Mia Esperanza Brown and Calvin Dillahunty" (our italics).

Mayor Welch says she's Black and the Green Party is trying
to take that away from her.  It's so unfair!  But it's exactly like
how she tried to take away Brynnda Collins' Blackness in 2021. 
Brynnda has been Black since her birth but Courtney just ain't seein' it.

But in 2021, Council member Welch was on the other side of the same error, an error SHE made.  In her official Alameda County Candidate Statement from 2021, candidate Welch stated she is “…the first Black woman in 34 years to seek a seat on the Council.”  In fact, a Black woman, Brynnda Collins, sought a seat on the City Council in 2016.  After her statement was shown to be factually incorrect, the statement Ms Welch submitted to the County Registrar under oath as being factual, Ms Welch was forced to file voluminous legal paperwork with the County, correcting the mistake. 

Candidate Welch admitted she made a mistake with her 
false claims in 2021.  She admitted it only when Alameda County 
forced her to correct the error. 

At the time, the Tattler didn’t report on the story because we took Ms Welch at her word it was a simple mistake.  However, after she won the 2021 election, Council member Welch has been shown to be a petulant vulgarian, quick to lay accusations on and name call her constituents who disagree with her policies and her dissenting City Council colleague, Kalimah Priforce.

Not satisfied with the Green Party’s apology and retraction of the typo, Mayor Welch has continued to bring up the issue on social media, claiming without evidence, the first version of the voter guide was not a mistake.  She is not mentioning to her followers that the Green Party has corrected the error.  

What Mayor Welch is claiming is that the Green Party of Alameda County, by their typo, they're trying to take away her 'Blackness', the same thing, exactly, that candidate Welch did in 2021 to Brynnda Collins with the typo in her Candidate Statement when she tried to take away Ms Collin's 'Blackness'.

Perhaps sensing further political gain that could be made, Mayor Welch, who is Vice President of the organization Black Elected Officials of California (BEOC), released a public letter of condemnation against the Green Party of Alameda County stating the typographical error by the Greens had “deliberately misled” the people and they had therefore “undermined the democratic process".  Further, BEOC claimed, without providing evidence, “We are especially troubled by what appears to be a pattern of targeted disinformation against people of color and women.”  However, BEOC refused to provide any examples that would bolster their claim of such a pattern created by the Green Party, a political party that has anti-racism and anti-sexism among its Ten Core Values.  Finishing up their letter, BEOC demanded another public apology from the Greens.  

 However, the Greens were having none of that.  After calling the hyperbole from Mayor Welch a "political tactic", Green Party County Council member Greg Jan wrote a responce to the BEOC that explained they had already publicly apologized for the typo error and made the correction in their Voter Guide the same day they were alerted to it.  Mr Jan's letter shamed the Mayor and even connected Council member John Bauters into the Welch fabricated imbroglio, stating: “We do ask that Courtney Welch refrain from using her position as Vice-President of your body from further bullying the Green Party of Alameda County and our electorate with baseless attacks just as she and John Bauters have done with their elected positions against their council member colleagues.”

Seemingly incapable of shame, Mayor Welch has continued on with her attacks on the Green Party, inferring bad faith in their motives, prompting a response from Mr Jan who told the Tattler yesterday, “This Mayor doesn’t seem to want to accept our apology we publicly announced for the typographical error (in our Green Party Voter Guide).  It’s strange since the Mayor herself made the same error in her Candidate’s Statement last time when she ran for Council. We apologized for the typo and we’re moving on.  We think the Mayor should too.” 

Mayor Welch did not answer our requests for comment.

Outrage porn (also called outrage discourse, outrage media and outrage journalism) is any type of media or narrative designed to use outrage to provoke strong emotional reactions for the purpose of expanding audiences or increasing engagement.