Rob AriasAt the end of the November 5th Council meeting held the night of the General Election, 2024 Mayor Courtney Welch made a surprise request during the “Future Agenda Item Requests” portion of the meeting.
After inquiring if any of her fellow councilmembers had any items to consider, she provided her own. “I would like the council to consider the censure of councilmember Kalimah Priforce for multiple violations of our code of ethics.”
One by one, four members of council, including Welch, raised their hands in support and the item was approved.
Priforce did not react to the motion as if he was expecting it and instead stared ahead motionless.
After the meeting was adjourned, Priforce could be seen abruptly leaving council chambers alone. Councilmember John Bauters could be seen with a large smirk on his face before the video cuts out.
A censure is mostly a symbolic expression of disapproval or criticism but can come with other tangible consequences.
Council passed a Code of Ethics & Conduct last year that includes possible sanctions for violations but has yet to exercise it. This pending discussion could test the effectiveness of it. Proven violations could come with a councilmember’s removal from city committees and/or loss of seniority.
11/20 Update: We confirmed that Priforce is the only councilmember to have not signed the Code of Ethics & Conduct agreement although this does not impact the implementation or ability to enforce it.
No specific Code of Ethics violations were mentioned by Welch but Priforce is the subject of an ongoing FPPC investigation from his 2022 election to council. He’s also been questioned for his recent “campaign” for Mayor and the possible misuse of funds to pay for it. Priforce has also openly criticized both Bauters and Welch on his social media channels that they may portray as violations of the code of conduct that outlines councilmembers behavior toward each other.
Welch’s personal online antics, which include calling a blogger a “F*ckboy” as well as several personal attacks against our platform, could easily be seen as violations of this code. The code specifically states that councilmembers should ‘refrain from abusive conduct toward members of the public.’
Welch’s timing is likely motivated by having four allies on council including Bauters who is locked in a tight race for County Supervisor and weeks away from stepping down regardless of the outcome. This power dynamic is unlikely to change even with Bauters’ departure as the slate that Priforce fronted to gain allies on council is headed for defeat.
Priforce could argue that he has been on the receiving end of verbal attacks by other councilmembers but since these complaints are not adjudicated independently, he is unlikely to have the allies on council to advance this.
Priforce may have alienated himself from other councilmembers in his two years on council. Worse, Priforce may have alienated himself from city staff and the EPD as he has aligned himself with town gadfly Brian Donahue who has tormented many of them over the years.
The level of harassment by Donahue has gotten so bad, that the city took unprecedented action by issuing a formal letter eviscerating him and detailing how he can and cannot interact with them.
Following the council meeting, Priforce likened his possible censuring to being “persecuted” tweeting a biblical passage from Matthew 5:10 that states “blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Priforce isn’t the only elected official in the East Bay facing possible censure with similar actions facing Alameda and San Leandro officials.
The last Emeryville city councilmember to face censure was Ken Bukowski in 2009.
Welch plans to call a special meeting in early December to hear this item according to the Emeryville City Clerk.
Welch will be required to first submit the allegations against Priforce and any relief requested to the City Attorney.
Priforce will then be afforded a 10-day notice of any proposed action to be taken as well as an opportunity to refute these allegations.
Any discipline imposed by the City Council shall be determined by a majority vote of at least a quorum of Council Members at this forthcoming meeting.
I want the people I vote for to fulfill their campaign promises. Priforce did not. It seems his time on city council has been all about him and his grievances. He doesn’t have to destroy a small city on his way up in politics. I regret voting for him.
From what I gathered in the little time I’ve been here, Priforce brought license plate reader technology to Emeryville WITH the help and support of EPD and the community. He has been placing tenant protection legislations on the agenda, which he said he would, and has been working to improve our schools, as he said he would. He is one person out of five and they have shot down mostly everything he has placed on future agendas and there are enough council meetings on YouTube that show what he is up against with. This censure is political BS from the council against Priforce because he won’t join in on their corruption.
I am new to Emeryville, I moved here in August this year. Unfortunately, I started looking into the political climate here after my move. I am a public servant and have always believed in checks and balances of power, fairness, and equality, etc. Unfortunately, the City of Emeryville lacks equality, fairness and is in much need of oversight of their elected officials, more so than larger cities that have implemented Commissions. While I realize Emeryville is not a large City, the lack of oversight that is occurring at the local government level should NOT be overlooked. Mr. Priforce, the first and only Haitian American elected on this board to serve this City, and his background and history shows he is a legitimately good person who didn’t wait until he became a politician to impact the community. If anything, he has been prevented by the other Council members from moving his agenda.
This commentor is right. There are YouTube replays of all city council meetings and I’ve watched most of them since 2022. As someone who voted for Councilmember Priforce in 2022 because he was such an engaging campaigner, I later watched the meetings and was shocked how inept he was.
Watch the meetings yourself. You will realize the depth of Councilmember Priforce’s bullying against other council members and members of the public, his incompetence, ineffectiveness and lack of professionalism.
There is a vast disparity between how he seems on social media and during campaigning, and how he is in person during meetings.
Ever done a school project or been at work with someone who likes to talk a lot and says they’ve done a lot without putting in the work to actually get things done? You’ve met a Priforce.
He aligns himself with Emeryville Tattler. If you know what the Emeryville Tattler and who Brian Donahue is, it will tell you everything you need to know about the true character of Priforce. Brian Donahue and Kalimah Priforce are allies.
Agreed
What people may not know is that Courtney Welch has said that Brian Donahue had been harassing her and her family since she was elected, left voice mails, tried to dox and stalk her and tried have her evicted from her home, tried to get info about her children, wanted her personal cell phone and more.
Welch called Brian Donahue a F word online.
Kalimah Priforce has a FPPC open case, may be violating more campaign finance laws, writes bullying posts online about almost every city council member, has denigrated multiple candidates and committee members and members of the public, circulates multiple campaign disinformation that had to be corrected, misleads the public about mayoral campaigns that aren’t on the ballot, misleads the public that Emeryville’s form of government changed when it has not, allies with Brian Donahue to post smear attacks against multiple candidates, and so on.
But Welch called Brian Donahue a F word online that one time.
Yeah okay.
Nice article but rather slanted toward the Bauters group, that includes everyone on the council except Priforce, a new voice in our city. As a 35-year resident of Eville, the Bauters strategy is a lot of closely vetted “appointees.” Council and committee people suddenly leave their positions (e.g. Council Ally Medina in 2023) and Bauters gets to appoint for the job. Until the run for “re-election” which is not truthful. X
The so called Code of Ethics was a two year struggle with the Council to get it done. It was in response to slanderous behavior by council persons. The City offered no public input, and we ended up with a situation of NO true Council oversight. The Council gets to decide if and when there is an ethics violation.
For instance, I wanted a to censor the current Mayor when she wrote F•uckBoy about Priforce and Donahue on social media. No one on the Council censored her behavior for that and if we used the code of Ethics (designed by Bauters and lackey lawyers) to control Council oversight its a big waste of time. Right? The Emeryville Code of Ethics needs a citizen input section and and overhaul.
“As a 35-year resident of Eville, the Bauters strategy is a lot of closely vetted “appointees.” Council and committee people suddenly leave their positions (e.g. Council Ally Medina in 2023) and Bauters gets to appoint for the job.”
The above statement is not accurate and is easily verified online.
Mayors do not appoint new council members. It is by Councilmember vote.
When Ally Medina resigned from the council in 2022, her seat became vacant. Multiple individuals then applied and answered questions from all council members at a council meeting.
Here are the 6 applicants answering questions at the city council meeting: https://youtu.be/ZV2gDSfTHTg
Sukhdeep Kaur, who had also just ran for the 2022 council campaign’s 2 seats but lost to David Mourra and Kalimah Priforce, applied again. She was unanimously voted by John Bauters, Courtney Welch, David Mourra, and Kalimah Priforce.
https://evilleeye.com/news-commentary/politics/sukhdeep-kaur-appointed-to-council-amid-return-to-in-person-meetings/
The city is charging almost a dozen charges of ethical misconduct that CM Priforce has allegedly violated. The most egregious being a pattern of campaign finance violations new, old and continuous. Breaking the Brown Act by leaking closed session information to attenpt to election outcomes. Inappropriate conduct against members of public, committee members, candidates and the council.
It is the wise call to remove him from committees.
This Priforce matter is an unfortunate distraction from the City’s serious work which is where all of council’s attention must go.
Plus Brian Donohue’s repetitive relentless harassing behavior needs to come to an end within council chambers and elsewhere. It has gone far enough.
Please solve these problems and get back to the work emeryville requires.
Thank you.