Why Councilmember Priforce is under investigation by the FPPC (again)
Disclaimer: This complaint is still under active investigation and the following reflects my personal understanding of laws surrounding contribution disclosures. I am currently serving as a Planning Commissioner for the City of Emeryville, but this page represents only my personal opinions and in no way implies or suggests the view taken by the City of Emeryville or any other parties. All examples shown are available in the public record and can be shared by request.
All candidate campaign statements are available for viewing at https://www.ci.emeryville.ca.us/1440/Candidate-Campaign-Statements.
In December 2024, Councilmember Priforce was censured by the majority of Emeryville City Council in a December meeting last year that “The Eville Eye” called “Circus-like”:
https://evilleeye.com/news-commentary/priforce-censure-resolution-passed-amid-circus-like-council-chambers-atmosphere/
There were many allegations made in the resolution to censure Councilmember Priforce including an ongoing FPPC investigation, public disclosure of confidential information (Brown Act), abusive conduct towards members of council, public and staff, as well as campaign activities that included claiming to be a candidate for mayor (not an elected position and he appeared on no ballot that election).
“So I dare you, I dare you to censor and sanction me and then say to the people of Emeryville that you’re thinking about them. Make me a rich man!”
-Councilmember Kalimah Priforce
Mayor David Mourra (Vice Mayor at the time) summarized his decision with the following:
“As we’ve just seen and heard, member Priforce is very passionate and his words clearly resonate with many people. In this room. Unfortunately, in this instance, Member Priforce’s actions do not match his words,” Mourra read. “The ethical violations described in the resolution are factual and quite serious. The behavior described is corrosive to the function of this council and the government of this city. Member Priforce is fond of talking about how open and transparent he is, but not disclosing your source of income, who is giving money to you for political purposes, how much you have received, how your are spending it — as we are all required to do by law. That’s what we all signed up for — This is not open. It’s not transparent. It casts a shadow when he votes on items before this council. This is a basic concept to prevent political corruption that I’m sure everybody in this room can actually agree with. I implore member Priforce to match his actions to his words and provide the information being sought by the FPPC investigation so that this council can carry on the city’s business without further distractions.”.
This meeting was followed by a 10-day protest “Hunger Strike” by Priforce calling for a public ethics commission.
At the time of this censure, the following information was not yet known to the public.
This latest FPPC (Fair Political Practices Commission) complaint was filed for multiple reasons, largest of which is a series of emails sent between Tim Robinson of Buttner Properties and Kalimah Priforce.
Buttner Properties is a real estate group that owns multiple properties, but the largest concentration of their owned real estate is on Hubbard just north of 40th Street.
Buttner Properties have been some of the primary opponents of the 40th Street Project and have stated that they could be facing losses of around ten million dollars if the project goes through. Their primary concern is the closure of the north intersection of 40th/Hubbard. This closure was necessitated by the northside two-way cycle track and bus lanes, fearing that turning traffic at an unsignalized intersection could lead to dangerous conflicts with vulnerable road users.
More about the project here:
https://fp.mysocialpinpoint.com/40thstreetmultimodal
An anonymous member of our community shared this email with me, sent to most of the business owners in the impacted sites.
After this, I filed a public records request for all communications between Councilmember Priforce and local businesses regarding the 40th Street Project. This email was one such communication:
This email included a thread from a previous email regarding a meeting that took place on May 8th, 2024:
It appears that remote participation was disliked due to fear of “bicycle advocates” that weren’t Emeryville residents.
It appears that they are worried about this project might improve property values.
Or it might attract “the Homeless”
But this next paragraph contains the primary reason for the complaint:
“Mr. Priforce does need financial help to for these efforts. We have started donating funds to his candidacy for mayor”
As mentioned earlier, there is no Mayor election in Emeryville and Priforce did not appear on the ballot for this election in any form.
In the FPPC documents made available by the city, there seem to be no disclosures by CM Priforce of any money from Tim Robinson or other employees of Buttner Properties. There also are no disclosures by either candidate on his slate (Mia Esperanza Brown and Calvin Dillahunty) of receiving financial or material assistance from Councilmember Priforce.
Additionally, these funds were allegedly collected after Councilmember Priforce’s election which may not be allowed by the FPPC.
As seen on the last page of this Slate Mailer sent out by Councilmember Priforce, he was allegedly using his 2022 Committee to support two candidates for city council. A committee made to support one candidate is typically not allowed to use funds to support other candidates directly. This mailer was also not disclosed as an expense to the FPPC as of June 4, 2025, almost a year after it was sent.
The most recent semi-annual filing by Councilmember Priforce also does not include any Occupation or Employer information for donors as required (in addition to other apparent inaccuracies).
This latest filing was received by the City on September 3rd, 2024,
but only covers through April 5th, 2024. The filing period for this statement should have included until June 30th, 2024. The meeting between Councilmember Priforce and Buttner Properties occurred on May 8th 2024.
Edit 6/25/2025: Councilmember Priforce has confirmed he took money from Buttner Properties President Tim Robinson on 6 occasions totalling $2550 between April 9th and October 10th 2024. April 9th is less than a week after his last reported filing date.
He has also participated in votes on 40th Street following receiving this money, including voting No on an amended contract moving the project forward on November 19th 2024. Video here: https://www.youtube.com/live/o7OntshGbR0?si=xpXW_vOjp4JeTIxL 2:14:10
All FPPC forms are filed under penalty of perjury in the State of California.
The existing FPPC investigation was due to “Campaign Non-Filer” which is an action that falls under the responsibility of the City Clerk to report.
This violation, while potentially serious, can be common in California due to sometimes obtuse filing requirements. This was only one of the multiple reasons Priforce was censured by the rest of the council.
The allegations submitted to the FPPC for a new investigation were the following:
Potential non-disclosure of campaign contributions from a party with a potential significant financial interest in a city project.
Failure to disclose occupations and employment from campaign donors
Collecting contributions under the guise of a mayoral campaign using a 2022 campaign account.
Using personal committee contributions to support other candidates.
Failure of these two candidates to report contributions in the form of the Emery Rising Slate Mailer
The FPPC will investigate these allegations and potentially take one of the following enforcement actions:
Dismiss the allegations
Submit a warning letter to the accused party
Fine the accused party
Potentially open a criminal investigation (very rare)
As a result of this new FPPC investigation, the City Attorney sent the following letter to Councilmember Priforce, stating that he must recuse himself from all discussion and deliberation on the 40th Street Multimodal Project. This email was also made available to all those who make inquiries regarding the city’s response to the FPPC investigation.
Extra:
Here are all the different committee names that Priforce has filed forms under, all share the same Committee ID number.
