Los Angeles City Councilman Karen Price told colleagues Wednesday that she was innocent and deserved an opportunity to respond to “misplaced charges” brought by the District Attorney’s Office, prompting her to be removed from the city council. He called on him to reject the proposal to suspend him.
Mr. Price said it would be “inappropriate” for the Council Rules, Elections and Intergovernmental Relations Committee to recommend his suspension until he had an opportunity to respond. This strips them of all duties, including the right to vote. .
“While I respect that the Chairman of the Crecorian Council must take any allegations against members of the Council seriously, in practice I am presumed innocent,” Price said in a statement. “And the best way to protect the voices and concerns of the people in my district is to ensure that I and my dedicated staff continue to meet the needs of District 9.”
Price’s statement comes more than a week after the district attorney’s office filed charges against him. 10 felonies.
Prosecutors charged Price with perjury for failing to disclose his wife’s business dealings with the developer of the project he voted for. Price also alleges that he violated conflict of interest laws by voting in favor of affordable housing projects from two of those developers from 2019 to 2021.
Prosecutors also charged Mr. Price with embezzlement of public funds for allowing his current wife to receive city medical benefits at a time when the marriage was not legally valid.
The city charter gives the city council the power to suspend any elected city employee charged with a felony, whether or not he or she declares innocence.
The rules committee will meet on Friday to consider the proposed suspension, which will ultimately require approval by the entire board. However, it is unclear whether the three-member committee will decide the issue in just one meeting.
The outage would have a major impact on both Price and the South Los Angeles area, which includes some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. If Mr. Price is suspended, Mr. Krekorian and others will have to decide whether to elect a non-voting administrator to oversee the precinct or a council member with temporary voting rights. With Price starting his third term in January and with three and a half years left in his term, the deal could last quite a while.
If the city council passes a motion to suspend him, Mayor Kenneth Mejia will likely move to strip him of his salary, which could undermine Price’s ability to pay his legal fees. Mejia in December It was revealed He said he would stop paying salaries to suspended city council members and said such measures were spelled out in the city’s charter.
“If the city council bans council members from working, it is up to the administrator to stop paying those who are not working,” Mejia said. I have written on Twitter last year.
Since 2020, the council has suspended two of its colleagues, José Huisar and Mark Ridley-Thomas, who have been indicted in federal corruption cases. Hauser later pleaded guilty, but Ridley-Thomas was found guilty by a jury on seven counts.
Mr. Krekorian did not immediately respond to a Times inquiry about Mr. Price’s remarks. But in recent days, he has promised to proceed with the suspension process more slowly than the action the council has taken against Mr. Hujzar and Mr. Ridley Thomas.
Appearing Wednesday on Tavis Smiley’s talk radio show at KBLA-AM 1580, Krekorian said the public shouldn’t assume Price would be suspended just because a motion for suspension is being considered. Stated.
“This is just to allow conversation to start,” Krekorian said. “The conversation doesn’t end here. It’s the beginning of the conversation.”
City Councilman Marquese Harris-Dawson, a member of the Rules Committee, has begun to question the gravity of the charges brought against Price, and the prosecution’s case leaves him and others “scratching their heads”. there is,” he said. Harris Dawson said earlier this week that he wanted Price 9th Ward residents to consider the suspension.
“I, [council] If this process goes further, the president will hold an official hearing in District 9,” said Harris Dawson.
Harris-Dawson declined to say earlier this week whether he believes Price’s suspension is warranted. Mr Price, meanwhile, said he wanted to respond to both the attorney’s office’s “misplaced accusations” and “wrongful accusations” against his wife, Dell Richardson-Pryce.
“I am confident that a court or impartial observer would find these accusations unjustified,” Price said.
Mr. Price had served on the rules committee before being indicted last week.Mr. Krekorian was appointed to the Council Hugo Sotomartinez, president of the Hollywood district, will fill Price’s seat.
Soto Martinez said last week that he would vote to suspend Price. On Wednesday afternoon, he did not immediately comment on Mr. Price’s statement.
