Community leaders from embattled City Councilmember Curren Price’s council district on Thursday, June 22, decried a proposal to suspend the elected official while he faces criminal charges — saying he is presumed innocent and should be allowed to continue governing.
“This is our leader, this is our city councilor,” Dr. Jerry Abraham, a community physician, said during a news conference in South Los Angeles.
“Let us be represented. Let us have a voice at the table so we can continue to do the work God has intended us to do — to help, to heal … to bring everyone together.”
Earl Ofari Hutchinson, president of the Urban Policy Roundtable, insisted that Price “has not been convicted of any crime.”
“This (proposed suspension) effectively disenfranchises the voters and residents of L.A.’s poorest, most underserved Black and Latino district,” Hutchinson said. “This is wrong-headed and unconscionable and continues the council’s blatant pattern of ignoring the wishes and needs of minority voters.”
The city council’s Rules Committee is scheduled on Friday to consider a motion to suspend Price, but the councilmember is pushing back against that effort.
“I have lived my entire life in public service honorably and with no other focus than the best interests of my constituents,” Price said in a statement Wednesday.
“As such, I am eager to respond both to the misguided charges that have been filed against me, and the unfair aspersions that have been cast upon my wife. I am confident that the court, and any fair observers, will recognize that these charges are unwarranted.”
Price went on to say, “Until I have had an opportunity to address the charges in court, it is inappropriate for the Rules, Elections, and Intergovernmental Relations Committee to recommend my suspension from the City Council. While I respect that Council President Krekorian has to take any allegations against a member of the council seriously, I am presumed innocent, as indeed I am, and the best way to protect the voices and concerns of those in my District is to allow me and my dedicated staff to continue to serve the needs of District 9.”
On June 13, Price was charged with embezzlement, perjury and conflict of interest. The following day he stepped down from the position of council president pro tempore, and from his committee assignments.
Krekorian last week introduced a motion to begin the process of possibly suspending Price from council. The Rules Committee will consider that motion on Friday — and any recommendations that come from that panel would head to full council next week.
But some community leaders said it would be unfair to residents of the district to leave them without active representation.
Price, 72, has represented the Ninth District, which includes most of South Los Angeles and the western part of downtown Los Angeles, since 2013. He previously served in the state Assembly and state Senate.
After the criminal charges were announced, Price voluntarily surrendered his position as council president pro tempore, and his committee assignments, although he remains on the council.
On Tuesday, the council appointed Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson to replace him as president pro tempore. Price was not at Tuesday’s meeting, and he will not attend any of the remaining meetings this week, according to his office.
The charges allege that Price cast votes on projects involving developers with ties to his wife’s consulting firm. He’s also accused of embezzling money by getting the city to cover medical insurance premiums for his now-wife, even though Price was still married to his first wife at the time.
Price is the latest of several Los Angeles city officials to fall into legal or political turmoil. Former council members Jose Huizar and Mitch Englander both pleaded guilty to federal charges in recent years, while Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas was convicted earlier this year of federal charges for trading votes during his time on the county Board of Supervisors in exchange for benefits provided by USC to Ridley-Thomas’ son.
Former City Council President Nury Martinez resigned last year after being secretly caught on tape having a racially charged conversation with two other council members and a county labor official while discussing how to influence the city council’s redistricting process.
