Doubts emerge about charges against LA City Councilmember as suspension vote put off
LOS ANGELES — Members of the Los Angeles City Council expressed doubts Friday about suspending a colleague facing criminal charges as they put off a decision on the matter.
Curren Price, who represents a district in South Los Angeles, has been charged by the Los Angeles County District Attorney with embezzlement of public funds and perjury.
He would be the third council member suspended pending the outcome of criminal charges in recent years.
All three members of the Rules, Elections and Intergovernmental Relations Committee agreed to continue discussion on the motion until Aug. 25.
Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson said he was uneasy with removing Price based on the charges filed by District Attorney George Gascón since no evidence has yet been revealed.
“Our government is set up with checks and balances, judiciary, executive, legislative, they’re supposed to be checks on each other,” Harris-Dawson said. “We can’t just say, oh, because they decided to point the finger at somebody, well, that means somebody did something.”
Councilmember Paul Krekorian also cautioned against immediately suspending Price, arguing it would deprive his district of leadership and echoing Harris-Dawson’s concerns about lack of details provided by the DA’s office.
Krekorian cited the decision not to suspend Councilmember Richard Alarcon after he was charged with perjury and voter fraud in 2010. He was allowed to serve during the trial and his 2014 conviction was ultimately overturned by an appeals court.
“We made the collective decision to let the justice system play out, and, in fact, he was ultimately acquitted of all charges,” Krekorian said. “I think it’s important that we learn lessons from those experiences, and we also look at the consequences that might come from suspension.”
The delay raises the possibility that Price will not be removed. The decision to put the motion through a committee hearing was a departure from recent procedure, as council members have over the last few years immediately suspended three colleagues — Mark Ridley-Thomas, Jose Huizar and Mitch Englander — after they were indicted on federal corruption charges.
Price in a statement said that he was “pleased” by the committee’s decision to delay the vote, and that he has not had the opportunity to answer “the unwarranted charges.”
“I hope that the committee, and the full Council, will extend to me the same presumption of innocence that the law extends to me, and I look forward to proving my innocence,” he said.
The decision followed nearly two hours of public testimony almost entirely in opposition of the motion, as a large group of Price supporters packed the committee hearing chambers and an overflow room on the fourth floor of City Hall.
Prosecutors allege that Price violated conflict-of-interest laws with several votes that he cast in favor of low-income development projects built by companies that employed his wife, Del Richardson Price. The council member is also charged with perjury for failing to list his wife’s income on government disclosure forms.
He was charged with embezzlement for allegedly securing city medical benefits for Richardson Price from 2013 to 2017 while he was still legally married to another woman. Court records show that Price filed for divorce from his first wife in 2011, but the process wasn’t finalized until 2018.
Harris-Dawson, who council members earlier this week elected to the president pro tempore position that Price resigned from after the indictment was announced, has said that he and others in city hall are “scratching their heads” over the charges.
“It’s just unclear. I’ve not seen a felony charge for this type of activity. I’ve seen ethics violations for this type of activity,” Harris-Dawson told reporters Tuesday following the pro tempore vote.
