Councilman Curren D. Price Jr. is getting desperate and appears to be buying his seat this go round. He has also found an ally in his former challenger, Ana Cubas. Devastated by the LA Times endorsing his opponent, Jorge Nuno, Price released an endorsement email from Ana Cubas. Citing his “investment” in immigration services of $1 million dollars of discretionary funds, Cubas knew about the councilman’s “intent’ before his colleagues and the public. What wasn’t reported was the Black Alliance for Just Immigration also received $25,000.
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2 Urban Girls initiated a public records request to the councilman’s office regarding the “offering”. They replied with a motion, dated February 24th, the day after Cubas’ email endorsement.
Council districts discretionary fund expenditures don’t have to be authorized by the full council, only certain funds do. For clarity on which funds were being used and whether council needed to approve Curren’s million dollar donation, on top of the $10 million earmarked for legal services by the city, 2 Urban Girls reached out to the city clerk’s office, who provided this response:
Expenses out of Council District 9’s Public Benefits Trust Fund only requires the Councilmembers approval and does not require approval by the full City Council.Expenses out of the Council District 9’s Real Property Trust Fund requires full approval of the City CouncilExpenses out of General City Purposes (GCP) only requires the approval of the Councilmember except for allocations to for-profit organizations that exceed $10,000. These allocations to for-profit organizations require the approval of the full City Council.
