O'Brien to remain on Subcommittee for World Cup and Olympics

After tense deliberations over the past two council meetings, the Culver City Council voted Monday night to agendize regular reports from the Ad Hoc 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2028 Summer Olympics Subcommittee (Olympic Subcommittee) and the exploration of a potential Standing Subcommittee consisting of all five members for the 2028 Olympics following the conclusion of the World Cup.

In making this decision, the council declined to remove councilmember Dan O’Brien from the current Olympic Subcommittee, one of the options considered Monday night to address new circumstances surrounding the body.

Concerns of a potential conflict of interest stemming from councilmember O’Brien’s new position as the President and CEO of the Culver City Chamber of Commerce have been expressed on the dais since the appointment was finalized last month. Responding to these concerns, councilmember Yasmine-Imani McMorrin moved to agendize a discussion about how this new job could clash with his duties as councilmember, starting with his role on the Olympic Subcommittee.

This item was initially considered at the city’s last regularly scheduled council meeting, where discussions were held before it was continued to Monday night’s meeting. Mayor Freddy Puza suggested a system at the Feb. 9 meeting to be considered Monday, in which all five council members would contribute to Olympic planning in segmented sections (i.e., transportation, public safety, culture, etc.) to minimize the perception or potential for a conflict of interest.

However, the city attorney’s office determined that the setup could lead to violations of the Brown Act pertaining to public meeting transparency, disqualifying it from consideration.

An Outside Voice Weighs In

A significant change from earlier in the month was the issuance of a ruling on a complaint related to O’Brien filed with the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), which the Commission declined to act on days before Monday’s meeting.

The complaint — filed by former Culver City Finance Advisory Committee member and Planning Commissioner Nancy Barba — alleges that “being on the Culver City Ad Hoc 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2028 Summer Olympics Subcommittee gives O’Brien access to privileged information and the ability to shape decisions with direct financial value to the Chamber’s members.”

This position and the authority that comes with it are an issue because decisions related to these international events in Culver City could have a potentially profound impact on the Chamber’s businesses and, consequently, on O’Brien. The complaint argues this dynamic creates an unavoidable conflict of interest that violates California’s Political Reform Act.

Advice given to Santa Monica by the FPPC related to Santa Monica Councilmember Jesse Zwick’s employment with the Housing Action Coalition, which receives financial donations to aid in its mission of advancing housing production, was used as a basis for the complaint. While a complaint to the FPPC is focused on previous potential violations of the Political Reform Act, an advice letter from the FPPC provides guidance on future activities and is not meant to “be construed as assistance on any conduct that may have already taken place.”

In that December letter made public by the Santa Monica Daily Press, the FPPC states that the Political Reform Act does not prohibit an official from being employed by a particular entity, but employment can create an “unavoidable nexus” that may give rise to a conflict of interest in a decision or set of decisions. In the case of Zwick, the potential financial benefits to the Coalition stemming from continued housing production through membership growth and donations prompted the FPPC to advise him to recuse himself from any decision pertaining to the topic.

The complaint compares O’Brien’s situation with that of Zwick, arguing that his position as the President and CEO of the Culver City Chamber of Commerce would create financial benefits for the councilmember that are tied to the advancement of the Culver City Chamber and its member businesses.

“A councilmember employed by an advocacy organization whose mission aligned with certain city decisions had a material, disqualifying conflict because the organization’s goals could be furthered by the councilmember’s actions,” the complaint says regarding the Zwick letter, “even if the organization did not advocate within that specific city.”

His role on the subcommittee gives him decision-making power on a wide range of policies related to infrastructure, transportation, open space use, economic planning, and more for one of the largest events in the world. The complaint argues that he would directly profit from the outcomes of city policies he could influence as a councilmember, and that his role in the Subcommittee only deepened that conflict.

“Every city decision related to business operations, commercial activity, development, tourism, or economic impact may pose a conflict,” the complaint reads. “2026 FIFA World Cup and 2028 Summer Olympics-related actions pose an even stronger conflict because the Chamber’s members stand to benefit.”

As part of the appeal process, O’Brien was given the opportunity to respond to the complaint, in which he argued that the Culver City Chamber is not “primarily a legislative or policy action group, nor a lobbying group,” while the Housing Action Coalition is a group that specifically advocates for housing production, according to the set of facts Santa Monica submitted to the FPPC as part of receiving its advice letter.

He also claims that most of his decisions as a councilmember do not create a nexus, defined in the California Code of Regulations (§ 18702.3) as:

Any reasonably foreseeable financial effect on a source of income to a public official or the official's spouse is material if the decision will achieve, defeat, aid, or hinder a purpose or goal of the source and the official or the official's spouse receives or is promised the income for achieving the purpose or goal. - California Code of Regulations § 18702.3(b)

O’Brien noted that City Attorney Heather Baker submitted a request for an advice letter similar to what Santa Monica received for Zwick on Dec. 19, but had yet to receive a response from the FPPC. However, Baker said this letter only pertains to how O’Brien’s position with the Chamber may generally conflict with his role as a councilmember, with no specific focus on any particular subcommittee.

“We don’t know how specific they will get,” Baker said.

He also argued that the complaint did not address the “Public Generally” exception outlined in CCR § 18703. Most recently revised by the FPPC in 2020, this exception allows public officials to make decisions despite potential conflicts of interest if the financial impact of those decisions would also impact at least 25% of all business entities, property, or individuals in an “indistinguishable” manner from the impact on the official.

While the FPPC rejected the complaint, it did not entirely dismiss the notion of a potential conflict. In their brief ruling on Feb. 20, the FPPC noted that, while Barba made the Commission aware of “alleged possible violations” tied to O’Brien’s simultaneously held positions, there were no actionable violations for which the FPPC could impose enforcement.

“The complaint does not identify any specific governmental decisions that may have led to a possible conflict of interest under the Act,” the rejection letter dated Feb. 20 reads.

Voices from Inside Echo

The conclusions in the FPPC’s brief rejection letter were not enough to convince McMorrin that there was no issue worth addressing Monday night. While a group of speakers— including Santa Monica City Councilmember and Culver City Music Center owner Lana Negrete — came to show support for O’Brien, both McMorrin and Vice Mayor Bubba Fish said they have heard from a multitude of community members about potential conflicts.

Those questions have left the realm of the Olympic Subcommittee and have extended to all aspects of O’Brien’s role as councilmember. The Vice Mayor said he has fielded questions about how O’Brien’s new role could affect decisions made by the Ad Hoc Minimum Wage Subcommittee, the Ad Hoc Short Term Rental Policy Subcommittee, and others O'Brien participates in.

“I haven’t been able to give them those answers,” Fish said.

McMorrin said the FPPC complaint was not a factor in her concerns. Her impetus stems from the goal of ensuring transparency and instilling confidence in residents about who the council serves, and she pointed out that many of the subcommittees with financial implications that O’Brien is part of do not meet publicly.

The concept of O’Brien serving in both his council role and as the Chamber of Commerce's leader raised red flags for McMorrin, and she said it had nothing to do with her views on him or his policy positions.

“An individual who has a financial interest to represent a stakeholder should not be making policy decisions in another role that would positively impact that stakeholder,” McMorrin said. “I didn’t disparage my colleague in the last meeting, and I don’t intend to do so tonight.”

Her fellow councilmembers ranged from hesitant to entirely opposed to removing O’Brien from the subcommittee on Monday night. Councilmember Albert Vera strongly dissented to the idea, arguing that the subcommittee’s unique work with international parties made it different from others in the city that he called “plug and play,” and handling recusals on a case-by-case basis was sufficient to avoid conflict of interest issues.

Speaking from Florence, Italy, Vera said that hearing about O’Brien even during his travels to Italy — where the 2026 Winter Olympics had just concluded the day prior — was a testament to the latter’s work building relationships within that ecosystem overseas and making Culver City a prime destination in the eyes of delegates.

“[O’Brien] has gone above and beyond,” Vera said about his work on the Olympic Subcommittee.

While Fish spoke of his own concerns about O’Brien’s new work and a conflict with the Olympic Subcommittee during the February 9 meeting, he voted to maintain the current configuration Monday night. Concerns raised by community members about this potential conflict were not frivolous, he argued, but Fish expressed reservations Monday night about acting on a potential conflict of interest that has yet to result in material wrongdoing.

“I would never just do this for political purposes...It’s not about the lack of quality of work or impugning someone’s character,” Fish said of his willingness to change subcommittee assignments. “This, to me, was simply about whether or not there was a conflict of interest.”

Puza had originally proposed a five-person segmentation of Olympic work and also suggested he would support converting the subcommittee into a Standing Subcommittee comprising the full council, which would vote only on official acts at regular city council meetings. In the absence of that option, Puza did not want to make changes to the Subcommittee as currently constituted.

Like Fish, Puza pointed to the importance of due process in making this decision, arguing that the city needs to take a measured approach in analyzing this and other potential conflicts on the dais. He wanted to wait until he received the advice letter requested in December before taking any further steps.

“It’s important to proceed methodically and fairly, and investigating potential conflicts is important,” Puza said Monday night, “but acting before we have clear guidance is not.”

The vote to maintain the Olympic Subcommittee as is passed 4-0, with McMorrin abstaining.

Opportunity for Transparency

While McMorrin did not officially weigh in on the Subcommittee appointments, she did push a suggestion forward that would add an accountability layer by making Olympic Subcommittee activities more public. Included in the staff’s suggestions on how to move forward after Puza’s original suggestion was deemed infeasible was to agendize a bi-weekly or monthly report on the Subcommittee’s activities at regularly scheduled city council meetings.

The motion to implement this change passed 4-1, with Vera voting against it.

Before Puza moved to maintain the current Olympic Subcommittee, he also proposed exploring the possibility of creating a Standing Subcommittee for the 2028 Olympics, consisting of all five council members, that would meet publicly after the FIFA World Cup concluded. This item was agendized Monday night, and Fish told Culver Crescent after Monday’s meeting that he supported the idea.

Fish also put forward direction approved by the council for the city attorney’s office to put together an informational memo that outlines all of the potential topics discussed in O’Brien’s subcommittees that could create a potential conflict of interest with his Chamber position.

This conversation led to a suggestion from staff that O’Brien submit separate requests to the FPPC for advice on his subcommittee appointments, which he was openly willing to do.

To view the FPPC documents related to the topic, view the links below: