Public commenter urges Councilmember Bush to recuse over alleged attorney tie to CaliMoto

A public commenter told the National City City Council on Thursday that Councilmember Bush should recuse himself from a pending city matter because the attorney he retained is related to a principal stakeholder in the company named on the agenda.

Alicia Morrison, listed by the clerk as the scheduled speaker for agenda item 5.1, cited California conflict-of-interest law while urging recusal. "A public official at any level of state or local government shall not make, participate in making, or in any way attempt to use the public official's position to influence a governmental decision in which the official knows or has reason to know the official has a financial interest," Morrison read, and she said the attorney Bush retained "is the younger sibling of one of the main stakeholders who is the chief policy officer and majority owner of the [entity] that is listed on item 5."

Morrison asked the council to require Bush to recuse from "CaliMoto versus the city and National City," citing both the political reform provisions she read and a business-and-professional-code reference in her remarks. The statement appeared during the public-comment period immediately before the council recessed into closed session to consult with legal counsel on agenda item 5.1 and related items.

The council did not take public action on the recusal request during the portion of the meeting captured in the transcript. Following the comment, staff identified three closed-session items involving litigation and "significant exposure" to litigation, including a case listed as Kallimoda LLC v. City of National City and a separate matter described as BCD LLC v. City of National City. The council proceeded into closed session; no public vote or formal recusal was recorded in the posted transcript.

The transcript contains inconsistent spellings and references for the private entity named in the comment and agenda (appearing as "kali moto," "CaliMoto" and a related case name "Kallimoda LLC"). The commenter identified a familial relationship between Councilmember Bush's retained attorney and a stakeholder; the council did not announce any clerical or legal finding about that claim on the public record included here.

The council indicated it would return after a brief recess to adjourn and to report out on any closed-session determinations at the end of the regular meeting.