Massive shake-up on Connecticut’s cannabis council
The state’s cannabis program’s Social Equity Council began the year by purchasing 3,000 each of yummy round lip balm with melon flavor, black tote bags, lime with black trim alligator clips, and green pen sprayer hand sanitizer, alarming Andrea Comer.
Upon learning of those and other SEC expenditures, Comer announced on April 4 she was resigning as chair of the state agency’s finance committee.
Comer’s concerns reached Gov. Ned Lamont. He appointed her as the new chair of the Social Equity Council with millions of dollars to spend and not a lot of rules on how to spend it.
Comer was there at the beginning of the cannabis program as deputy commissioner of the Department of Consumer Protection in charge of launching it.
She also served as the first chair of the SEC. The Hartford resident understands the agency’s obligations to assist people from communities disproportionately impacted by the prohibition of marijuana to win licenses.
Comer left those two positions in 2023 to join state Treasurer Erick Russell as his chief of staff. Russell appointed Comer as his designated member of the SEC. She returned ready to resume her work, this time as the chair of the SEC’s finance committee. There have been some tensions in the SEC. It does not always run smoothly. It includes no phone number on its website.
A veteran of state government like Comer hears from people who know things and discreetly share them. In an April 4 email to Paul O. Robertson, the thenchair of the SEC and deputy commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development, Comer wrote of her continuing “concerns regarding the lack of communications around the unexpended funds and proposed expenditures by the SEC, but I was recently notified that there have already been expenditures that warrant concern.”
That dismaying information came to Comer from another state agency. The SEC spent $35,000 on “an in-state conference for a sponsorship as well as hotel stays and incidentals for SEC staff.” The conference was the Feb. 25-26 Third Annual Cannabis Expo at the Mohegan Sun. It was “three CT cannabis events rolled into one (Connecticut cannabis business convention, consumer expo, and The X Cup).” The SEC purchased a $2,800 sponsorship for the event, entitling it to a booth. Hotel rooms for four staff members for two nights cost $3,095.
Comer told Robertson in her message that she had “previously flagged my concerns regarding the lack of communication around unexpended funds and proposed expenditures by the
SEC …” She was quitting as chair of the finance committee because “[as] the representative for the State Treasurer, which is the fiduciary for the State, I cannot in good conscience serve as chair of the SCE’s finance committee when such expenditures are taking place absent that committee’s awareness.”
So nix the 3,000 11-inch lime green balloons.
Robertson replied to Comer a day later, agreeing “there desperately needs to be a process in place to oversee expenses such as this.” Robertson had approved $30,850 for those incidentals listed above plus banners, two hard cases with wheels, and a “booth in a box.” He asked her to
remain in her position “until we institute this critical process of oversight and approval, then step down afterwards.”
Comer is staying, but now as chair will lead the way forward.
It’s expensive to apply for a cannabis license to grow or sell that does not fall under the social equity guidelines. Applicants pay millions of dollars to the state, with no guarantee they will be issued a license. Those millions should be spent, as Comer described it to Robertson, on “prioritizing social equity and investing in the communities most harmed by the war on drugs …”
Last year, the SEC distributed six $1 million grants to organizations around the state “for Reentry/Reintegration programs that support formerly incarcerated individuals and their families, and for Youth Education, Recreation and Arts programs that help promote physical and mental health wellness and empower young people in the future workforce,” according to SEC Communications and Legislative Program Manager Kristina Diamond.
This year, the agency will distribute $30 million to successful applicants seeking a piece of a new and significant fund. That amount of money will attract a lot interest from organizations with varying records of success. Sorting, reviewing and approving proposals will require rules that are consistently applied. Comer understands a state agency that spends $3,780 on melon flavored lip balm (with an SEC logo) may not be ready to award $30 million in grants to effective programs that can withstand the scrutiny of others in state government and losing applicants.
Returning Comer to the leadership of an agency with a lot of money to spread around is a prudent act by Lamont. Other safeguards will need to follow before $30 million starts flying out the door in those 3,000 tote bags with the SEC logo.