Pot board smokescreen
O’Brien hires lawyer as Goldberg stays silent on paid suspension
The sidelined chair of the state’s Cannabis Control Commission has secured legal representation while the treasurer still won’t divulge what’s happening.
Pot boss Shannon O’Brien was suddenly removed from her $181,722 post by state Treasurer Deb Goldberg on Sept. 14 and suspended, with pay, with no reason given. Even as that situation plays out behind closed doors, O’Brien has hired high-profile legal counsel from the Boston law firm Todd & Weld, the Herald has learned.
“I can confirm that we represent Shannon. No further comment for now,” founding partner Howard Cooper said in an email yesterday.
A spokesperson for the Treasurer did not provide an update on O’Brien’s suspension more than a week after the former gubernatorial candidate was temporarily removed from her job and ordered to hand in her laptop and commission identification.
“This remains a personnel matter and we will not be providing any further comment,” the spokesperson said.
In the chairwoman’s absence, Commissioner Ava Callender Concepcion has been serving as acting chair on an interim basis, after her fellow commissioners chose to limit her appointment to just their previously scheduled meetings.
When asked if the commission could fill the public in on the reasons for O’Brien’s departure, the acting chair lamented the situation was a distraction from state regulator’s very important work in updating the cannabis rules, before pointing to the section of state law which dictates the reasons a commissioner might be removed from their post.
A CCC commissioner, according to the law establishing the commission, can be removed from their post by the treasurer, governor or attorney general if they are “guilty of malfeasance in office; substantially neglects the duties of a commissioner; is unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office; commits gross misconduct; or is convicted of a felony.”
O’Brien’s removal comes about a year after Goldberg gave her the gig. Missteps have stained her appointment.
Last September, it was learned O’Brien had been personally involved in a pair of pot businesses seeking licenses from the commission but had not disclosed this to the public. The chair separated herself from both businesses and was cleared of any wrongdoing.
This summer, O’Brien declared the commission was in “crisis” after revealing she expected Executive Director Shawn Collins would soon depart. Other commissioners seemed shocked by the revelation and O’Brien’s characterization of their work. Collins has publicly pushed back on that assertion.
A bipartisan group of state lawmakers, last week, asked the Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy to hold a hearing in order to get to the bottom of ongoing problems at the CCC.
“Since its creation in 2017, The Cannabis Control Commission has faced what sometimes feels like an endless stream of scandals,” they wrote.