Fried’s marijuana money conflicts too big to ignore
Maxwell: Agriculture commissioner is personally invested in licensed provider in an industry her office helps regulate.
The Orlando Sentinel recently revealed troubling details about Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried’s personal financial connections to the cannabis industry her office helps regulate.
She’s personally invested in one of the state’s few licensed marijuana providers.
Her fiancé is an investor in one of only 17 hemp extractors in Florida permitted by her department.
And she made money lobbying for the industry before she took office — money she didn’t fully disclose until the Sentinel started asking questions.
All that stinks worse than an unwashed bong.
Fried says she follows the letter of the law when it comes to disclosure and behavior. (An ethics complaint has been filed.)
But the optics already stink. Because really, it’s pretty simple: Don’t mix private profits with public service. Either make money off cannabis or regulate cannabis. Don’t do both.
Fried’s personal fortunes have improved considerably since taking office. The Democrat who wants to be Florida’s next governor reported a net worth of $271,000 six months before she was elected and a net worth of $1.45 million 18 months later.
Maybe her skyrocketing net worth had nothing to do with investments she has in industries she helps regulate. (The biggest jump comes from a $719,000 house her hemp-businessman fiancé gave her.) But citizens shouldn’t have to wonder.
We see stories like this way too often in Florida:
A guy who makes money doing business with a water management agency snags an appointment to that same water agency’s board.
Someone who profits off road design gets a seat on a local toll road board. (And later gets arrested, convicted and sent to prison.)
Almost always, the players try to split hairs, saying they abstain from taking any action from
which they might directly and personally profit.
Here’s the counter argument: No. Just no. There are 22 million people in this state — more than enough to find people with no financial connections to the industries they want to regulate or guide.
Fried said Tuesday that the primary responsibility for medical marijuana regulation rests with the Department of Health. But her office oversees the Medical Cannabis Advisory Committee and the Hemp Advisory Committee. Florida statutes also repeatedly mention the agriculture department in conjunction with everything from licensing medical marijuana treatment centers to developing contaminant standards for edibles.
This stuff isn’t complicated. Average Joes understand it. Why can’t politicians?
Sentinel reporter Jason Garcia’s deep dive into Fried’s finances revealed her investment in one of the state’s few licensed medical marijuana providers — a company now involved in a $2.1 billion acquisition deal by an even bigger marijuana company.
Her fiancé, Jake Bergmann, also co-founded a company that snagged one of Florida’s earliest marijuana licenses, sold his stock in the company for $4.7 million and used some of those proceeds to invest in a dozen new cannabis companies, at least one of which obtained a hemp permit from Fried’s agency.
Fried claimed to know “very little” about Bergmann’s businesses dealings.
First of all, that’s hard to believe. If my wife was involved in a business, I’d know.
But if that is true, then it’s irresponsible. If you’re marrying someone whose financial interests are directly tied to an industry you’re regulating, you should know where every dang dollar is so that you can declare and avoid any conflicts.
Fried said she has gone “above and beyond” all legal requirements, that she has consulted with the state’s ethics office to make sure she’s following the rules and noted Tuesday that she has pushed to allow more companies, especially smaller ones, get involved “with the goal of helping patients.”
She also said she plans on selling off her marijuana holdings if elected governor.
It would’ve been smarter to sell them before taking her current office. “Blind trusts” aren’t enough. Especially if it’s they do more to hide information from the public than avoid actual conflicts of interest.
This is just the latest story the Sentinel has told about troubling conflicts and connections in the cannabis industry.
There was also one about friends and allies of Matt Gaetz profiting off legislation he helped write when he was a legislator. (“Matt Gaetz helped set off Florida’s marijuana ‘green rush.’ Some of his friends, allies scored big”)
Also one where Gaetz buddy Jason Pirozzolo reportedly suggested a Canadian company looking to do business in Florida first cut Gaetz a campaign check. (“Orlando doctor pressed marijuana company seeking business in Florida to give $10K to Matt Gaetz campaign”)
Gaetz and Fried have worked together on marijuana policy in Florida. They’re close enough personally that Gaetz said Fried was the first person to check to on him during the Capitol riot. And while most politicians, including most Republicans, have wanted nothing to do with Gaetz’s recent spate of ugly headlines, Fried raised brows in this Politico story: “Fried: Feds should ‘come to a decision’ on Gaetz probe or move on.”
I’m not sure how Fried’s connections to one of America’s top MAGA-men will help her win a Democratic primary for governor. I don’t really care. My concern is more about public policy than politics.
And the bottom line is all these recent revelations about connections and conflicts in Florida’s burgeoning medical marijuana industry have put a dark cloud over an issue most Floridians support.
A whopping 71% of voters approved medical marijuana in a statewide referendum. They wanted people suffering from Parkinson’s, ALS, HIV and other illnesses to have access to a natural product over synthetic drugs, if recommended by a doctor.
That hasn’t changed. The rationale is still noble. It’s the politicians mixing personal profits with public policy who aren’t.