Hearing moved for cannabis regulator
Saga to spill into another month
The opaque political saga surrounding Shannon O’Brien’s suspension as Massachusetts’ top cannabis regulator in September is poised to trudge on, extending the uncertainty at the agency charged with overseeing the state’s $5 billion industry.
State Treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg’s office said it has pushed back a scheduled Tuesday hearing at which O’Brien, a former Democratic gubernatorial nominee, was expected to challenge Goldberg’s decision to suspend her as chair of the Cannabis Control Commission only a year into O’Brien’s five-year term.
The hearing is now set for Dec. 5, according to Goldberg’s office. The Democrat treasurer “agreed to reschedule” it, a spokesperson said, but did not say why or what prompted the delay. One person familiar with the process said the two sides were negotiating the hearing format, including whether witnesses can be called.
“Since Shannon O’Brien’s status continues to be under consideration, the Treasurer has no further comment,” spokesperson Andrew Napolitano said.
Todd & Weld LLP, the law firm representing O’Brien, also declined to comment.
The move adds to the murky circumstances involving O’Brien’s paid suspension. Goldberg has said she suspended O’Brien because commission staff and one of O’Brien’s fellow commissioners made “several serious allegations” about her behavior, prompting officials to hire outside investigators to probe the complaints.
But neither she nor the commission has publicly detailed the allegations. Goldberg’s office has refused requests to release a series of related documents, including the report compiled by inves
tigators and a letter her office sent O’Brien explaining the basis for her suspension.
Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office, which is representing Goldberg in a lawsuit O’Brien filed and helps appoint the commission, denied a Globe request for any correspondence with the commission about O’Brien, citing an exemption that allows public agencies to withhold personnel records.
Governor Maura Healey’s office, which also has appointment powers on the commission, refused a Globe request for the records, citing the same exemption.
The Globe appealed the attorney general’s denial to the secretary of state’s supervisor of public records, but she declined to weigh in, citing O’Brien’s pending — and delayed — hearing.
The lack of clarity could have consequences for the Cannabis Control Commission. Currently, Commissioner Ava Callender Concepcion, an appointee of Healey when she served as attorney general, is serving as acting chair, but only through Thursday.
The commission is scheduled to meet that day and has teed up an “acting chair discussion” and vote, when it could choose to extend Concepcion’s time in the leadership role. Commissioners have for weeks left open the possibility of the leadership question reemerging, given the uncertainty about O’Brien’s status. As part of her suspension, O’Brien is barred from physically entering the commission’s offices or from doing any work on the commission’s behalf.
Questions have also swirled around the very hearing Goldberg agreed to give O’Brien. Goldberg’s office has not said whether it will be open to the public, nor have her aides answered questions about how it will be structured.
This is the first time since the commission was created that an appointing authority has sought to discipline a commissioner.