Massachusetts Treasurer Deborah Goldberg fired Cannabis Control Commission Chair Shannon O’Brien Monday, capping a year of turmoil at the agency that oversees a $7 billion business in the state.
“After careful consideration of over twenty hours of meetings, reviewing hundreds of pages of testimony and documents, and evaluating statutes, case law and policies, I have decided to remove Chair O’Brien” from the role, Goldberg said in a statement. She said O’Brien “committed gross misconduct and demonstrated she is unable to discharge the powers and duties of a CCC commissioner.”
The decision comes nearly a year after Goldberg first suspended O’Brien for allegedly making racially insensitive remarks and mistreating an employee. O’Brien, a native of Easthampton, has denied wrongdoing and objected to Goldberg’s handling of the matter in hearings behind closed doors.
In a statement, O’Brien’s attorney, Max Stern, said Goldberg’s decision “whitewashes the unequivocal evidence that would lead any reasonable and fair fact-finder to conclude that there are no grounds for removal and would immediately reinstate her to steer the rudderless CCC shipwreck.”
O’Brien’s firing follows months of intense instability at the commission, including high-level suspensions and departures, board fights and a slew of positions left unfilled. Goldberg appointed O’Brien to the chair position in 2022, “as a change agent and to clean house,” according to O’Brien’s testimony in the closed-door hearings, a copy of which was reviewed to WBUR.
O’Brien charged in her testimony that the “CCC has become an agency beset by a toxic internal work culture.” WBUR reported that former women staffers were bullied by a male employee. There has been repeated public discord on the commission’s board and, according to O’Brien’s testimony, hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on “mediators to solve ongoing internal conflicts, without success.” Many high-level positions have gone unfilled for months.
O’Brien’s lawyer on Monday said O’Brien’s downfall came as a result of indicating that the agency’s executive director at the time, Shawn Collins — formerly a deputy under Goldberg — “might have to be let go.”
The state inspector general in June urged state lawmakers to appoint an overseer for the troubled commission. Lawmakers concluded their legislative session without addressing the chaos at the agency, but promised to hold hearings this fall.
Joe Baerlein, a spokesman for O’Brien, said, “Shannon O’Brien will continue her pursuit for the truth to come out and the fight for her good name and reputation.” In a closing statement at the end of the disciplinary hearings, Stern, her attorney, said, “there will be a lawsuit,” if Goldberg decided to fire her, according to a transcript of the meeting reviewed by WBUR.
Goldberg said she took the decision “with deep regret because [O’Brien] has a long history of public service, and when appointed I anticipated she would lead the Commission capably and in an appropriate manner.”
O’Brien has been fighting to keep the job while suspended and has continued to collect her $196,551 salary. Goldberg’s office has spent more than $616,000 pursuing this matter.
Goldberg plans to name an acting chair soon, her spokesman said.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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