Grant Smith Ellis – Linked In
Judge Robert B. Gordon (of the Suffolk Superior Court) handed down a major ruling in the ongoing case involving Shannon O’Brien and Deb Goldberg that will see the entire administrative record in the ongoing high-profile legal feud made public (over the objections of Goldberg, the state’s Cannabis Control Commission (“CCC”) and certain high-ranking members of CCC staff.
“Secrecy is profoundly inimical,” read one part of the ruling. The Judge went on to say, as to arguments from the CCC and Goldberg as to hiding the document in question, that, “The court declines to take such an extraordinary leap over common sense, untethered as it would be to our laws and historical practices.”
The ruling is stayed for 20 days to allow either side to appeal the stunning decision, which means the document in question is not yet on the docket for public inspection in full (although Judge Gordon’s ruling sheds light on the soon-to-be-public information related to an allegedly pretextual plot to “take out” O’Brien for attempting to reform the beleaguered regulatory juggernaut in 2022 and 2023.
Read Judge Gordon’s full 20-page decision here –https://lnkd.in/e-N4DCKm
GSE BREAKING NEWS Shannon O'Brien Deb Goldberg Case - O'Brien wins! Entire administrative record to be made public!Also, in a stunning part of the ruling, O’Brien was entirely vindicated as to her public discussion with her fellow Commissioners as to the family leave of former CCC Executive Director Shawn Collins AND O’Brien’s comments in a prior court filing as to the mutually-agreed departure of former CCC General Counsel Christine Bailey.
In another section of the ruling, CCC Communications Chief Maryalice Curley also lost her attempt to keep her name from the public related to participating in the “investigation” that led to O’Brien’s ouster.
The ruling is related to a series of requests from high-ranking CCC officials (and former Commissioner Nurys Camargo) to keep secret parts of the administrative record related to Goldberg’s decision to force O’Brien from office during a closed-door employment hearing tribunal in 2023 into 2024.
O’Brien, in turn, filed suit against Goldberg seeking a name-clearing hearing and a formal review of Goldberg’s employment tribunal (which O’Brien alleges was bias and conducted in violation of procedural and substantive due process rights under the state and federal constitutions).
O’Brien alleges that Camargo and a number of high-ranking former CCC staff colluded to smear O’Brien (and pressure Goldberg to “take O’Brien out) because O’Brien stumbled onto serious incidents of abuse, corruption, nepotism and misconduct within the CCC.
Today’s breaking story first ran here – https://lnkd.in/eseiKanB
