One down and now for the rest of them!
CBS
Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission Chair Shannon O’Brien has been fired. The announcement comes one year after State Treasurer Deb Goldberg suspended her due to accusations of “racially, ethnically and culturally insensitive statements.”
O’Brien was appointed to a five-year term in 2022 and has always denied the allegations.
Goldberg said the move to fire O’Brien came after more than 20 hours of meetings, reviewing hundreds of pages of testimony, and evaluating case law and policies.
“Gross misconduct”
“The Chair committed gross misconduct and demonstrated she is unable to discharge the powers and duties of a CCC commissioner,” Goldberg said in a statement Monday. “I do so with deep regret because she has a long history of public service, and when appointed I anticipated she would lead the Commission capably and in an appropriate manner. I expect my appointee’s actions to be reflective of the important mission of the CCC and performed in a manner that incorporates the standards of professionalism required in today’s work environment.”
Read more
https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/cannabis-control-commission-chair-shannon-obrien-fired/
Also Massachusetts independent journalist posted the following on Linked In day following O’Brien’s firing
On day CCC Chair Shannon O’Brien is fired, Commission releases first video of O’Brien running secretive executive sessions – sessions that may have led agency staff to “take out” their own boss.
Within hours of a shock announcement from Massachusetts Treasurer Deborah Goldberg that she will move forward with plans, allegedly launched by a cohort of now-resigned staff members at the state’s troubled CCC, to fire Chairperson Shannon O’Brien, the Commission released a new series of videos covering secretive executive sessions held between 2022 and 2024 as to internal agency governance.
According to reports, O’Brien was targeted for removal at the CCC (under false pretense) by two fellow Commissioners (Ava Concepcion and Nurys Camargo) and a slate of former agency staffers (almost all of whom have now resigned or been suspended) as a result of O’Brien’s attempts to reform the Commission (including during the course of these newly-public executive sessions).
From what I understand, a series of hearings on Beacon Hill over the coming weeks and months will focus on changing how the CCC functions under current its current enabling statutes (including how the Commission’s chair is appointed).
O’Brien, most certainly, will also file some kind of further lawsuit against Goldberg (O’Brien initially challenged the procedural due process offered by Goldberg in the lead up to O’Brien being fired, but lost a court battle and was told by the Judge overseeing the case to return to the court after the outcome of the employment process was finalized, at which point, the court said, O’Brien would be entitled to raise a substantive due process argument as to Goldberg’s potential bias as to removing O’Brien.
Watch the first executive session with O’Brien as Chair, from September 13 of 2022, here – https://lnkd.in/eAWmmvvQ
Read the minutes from the 9/13/22 meeting here – https://lnkd.in/ezhdj2PK
Watch the video from an August 5, 2022, executive session (with then interim- Chair Sarah Kim –who works for Goldberg– presiding) – https://lnkd.in/ePCD4myn
Read the minutes from the 8/5/22 meeting here – https://lnkd.in/eZq5fVSE
I will have more on the Shannon O’Brien/Deb Goldberg situation shortly.
Read more at Grant-Smith’s Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/posts/111798839
