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Massachusetts' state treasurer has paid a private law firm hundreds of thousands of dollars as part of her months-long effort to suspend and potentially remove the chair of the state's embattled Cannabis Control Commission, public records show.
According to state payroll records, the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius has billed Treasurer Deb Goldberg's office about $616,000 for representation in her proceedings against commission Chair Shannon O'Brien.
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Goldberg suspended O'Brien in September for allegedly making racially insensitive remarks, mistreating an employee and disparaging the commission's executive director while he was on paternal leave.
O'Brien denies any wrongdoing, and went to court to challenge the treasurer's ability to remove her. She's accused Goldberg of acting as "judge, jury, and executioner" in the matter.
O'Brien continues to collect her $196,551 salary while she is suspended — adding to an increasingly costly ordeal for Massachusetts taxpayers as the two former allies battle behind closed doors and the commission grapples with broader dysfunctional leadership.
Rep. Michael Soter, a Bellingham Republican who sits on the Legislature's Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy, said he believes the treasurer is wasting money trying to fire O'Brien.
"If it was so evident what she did, why the hell are you spending $700,000?" he said in an interview. Soter said Goldberg should reinstate O'Brien to her role atop the commission because, "Quite frankly, we need some adults in the room."
State Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro is urging the Legislature to appoint a receiver to oversee the commission and the $7 billion marijuana industry it regulates, calling the agency "rudderless." O'Brien's is one of several high-level suspensions at the commission in the last year, as the agency reckons with persistent allegations of workplace bullying, mismanagement and a toxic environment.
The treasurer held four closed-door hearings where O'Brien presented evidence to defend herself. It's been over a month since their final meeting. Goldberg's spokesman, Andrew Napolitano, in a statement said the treasurer "is taking the necessary time to review all of the information to make an informed decision."
The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, a conservative state government watchdog group, had harsh word for both sides of the fight.
With O'Brien "lacking the confidences of those around her, unable to lead her organization, and unwilling to step down, it doesn't seem like there's much choice for the state other than to make these legal expenditures," spokesperson Paul Diego Craney said.
At the same time, Craney criticized Goldberg for having appointed O'Brien, a former state treasurer. That decision "has already cost the taxpayers over $800,000 in wasted spending and that figure is likely to top the million dollar mark before this saga finishes," he said.
Joe Baerlein, a spokesman for O'Brien, said it's common for public employees to continue being paid while suspended and "it should be noted that Shannon O’Brien has had to pay her legal bills out of her own pocket to defend her reputation."
"Chair O’Brien was attempting to fix the management problems and dysfunction at the agency, recently highlighted by the state Inspector General, when she was suspended by the Treasurer for no justifiable reasons," he said in a statement.
In a letter to state lawmakers, Shapiro, the inspector general, said the state law that established the cannabis commission did not clearly define the authority of the chair and executive director, creating the conditions that led to the current power struggle.
The remaining commissioners earlier this month stripped the acting executive director of her oversight duties and released a draft charter aimed at better defining the agency's leadership roles.
That document is the result of two years of private mediation in executive sessions. The lengthy process has been yet another expense for taxpayers, according to Shapiro, to the tune of $160,000.
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