Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan on May 1 released details about the compensation she received and was promised for a consulting contract she took with a troubled cannabis company.
Under the contract, Fagan was paid $10,000 a month to help an affiliate of pot chain La Mota expand into other states.
That compensation was far more than the $77,000 annual salary, or about $6,420 per month, she receives as the Secretary of State.
Still, Fagan described her time spent moonlighting as “minimal.”
Fagan was further promised a $30,000 bonus for each license she helped the chain’s owners, Rosa Cazares and Aaron Mitchell, obtain in states outside of Oregon and New Mexico, according to a statement released by her office on Monday.
Mitchell has also donated $45,000 to Fagan’s political action committee.
Apology for a Scandal
A Democrat who ran on a platform of rebuilding trust in government, Fagan has been under fire since news broke on April 27 that she had been moonlighting as a cannabis industry consultant while her office was conducting an audit that proved favorable to that industry.
The results of the audit essentially call to loosen regulation of the cannabis industry and encourage the state to provide financial assistance to help it grow.
But the state was apparently already going easy on La Mota, which was expanding despite owing millions in federal income and state cannabis taxes and facing numerous lawsuits and workplace complaints.
Fagan apologized in a written statement on Monday morning, explaining that she had terminated the lucrative contract.
“I owe the people of Oregon an apology,” Fagan said in the emailed statement. “I exercised poor judgment by contracting with a company that is owned by my significant political donors and is regulated by an agency that was under audit by my Audits Division. I am sorry for harming the trust that I’ve worked so hard to build with you over the last few years, and I will spend the next two years working hard to rebuild it.”
Hours after the written statement, Fagan held a 30-minute news conference during which she said she “faithfully followed Oregon’s ethics rules and laws,” though she admits showing poor judgment in the process.
“I am not here today to defend my rule following,” Fagan said during the Zoom session. “I’m here today to own that there’s a difference between following all the rules and doing nothing wrong.”
She claimed that financial challenges following a divorce led her to seek supplemental income by teaching a class at Willamette University Law School and working as an independent consultant with Veriede Holding, an affiliate of La Mota.
Though she is an attorney, Fagan is not currently practicing, and has no experience in the cannabis industry.
As secretary of state, Fagan is responsible for ensuring the state’s election integrity as well as auditing state agencies.
