A transfer for the Hashish Management Fee to shore up practically all the votes it took through the two years that Chairwoman Shannon O’Brien was deposed failed Wednesday.
O’Brien beforehand raised questions concerning the course of by which different commissioners had been named performing chair of the CCC after she was unlawfully suspended after which fired by Treasurer Deborah Goldberg in September 2023. When O’Brien was first faraway from the CCC, Commissioner Kimberly Roy chaired the following assembly and stated she had been “designated as chair.” At subsequent conferences, commissioners voted to make others the performing chair. O’Brien contended that solely the chair can designate an performing chair, and that her designation of Roy as performing chair the day earlier than her suspension was ignored.
The CCC on Wednesday started its assembly with a dialogue of the steps essential to reaffirm votes taken throughout O’Brien’s two-year exile, a step she stated would protect the fee ought to anybody search to problem its actions in courtroom as a result of they had been taken with out “a properly delegated chair.”
“Judge Gordon rendered whatever had happened to me in terms of suspension and firing was illegal. So all of the sort of subsequent appointments, votes, designations, whatever are moot from the beginning. So what I’m trying to do right now is to protect the commission,” O’Brien stated.
O’Brien stated she can be searching for a vote to reaffirm all of the votes taken by the CCC throughout her absence except seven votes — six wherein commissioners delegated an performing chair and one wherein commissioners stripped the performing government director of sure powers. O’Brien and a CCC legal professional stated these votes violated state regulation as a result of they exercised powers CCC commissioners wouldn’t have.
She stated she wished the CCC to “confirm the legal validity of all of the votes” minus the handful she has different points with, and stated these different votes can be reviewed and addressed by the top of the 12 months.
“I believe this, A) protects the licensees from any sort of question about the validity of any actions that we took and B) it protects the commission from any future potential lawsuits,” O’Brien stated.
When the movement was dropped at a vote after greater than an hour of consideration, Commissioner Bruce Stebbins voted towards it whereas O’Brien and Commissioner Kimberly Roy had been in favor.
As a result of solely three of the CCC’s 5 commissioners are lively, all votes of the physique should be unanimous to ensure that them to hold.
