The ball is now in the treasurer’s in Goldberg’s court to fire O’Brien or let her resume her position as commission chair
Shannon O’Brien has been paid nearly $170,000 since Treasurer Deborah Goldberg suspended her with pay 10 months ago as chair of the Cannabis Control Commission.
O‘Brien was suspended in September 2023. The calculation of what she has been paid since being suspended is based on her $181,722 salary in 2023 ($15,143 a month) and her pay of $108,608 through the first six months of this year.
A spokesman for Goldberg defended the process. “Since September 2023, the treasurer has been working diligently to meet with Chair O’Brien and provide her with an opportunity to be heard,” said Andrew Napolitano. “The treasurer is taking the necessary time to review all of the information to make an informed decision.”
Napolitano said that the treasurer is carefully reviewing the content of all four meetings she has had with O’Brien as well as materials O’Brien filed with her. The meetings were all four to five hours long.
O’Brien’s spokesperson, Joe Baerlein, said collecting her salary is not unusual. “As far as being paid while suspended, that is normal human resources procedure while matters like this are being adjudicated,” said Baerlein. “Chair O’Brien has had to spend a considerable amount of her personal funds to defend her good name.”
Goldberg suspended O’Brien with pay without giving a clear reason for why she did so except to later reveal that there were “several serious allegations” against O’Brien. O’Brien launched a lawsuit in which she revealed that the treasurer had suspended her based on allegations that she created a toxic work environment at the commission and made some racially insensitive comments.
Now the ball is in Goldberg’s court and it’s up to the treasurer to fire O’Brien or let her resume her position as commission chair.
In the past, the treasurer has blamed O’Brien for holding up the process. In December, when O’Brien made the allegations against her public, Napolitano expressed frustration about delays in arranging meetings between the two officials. “It is in the best interest of the taxpayers and the CCC that this meeting proceed,” he said at the time.
In her lawsuit, O’Brien asked the treasurer for a “public, name-clearing hearing.” The judge did not grant her a public hearing but did settle on some ground rules that the treasurer proposed for a set of meetings in which O’Brien could make her case. That was back in December. O’Brien appealed the judge’s decision and lost in February.
A meeting date was set for April 10 and 11, but Goldberg’s spokesperson said that O’Brien postponed due to “unforeseen circumstances.” The meeting was bumped to May 2. The four meetings spanned close to two months, culminating in the final June 17 meeting. O’Brien was given until July 1 to submit any additional material.
With every month that passes, O’Brien collects up to $18,000 in salary and the commission continues to operate with an interim chair. Just last week Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro went in front of a legislative committee to argue that the commission should be put under receivership in order to establish a clear leadership structure. Lawmakers have shown a reluctance to entertain what has come to be called “the nuclear option.”
This article was republished from CommonWealth Beacon. You can read the original version here.
