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.
WBUR is a nonprofit news organization. Our coverage relies on your financial support. If you value articles like the one you’re reading right now, give today.
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. [Read More @ WBUR.org]