Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan took on a side job in February as a paid consultant for an affiliate of the troubled La Mota cannabis dispensary chain, her office confirmed Thursday.
The owners of La Mota, Rosa Cazares and Aaron Mitchell, and their businesses have collectively failed to pay millions of dollars in Oregon cannabis taxes and federal income taxes and they face a host of workplace complaints and unpaid bills, Willamette Week has reported. The newspaper was the first to report Fagan’s paid consulting job for the La Mota affiliate Veriede Holding LLC on Thursday.
Oregon has no lieutenant governor and the secretary of state is next in line if for any reason the governor’s office becomes vacant.
It’s unclear exactly what type of work Fagan, a former lawyer who is not an active member of the state bar, according to records, is doing for Cazares and Mitchell.
“She’s consulting on projects that are outside of Oregon,” said Ben Morris, a spokesperson for Fagan. He said she is not consulting as a lawyer.
Beyond that, Morris was unable to provide an example of what the out-of-state projects are and what professional expertise Fagan brings to them. In addition to her legal career, Fagan served in the Oregon Legislature before winning election as secretary of state.
Morris was also unable to say how Fagan lined up the private contract and whether she has previously done any other consulting work. “You’d have to ask her,” Morris said.
Fagan did not respond to a call from The Oregonian/OregonLive late Thursday afternoon.
Auditors in the Secretary of State’s office are set to release an audit of Oregon’s cannabis regulatory system Friday. Morris said Fagan recused herself from any involvement in the audit back in February.
Ron Bersin, executive director of the Oregon Government Ethics Commission, confirmed Thursday that Fagan had several conversations with staff in the ethics office regarding whether she could take a consulting job. “She called the office and talked to our employees about this but she did not ask for anything in writing,” Bersin said. Bersin said public officials in Oregon are allowed to have outside jobs, as many lawmakers and city councilors around the state typically do. At the same time, Oregon law bars public officials from using their positions for personal gain.
It’s rare for the state’s highest elected officials, who are full-time paid employees, to take on additional work for private employers, but it does happen. “You might remember in the past (former Gov. John Kitzhaber) asked us if he could continue to … have (paid) speaking engagements,” Bersin said. Former Attorney General “John Kroger asked if he could continue to teach at Lewis and Clark.”
Fagan already has another part-time job teaching a class at Willamette University, Morris said. And according to state disclosures she still receives payments from the law firm where she worked as an employment lawyer.
— Hillary Borrud
