PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — New leadership changes are now coming to the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission.
On Wednesday, the commission’s board welcomed a new interim director after an ethics investigation and calls from Gov. Kotek for the former director’s resignation.
However, Commission Chairman Paul Rosenbaum claims when it comes to this scandal, he and his colleagues did nothing wrong.
“In my opinion, we are the most open public agency in this state, bar none,” he said.
In his 15-minute opening statement to the board, Rosenbaum pushed back against transparency concerns after an internal investigation found former OLCC Executive Director Steve Marks and five other agency leaders set aside rare and expensive bourbon for themselves.
Rosenbaum insisted his fellow board members knew nothing about the investigation.
“What did we know? Nothing,” Rosenbaum said. “Six of these commissioners on this table right now did not know a thing about this issue until less than a week ago.”
Rosenbaum says he was briefed on the issue last September after a full finding of the facts. He claims he didn’t speak out because the files were confidential.
“Now, eight months later, when this blows up in Oregon, in the New York Times, the New York Post, and everything else. You want to look at me and ask me, did I do the right thing? Yes, I did. I look at you and tell you without a doubt, this was the right thing to do; confidentiality is confidentiality,” he said.
Gov. Kotek called on Marks to resign last week. On Monday, Marks announced he would step down, writing in part, “because I believe that the governor is entitled to have her own management team, I will honor that request.”
The commission followed Kotek’s recommendation Wednesday and unanimously voted to appoint former Department of Corrections Inspector General Craig Prins as the new interim director.
“I didn’t want to take this job. Unless we have competent people in here because my job and their job is not to micromanage the executive director of this agency,” Rosenbaum said.
Before he was appointed, Prins addressed commissioners by saying that the moment provides the agency with an opportunity to strengthen accountability, oversight, protocols and public trust.
“I know that we need to identify the internal and external issues that led us to this point. I understand that that’s been difficult for you, and it’s certainly been difficult for the staff. And we need to make sure an incident like this doesn’t happen again,” he said.
Prins will now take over as the temporary agency director while the commission works to find a permanent lead.
The shift in leadership comes during the ongoing criminal investigation with the civil probe on pause.