Willamette Week
The former secretary of state took a lucrative consulting job she probably wouldn’t have gotten but for her elected position.
The Oregon Government Ethics Commission on Friday morning unanimously voted to launch a full investigation into former Secretary of State Shemia Fagan and her relationship with the co-founders of the La Mota cannabis dispensary chain, Rosa Cazares and Aaron Mitchell.
Fagan resigned on May 2 following WW’s reporting in April that she was working for the embattled duo, who for years have failed to pay their bills. The Ethics Commission launched a preliminary investigation into Fagan’s contract after receiving a number of citizen complaints about Fagan’s conduct in late April. The Commission had 60 days to complete a preliminary review of the matter.
In the OGEC report published Friday afternoon, staff concluded that there is reason to believe that Fagan may have leveraged her elected position for personal financial gain by entering into the contract with La Mota’s affiliate company, Veriede Holding. Staff also wrote that there’s grounds to believe that the position offered by La Mota may not have been available to Fagan were it not for her elected position. (Fagan, by her own account, met Cazares and Mitchell only after she launched her 2020 campaign for secretary of state.)
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Sean Hocking
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