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On April 27, Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan responded to questions from WW by admitting she had taken contract work with an affiliate of the troubled La Mota cannabis dispensary chain. In the following days, WW reporter Sophie Peel revealed that Fagan had pressed state auditors to consult La Mota’s co-founder on the scope of an audit of the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission, had then signed a contract that paid more than her state salary, and later recused herself only after the OLCC audit was substantially finished. Read our full coverage of the scandal here.
On May 2, Fagan resigned. In the days leading up to that decision, this is what our readers had to say:
David Beffert, via Twitter: “There are bad decisions that a politician can make because there were no good options.
“And then there are obviously bad decisions that anyone should be able to avoid.
“Fagan’s contract was the latter.”
Jerry Baumchen, via email: “My money says she will not survive this. Nor should she.”
Wildman of Winbery, via wweek.com: “Sophie Peel, peeling away the layers of this rotten onion!
“Thank you so much. Brings back some of my faith in journalism.
“Who is auditing the auditors? That’s the problem. Apparently, nobody. Other than this local newspaper.
“I saw that The Oregonian has once again has picked up the pace and is showing interest…after the actual hard journalism work of WW gave them a story.”
Strong_Confection626, via Reddit: “Sophie Peel is on a roll lately! Not a good look for Fagan at all. Definitely far from the worst scandal an Oregon politician has had, but I am shocked at how quickly this has spiraled from La Mota not paying their taxes to now implicating the SOS as well. Who would have guessed that from the original article a few weeks ago?”
Blake PDX, via Twitter: “1. We should pay legislators and state officials better.
“2. They shouldn’t take undisclosed side jobs that pay more than their state jobs, especially ones that create clear potential for conflict of interest.
“3. Probably time for a new SOS.”
Mal DePortimente, via wweek.com: “This is just a standard greasy deal of the sort that has been considered a side helpin’ o’ creamy goodness for your standard pol of a certain stature. Until it comes to light at just the wrong moment. Then they wriggle and protest and hope we’ll forget.
“Thanks, Willamette Week, for shining a light here.”
vinyl272, via Reddit: “Yeah, she’s gotta resign. This is a debacle that the Democrats cannot afford to let slide, the elections have gotten much tighter, and people are fed up. Voting is already hard enough with the limited information we have about each candidate, and it’s insulting to Oregon voters if they let this slide. “Even if it’s legal—it’s shady, it’s operating in bad faith, and it’s an insult to her constituents to think they’d be fine with her working a second job that requires her to ‘recuse’ herself from key parts of her job.”
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