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The reverberations continue from a scandal that shook the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission in 2023.
On Feb. 10, Chris Mayton, the agency’s former distilled spirits director—a job that put him at the center of the OLCC’s handling of high-end whiskeys at issue in the scandal—filed suit in Marion County Circuit Court against the state of Oregon, the OLCC and various individual state employees involved in the release of agency records concerning Mayton.
As The Oregonian first reported, the OLCC conducted an internal investigation of how the agency parceled out various high-end whiskeys (mostly bourbons, including those carrying the Pappy Van Winkle name). Over the past decade, as demand for rare bottles grew, Oregon’s fixed mark-up on liquors, which doesn’t change regardless of market demand, meant that Pappy and other boutique brands were far cheaper here than in states where liquor prices are set by the private sector.
That put the agency, which is a major source of funding for state and local governments, in the position of controlling a precious commodity. The internal investigation determined that six senior OLCC employees had obtained rare bottles for private use, which the commission determined violated agency and state ethics rules. Those six employees, who included Mayton and then-OLCC director Steve Marks, were given reprimands, although the matter did not initially become public.
After Gov. Tina Kotek took office in 2023, she fired Marks and the state released records of its internal investigation to The Oregonian. Marks' successor, Craig Prins, fired Mayton and other employees who’d been investigated in March 2023.
A subsequent Oregon Department of Justice criminal investigation concluded in May 2024 without charges against anyone involved.
DOJ determined that OLCC employees used their public positions to obtain bottles not available to average Oregonians—but there was no law or policy in place forbidding them to do so.
“Although two elements of first-degree official misconduct are plainly supported by the evidence—that OLCC employees are public servants and that they acted with the intent to obtain a benefit for themselves or others—the same cannot be said with respect to proof that the employees’ actions were factually unauthorized or that the employees knew their conduct was unauthorized," the DOJ report concluded. “There are no statutory provisions that expressly authorized or prohibited the OLCC employees' conduct within the perspective of the allegations of this case. Further, even though the employees’ behavior may have breached ethical standards, there is no explicit policy prohibiting the specific conduct.”
The lawsuit acknowledges that Mayton twice obtained rare whiskey, but notes that his doing so was “perfectly lawful, violated no agency rule or policy, and [was] consistent with OLCC’s long-standing practices.”
The legal claim Mayton’s attorney Michelle Kerin makes is that the state violated Mayton’s right to privacy by releasing records to The Oregonian, which it did under the state’s public records law. Those records included details of Mayton vomiting after drinking shots at an industry gathering in Colorado in 2019, an outcome the lawsuit attributes to a post-surgical medication interacting unexpectedly with alcohol.
“The disclosure’s only purpose was to humiliate Mayton, cruelly,” the lawsuit says.
The Oregon Department of Justice, which defends the state in lawsuits, is reviewing Mayton’s complaint. Gov. Kotek’s office declined to comment.
“As a result of defendants’ unlawful conduct, Mayton has suffered substantial economic damages,” the lawsuit concludes. “Most obviously, he lost a job at OLCC that he enjoyed and for which he would have continued to be compensated at least at his 2023 rate. Moreover, as a result of defendants’ unlawful conduct, Mayton is now effectively unemployable in his chosen field.”
Mayton is seeking $1.25 million in damages.
This story was produced by the Oregon Journalism Project, a nonprofit newsroom covering rural Oregon. OJP seeks to inform, engage, and empower readers with investigative and watchdog reporting that makes an impact. Our stories appear in partner newspapers across the state.