A STATE JUDGE sided with Treasurer Deborah Goldberg in her dispute with Shannon O’Brien, ruling that the suspended cannabis commission chair is not entitled to the public, name-clearing hearing she has been seeking.
Suffolk Superior Court Judge Debra Squires-Lee on Friday gave Goldberg the green light to schedule a hearing on O’Brien’s suspension and possible removal. The judge also denied O’Brien’s demands that a separate fact-finder be appointed, that the hearing must be public, and that she be given the power to compel compulsory attendance of witnesses.
The judge made the decision to lift a stay on the proceedings in part because Goldberg submitted a revised protocol for the hearing that stipulated the meeting would be private, that it would take place in four-hour blocks over several days, and that O’Brien would receive a list of specific allegations against her 15 days in advance. Information released by O’Brien indicates her suspension was prompted by allegations of racial insensitivity and workplace misconduct.
“I am persuaded that the Treasurer understands her obligations and has put together a protocol for the hearing that recognizes the importance of the decision to be made and affords O’Brien a full, fair, and meaningful opportunity to be heard consistent with the statute and her Constitutional rights,” the judge wrote in her opinion.
Squires-Lee urged Goldberg to move forward promptly. “The public interest in this matter is high,” the judge wrote in her decision. “However, as the SJC warned, political theater should be avoided. The hearing should be held as promptly as possible, and a decision rendered.”
Max Stern, O’Brien’s attorney, said his client will appeal the Squires-Lee decision because she does not believe the revised protocol will provide her with enough due process, in part because Goldberg is biased against her.
“The Court acknowledges that the Treasurer and Chair O’Brien can agree to a public hearing but the Treasurer, so far, insists on a secret proceeding,” said Stern in an email statement. “Chair O’Brien has requested a public hearing because the public deserves to hear the Treasurer’s evidence firsthand, and not evidence that is filtered to the public by the Treasurer after the Treasurer renders her decision.”
Goldberg, who hired O’Brien as chair of the Cannabis Control Commission originally, suspended her after an independent investigator returned with a report on allegations of racial insensitivity on O’Brien’s part. A second investigation was also ongoing at the CCC into O’Brien’s conduct towards the commission’s executive director, Shawn Collins.
Whereas O’Brien has had access to the report from the first investigation for weeks, the report of the second investigation has still not been made available to her. Goldberg addressed the issue in the revised protocol as well–no hearing will be held until the report from the second investigation into O’Brien’s conduct is made available to O’Brien’s legal team.
In her decision, the judge did not grant O’Brien’s request that all anonymous sources who lodged allegations against her be disclosed. However, she did suggest that O’Brien would be able to probe the sources of information obtained by the investigators upon cross-examination.
Goldberg has claimed that she cannot compel the two investigators to come to the suspension hearings but the judge wrote that failure to ensure the investigators’ appearance at the hearing “may implicate due process concerns in a future context.”
Andrew Napolitano, Goldberg’s spokesperson, said that the treasurer is pleased with the court’s decision and is looking forward to having the meeting with O’Brien.
