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Former Cannabis Control Commission Chair Shannon O’Brien heads toward a meeting with Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, May 3, 2024. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
A Superior Court judge this week denied Treasurer Deborah Goldberg’s bid to keep most of the roughly 3,000-page administrative record related to her contested firing of former Cannabis Control Commission chair Shannon O’Brien impounded by the court.
Goldberg suspended O’Brien as CCC chairwoman in September 2023 and fired her in September 2024 after considering two outside investigations and about 19 hours of private meetings held last summer. O’Brien has contested Goldberg’s claims of “gross misconduct” and is appealing her firing through Suffolk Superior Court.
In February, the Treasury filed a five-volume administrative record of the case with the court. The first volume was a redacted version of the 83-page explanation Goldberg wrote of her decision to fire O’Brien. The treasurer asked the judge to impound the four remaining volumes, which are believed to contain transcripts of testimony given in closed-door hearings, investigative reports, emails detailing employee complaints at the CCC, written testimony submitted in connection with the hearings, and more.
On Wednesday, the same day that the House of Representatives unanimously voted to restructure the CCC in a way that would eliminate Goldberg’s involvement, Judge Robert Gordon denied motions from Goldberg, the CCC and a handful of CCC employees named in the documents seeking to keep the records under seal.
“[T]he Court concludes that the Treasurer, the CCC, and the CCC Intervenors have not demonstrated the good cause necessary to justify either impoundment or further redaction of the Administrative Record. The countervailing interests of both O’Brien and the broader public in unrestricted access to the documentary evidence bearing on this government agency’s dismissal of its Chairperson … overwhelmingly tip the scale, and must be respected,” Gordon wrote.
The judge’s ruling does not mean the information in the remaining volumes will be available right away. Gordon declared that the terms of his order would be stayed for 20 days, and up to as many as 60 days, to give any “aggrieved party” a chance to file notice of an appeal of the ruling. Once the stay is over, Goldberg will have one week to file a new copy of the administrative record “subject only to the redaction of O’Brien’s social security number and other personnel identifying information” as defined under a rule of the court.
State Treasurer Deb Goldberg suspended Shannon O’Brien as Cannabis Control Commission chairwoman in September 2023 and fired her in September 2024. Read More
