Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan’s having taken a consulting job with a marijuana firm as resulted in state GOP lawmakers calling for her resignation and Democrat Gov. Tina Kotek apparently asking the Justice Department to get involved.
In a statement Friday night from Fagan, she said she was “relieved that the governor has asked DOJ and the [state] Government Ethics Commission to engage in fact finding because the facts will restore trust in our audits division and in me as your secretary of state.”
Fagan, a Democrat, is a paid consultant of an affiliate of marijuana retail chain La Mota.
Fagan’s consulting job, which she says does not violate state ethics laws, came into the spotlight last week after her office released an audit, from which she recused herself, of the state’s marijuana regulators that called them to “reform” some rules for marijuana businesses.