A Suffolk County Superior Court decide denied an try by suspended Cannabis Control Commission Chair Shannon O’Brien to regulate the format of a listening to that would finish in her elimination from the regulatory board.
The order, issued Friday by Judge Debra Squires-Lee, cleared the best way for state Treasurer Deb Goldberg to carry a listening to on O’Brien’s destiny on the Cannabis Control Commission, which has been in limbo for the previous three months after Goldberg suspended O’Brien partially for alleged racist remarks.
In a 17-page ruling, Squires-Lee wrote that she does “not agree” with O’Brien’s claims that the suspended pot boss is entitled to a public listening to, obligatory attendance of witnesses, or a separate truth finder aside from Goldberg.
“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,” Squires-Lee wrote within the ruling.
Squires-Lee’s ruling comes greater than per week after attorneys for Goldberg and O’Brien sparred in courtroom over the contours of the listening to on O’Brien’s suspension, which had briefly been positioned on maintain by the decide.
Attorneys for O’Brien argued Goldberg was too tied up within the inner affairs of the fee and O’Brien’s elimination to supervise the listening to, which the suspended pot boss pushed to be public.
But state attorneys stated Goldberg was merely complying with state regulation governing the elimination of a commissioner from the Cannabis Control Commission and any solutions that the treasurer was biased had been “unreasonable inferences.”
Andrew Napolitano, a spokesperson for the state treasurer’s workplace, stated Goldberg is “very pleased with the court’s decision.”
“The treasurer is looking forward to having this meeting with Chair O’Brien,” Napolitano stated in a press release.
Attorneys for O’Brien at Todd and Weld stated they Squires-Lee ruling “is in error.”
“Chair O’Brien remains deeply concerned about Treasurer Goldberg’s ability to be unbiased in this matter,” they stated in a press release. “Chair O’Brien does not believe the Treasurer’s recently updated hearing framework provides Chair O’Brien a fair hearing consistent with due process. Elementary fairness calls for a finder of fact who is neutral – not one, who along with her senior staff, was immersed in the underlying events or closely associated with the complainant, and not one who acts as prosecutor, witness, judge, jury and executioner.”
Goldberg offered O’Brien on Oct. 4 with a discover of two bases for her suspension after the fee and outdoors attorneys employed separate investigators to probe two areas of concern.
The outcomes of an preliminary investigation discovered O’Brien allegedly made racially insensitive statements, together with referring to Asian individuals as “yellow.” Those conclusions had been offered to O’Brien, however the outcomes of a second investigation regarding conduct and statements towards the fee’s government director haven’t but been issued.
A listening to on O’Brien’s suspension and potential elimination from the fee can happen no less than 15 enterprise days after the outcomes of the second investigation are issued and acquired, Squires-Lee wrote in her ruling.
“The public interest in this matter is high,” Squires-Lee wrote. “However, as the (Supreme Judicial Court) warned, political theater should be avoided. The hearing should be held as promptly as possible, and a decision rendered. If necessary, O’Brien can then seek certiorari review of the treasurer’s final decision.”
In courtroom paperwork filed final week, state attorneys stated a listening to would happen over a number of days in two four-hour blocks if vital and the presiding officer can have the discretion to elongate or restrict the time.
An up to date motive for O’Brien’s suspension could be offered no less than 15 enterprise days earlier than the assembly relatively than one week and all deadlines for O’Brien to submit info to the treasurer had been revised from “one week” to 5 enterprise days, in accordance with courtroom paperwork.
“The treasurer also will provide plaintiff with 15 business-days’ notice of any documents the treasurer will rely on in whole or in part at the meeting as well as any witnesses who will make oral or written statements at the meeting,” state attorneys wrote in a courtroom submitting.
Squires-Lee stated she was not satisfied by O’Brien’s arguments that Goldberg is simply too biased to supervise the proceedings.
“That Goldberg concluded, based on the information provided to her, that suspension with pay was warranted in advance of the statutory removal hearing does not make her too biased to fulfill her statutory role,” Squires-Lee wrote.
Squires-Lee additionally pointed to language in state regulation that enables the treasurer to take away a Cannabis Control Commission commissioner if they’re responsible of malfeasance within the workplace, considerably neglect their duties, are unable to discharge their duties, commit “gross misconduct,” or are convicted of a felony.
State regulation requires the treasurer to supply a written “statement of reason” and a possibility to be heard earlier than a commissioner is faraway from their place, the decide stated in her ruling.
Squires-Lee stated state regulation governing the elimination of a commissioner “is clear on its face.”
“The treasurer has the authority to remove a commissioner she appointed. The treasurer may do so if she determines that one of the five bases exists, and, prior to removal, provides ‘a written statement of the reason for removal and an opportunity to be heard,’” Squires-Lee wrote. “Neither the precise context of the requisite notice nor the precise contours of the obligatory hearing are detailed in the statute.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”