By LAUREN DAKE/Oregon Public Broadcasting
Federal criminal investigators have closed their case against former Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan.
Fagan, a rising Democratic political star, resigned in 2023 after revelations she had taken on private consulting work for a cannabis company as her office prepared an audit of state cannabis regulations that was seen as favorable to cannabis companies.
The Oregon U.S. Attorney’s office seemingly cast a wide net at the outset of the investigation; the office sent a request for a wide array of state documents to the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office, the Oregon Department of Revenue, the Oregon Government Ethics Commission, the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission and the Department of Administrative Services dating back to 2018.
Fagan met Aaron Mitchell and Rosa Cazares in 2020 while running for secretary of state. She told reporters she soon became friends with the couple, who were rising stars/increasingly prominent cannabis entrepreneurs.
Fagan said she was hoping to supplement her $77,000 annual salary as secretary; Cazares offered a consulting contract worth at least $10,000 a month. For that sum, Fagan said she did basic research into various states’ cannabis laws — excluding Oregon — in order to help Cazares and Mitchell expand their business. Fagan’s contract was first reported by Willamette Week.
The current Secretary of State, Tobias Read, took down the audit of the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission that was at the heart of the scandal under Fagan.
The Oregon Ethics Commission is also investigating Fagan. They paused their investigation while the criminal proceedings were underway. In December, they were alerted that the criminal investigation was over, according to Susan Myers, the executive director of the ethics commission.
Now, the ethics commission has reactivated its three pending cases against Fagan. They will look into whether she engaged in prohibited use of office and take a deeper look into Fagan’s reimbursement and travel expenses, and dig into whether she accurately represented her income on statements of economic interest forms.
- This story originally appeared April 21, 2025 on Oregon Public Broadcasting.