Former Secretary of State Shemia Fagan has agreed to pay $1,600 in civil fines to the Oregon Government Ethics Commission for using her position to obtain a $10,000-a-month side job and for seeking state reimbursement for roomier accommodations on work trips where she was accompanied by her kids and the family dog, records show.
Fagan signed the final order spelling out the settlement last week. The commission is set to vote on the agreement at its meeting Friday.
Fagan defended her actions but agreed to the settlement, noting the “expense of continuing to obtain legal counsel to contest these matters,” the order states.
A federal investigation into the allegations against Fagan concluded without criminal charges.
In 2023, the commission opened its investigation into whether Fagan violated ethics rules for her side job with an associated company of La Mota, which operates cannabis stores in Oregon.
Fagan had agreed to research the national cannabis regulatory landscape for the company.
Fagan, whose office at the time conducted an audit of the state’s cannabis program, subsequently resigned as the scandal engulfed her administration.
The ethics commission, its final order states, found that Fagan did not make any decisions or recommendations related to the audit of the state’s cannabis program that would have constituted an ethics violation. It noted that Fagan disclosed her side job to her staff and consulted with the ethics commission several times before ultimately recusing herself from the marijuana audit.
However, according to the ethics commission, employing a Secretary of State as a consultant could appear as an endorsement. The commission also found no evidence that Veriede, the company Fagan had agreed to work for, had “conducted a competitive process for filling the position or had a history of offering similar consulting positions to others.”
It noted, too, that Fagan, an attorney and former lawmaker, lacked significant experience in cannabis regulation.
The order said Rosa Cazares, a Veriede owner, was friends with Fagan and the “opportunity to serve as a temporary consultant and an eventual board member arose during a personal social outing” between the women.
Fagan was “actively pursuing outside employment during this period, both with Willamette Law School and by seeking positions she found on Indeed.com,” the order states.
The order states that the commission weighed those factors, and others, in concluding that Fagan used her position to gain private employment.
Fagan took issue with the commission’s inquiry, arguing that it “failed to produce evidence” of wrongdoing.
Separately, the commission also examined Fagan’s spending on two work-related road trips in 2022, one to eastern Oregon and the other to the coast and central Oregon.
The commission, the report notes, concluded that the extra costs fell outside of Fagan’s “official duties.”
Cheryl Myers, who became acting secretary of state after Fagan’s resignation, previously said the agency’s employees repeatedly warned Fagan that she was bending, and possibly breaking, state travel rules by bringing her family on state-paid work trips.
Under the settlement, the commission also agreed to send Fagan a so-called letter of education for filing inaccurate statements of economic interest in 2022 and 2023 as required under Oregon law.
