Bourbongate dudes fired
Three of the fine fellows who were skimming collector bourbon at the Oregon liquor control agency have been handed their walking papers, according to the O. The agency's deputy director, Will Higlin; its chief information officer, Boba Subasic; and its distilled sprits program manager, Chris Mayton, were fired Friday, the story (now behind the Paywall of Pity) said.
Still employed at the OLCC, but on administrative leave, are the budget manager, Bill Schuette, and the information services director, Kai Nakashima. According to the O's sources, those two are not executives, and so their positions "require a process before they can be terminated."
Schuette is a former chief financial officer of the OLCC, and Mayton apparently is a former interim chief financial officer. Mayton is also a city councilman in Sandy.
They follow CEO Steve Marks and board chair Paul Rosenbaum out the door over the scheme to divert highly coveted Pappy Van Winkle and other bourbons to the private stashes of themselves and well-connected others.
Subasic plans to sue, claiming he's been wrongfully fired, and says he's got the good on others.
He wrote that “many legislators” and others in state government “at all levels outside of the OLCC were aware of this and participated in and benefitted from this practice.”
Sing, little birdy, sing!
The bourbon swindles are just the tip of the iceberg, I'm sure. That place has "scams" written all over it. You hope the criminal investigators playing "Who took the Pappy's?" will turn over some other rocks. But this being Oregon, I doubt it.
Sing, indeed.
ReplyDeletePutting on my tin foil hat to say ... If OLCC gave them a six-figure severance, then these birds wouldn't be singing. But, perhaps the OR DOJ is serious about pursuing criminal charges, in which case a severance can't buy silence.
ReplyDeleteIs this why I can never, ever, get ahold of a Springbank single malt Scotch whisky in this state?
ReplyDeleteWhy is the best selection of premium and quality Scotches in Bend?
DeleteOne of the things about this scandal was that initially all of the people seemed candid, honest and forthcoming about what was happening and what they were doing (rather than immediately entering a silo and preparing for litigation). That suggests that the practice went back to a time before any of them worked with OLCC and they seemed befuddled that there was any issue (and, yes, they should have thought it through before it came to the attention of non-insiders). It seemed that, on reflection, they realized they needed to review and (likely) change standard operating procedure prospectively. You don't normally see that and when they do speak it is: "How dare you question me at all."
ReplyDeleteThe bottle bill has to be the real slush fund for the OLCC and their buddies. Time to stop basking in Oregon's once progressive program and eliminate it. It has evolved into a nonsensical beast that does more harm than good. We have recycle bins these days.
ReplyDeleteThe state seems cleaner than years ago. You rarely see glass, metal, or plastic bottles/cans. With cig taxes up, you even see fewer butts. Since they instituted Bottle Drop, it's easier to drop recyclables and the price is even higher at $0.12. Ease + higher return means more consumers are recycling, so are can/bottle collectors. The lines for them often stretch hundreds of feet.
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