Oregon’s very own Secretary of State Shemia Fagan, resigned from her position. The resignation took effect on May 8th 2023, her reason for resigning regards a deal with a cannabis company. Fagan made a statement going over the terms of her agreement, and even acknowledging that the company owners donated to her 2020 political campaign. 

The company Fagan had signed a contract with Veriede Holdings which is a cannabis chain linked to La Mota, a medical marijuana disrupting company in Oregon. The contract she had signed with the company was more lucrative than annual salary.  When Fagan was elected in 2020 her annual salary became $77,000, which she later stated was “not enough to make ends meet.” According to her contract with La Mota she was paid $10,000 dollars per month for consulting services.  This contract also included a bonus payout of $30,000 for each license Fagan helped La Mota obtain outside Oregon and New Mexico.

In her announcement on May 8th, she said her contract was “very preliminary” and that she never actually secured a license or any bonuses from the deal.  She stated that she was paid only for 2 months before the contract was severed. “I exercised my poor judgment by contracting with a company that is owned by my political donors and is regulated by an agency under audit by my audit division.” Fagan stated. “There’s a difference between following all the rules and doing nothing wrong, and I broke your trust and that was wrong.” She said,  “Protecting our state’s democracy and ensuring faith in our elected leaders. These are the reasons I ran for this office. They are also the reasons I will be submitting my resignation today.” 

Since her statement of resignation, Governor Tina Kotek has accepted Fagans resignation from office.  Deputy secretary of state Cheryl Myers will be stepping into Fagans position until the governor has appointed an official. 

As Fagan steps down from her position as Oregon’s Secretary of State, it marks the second time in the last 10 years that one of Oregon’s top elected Democratic leaders had to step down and resign over a money scandal.  The other time was in 2015 when Governor John Kitzhaber was involved in his own financial scandal, forcing him to resign. With the changing of our Secretary of State, the Oregon local elections were held on May 16th.