Photo | Courtesy of Shannon O'Brien
Shannon O'Brien
10 hours ago
Judge temporarily blocks O'Brien's return to CCC following reinstatement
The Cannabis Control Commission is headquartered in Worcester's Union Station.
By Colin A. Young I State House News Service
An Appeals Court judge has temporarily blocked Shannon O'Brien's return as chairwoman of the Cannabis Control Commission by at least a week while she review's Treasurer Deborah Goldberg's appeal of O'Brien's reinstatement.
A spokesman for O'Brien said she reached out to CCC Executive Director Travis Ahearn on Wednesday and planned to return to her job at the CCC on Friday, then to chair the CCC's planned Sept. 11 meeting.
But late Wednesday, Judge Gloria Tan ordered that O'Brien's return be "temporarily stayed pending review and consideration of the defendant Treasurer and Receiver of the Commonwealth's Rule 6 motion for a stay pending appeal of the order, and further order of this court or a single justice thereof."
The O'Brien spokesman said the meeting between the executive director and O'Brien is now postponed, "with the Treasurer’s reckless actions jeopardizing the mission and progress of the CCC."
"Chair O'Brien looks forward to collaborating with her fellow Commissioners and continuing the progress made by Mr. Ahearn's leadership over the last several months," spokesman Joe Baerlein said.
The treasurer had moved Wednesday for a stay pending her appeal of the Superior Court decision, which on Tuesday concluded that Goldberg acted unlawfully when she fired O'Brien as CCC chairwoman last September. Tan ordered that O'Brien's side respond to Goldberg's appeal by Sept. 10.
Goldberg said Tuesday that Judge Robert Gordon "got it wrong." In her filing Wednesday, she argued that preventing O'Brien's return to work is needed "in order to avoid serious disruption to the ongoing work of the Cannabis Control Commission."
In his ruling Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Robert Gordon acknowledged "that restoring O'Brien as Chair may cause some short-term disruption to the operations of the CCC" but determined that the "transitional harm to the CCC, however, pales in comparison to the more substantial harm to O'Brien and the public that would result from further delay."
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