PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read announced his decision on Wednesday to remove a 2023 audit of the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission from a public database following ethics concerns under former Secretary of State Shemia Fagan.

The audit recommended that the OLCC should modernize its cannabis laws to ensure the industry is equitable in the state.

The audit, however, was released under Fagan, who published the audit while providing consulting services to La Mota, one of Oregon’s largest dispensaries.

Ethics concerns surrounding the audit and Fagan’s work with La Mota led the former secretary of state to resign.

Fagan’s successor, LaVonne Griffin-Valade later upheld the OLCC audit, stating that even though the ethics concerns shook public confidence, the validity of the audit remained.

Now, Read is pulling the audit from the public database, outlining the decision in a letter.

Before reaching this decision, Read said he asked the new audits director, Steve Bergmann, to identify any immediate threats to the division’s independence and objectivity.

Based on Bergmann’s analysis, Read decided to pull the audit.

“Protecting the integrity of the Audits Division and ensuring audits standards are rigorously adhered to is a responsibility of leadership. I do not believe the prior management of the audit functions at the Secretary of State’s office lived up to that obvious and unambiguous responsibility. I am glad to bring this process to a conclusion that demonstrates a commitment to audit standards and common sense,” said Secretary Read.

Read acknowledged, “While my decision contradicts that of former Secretary Griffin-Valade, I know that it is the proper and just determination.”

“My team and I concluded that the selection of the audit, the framework for the audit, and potential predetermination of its conclusions imperiled the audit from the outset. An independent third-party review recommended that the audit be removed and that the Secretary of State’s office should take several additional steps to protect the independence of the audit process. While previous agency leadership committed to moving forward with four of those improvements, our review determined that the majority were never implemented. The flawed selection and framework of the audit, the failure to carry out process improvements, and public records exposed by investigative reporting all evidence a process that did not honor this agency’s responsibility to Oregonians,” Read explained.

The secretary of state said that once a standardized, risk-based method for selecting audits is in place, his team will revisit the necessity of conducting the audit again.