Stunning court documents reveal new insight into the ongoing drama at the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission.
It's been a hot topic ever since Shannon O'Brien was suddenly suspended in September as chair of the commission by Massachusetts Treasurer Deborah Goldberg.
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Few details about the reasons for the suspension were ever known until now.
O'Brien sued Goldberg, and court documents connected to the case indicate O'Brien was removed because of accusations of "gross misconduct," that she was "causing turmoil" and "creating a hostile work environment."
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The court documents also show O'Brien was accused of making "racially insensitive comments" in reference to a person of Asian heritage.
Goldberg wrote in a letter to O'Brien, "You did not deny doing so … You said, 'I should have cleaned it up. It's difficult sometimes to know how to say the right thing.'"
"There are times I also feel like I don't know what is the perfectly politically correct thing to say so I can sympathize with that," said Helen Yang, vice president of the the Massachusetts-based Asian Americans for Equal Rights. "The way she said it is does show some racial insensitivity, but it is not, to me, an outrageous case of racial discrimination or racism."
O'Brien's attorneys wrote that none of the accusations have any merit and that the comment in question lacks context — that she was just repeating the words of someone else. They argue O'Brien should have a fair hearing or else she "will go down in history as the commissioner who was fired for making racist statements. And she will probably never work again."
