Cannabis board chair who contested firing is on track to return after judge’s ruling

The chairperson of Massachusetts’ cannabis regulatory agency is on track to regain her job, a year after the state treasurer attempted to fire her.

An Appeals Court judge ruled late Wednesday that Treasurer Deborah Goldberg has not shown that she’s likely to succeed in her appeal of a court order reinstating Shannon O’Brien as chair of the Cannabis Control Commission, clearing the path for O’Brien’s return.

Goldberg appointed O’Brien to the job in September 2022, but suspended her in September 2023 and fired her in September 2024, following complaints that she had made inappropriate workplace comments and contributed to a hostile culture at the agency.

In her order Wednesday, Judge Gloria Tan denied Goldberg’s request to pause O’Brien’s return to her job while the treasurer appeals a decision from a Superior Court judge overturning the firing.

“After careful review of the papers submitted, including the judge’s comprehensive memorandum of decision and order, the defendant has not demonstrated, as she must, a likelihood of success on appeal. Accordingly, the motion for a stay is denied,” Tan wrote in the three-paragraph order.

Joe Baerlein, a spokesman for O’Brien, said Goldberg “should stop her wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars in a continued attempt to smear Shannon O’Brien’s excellent reputation.”

“The Treasurer has spent over $1 million on private lawyers and now is spending valuable resources from the state attorney general’s office in prolonging this appeal. It’s time for Treasurer Goldberg to stop her fleecing of taxpayer dollars,” he continued.

Andrew Napolitano, a spokesman for Goldberg, said, “We are reviewing our options and haven’t made a decision as to our next step.”

Goldberg said the Superior Court judge who ruled in favor of O’Brien this month “got it wrong” and argued that preventing O’Brien’s return to work was necessary “in order to avoid serious disruption to the ongoing work of the Cannabis Control Commission.”

“If an immediate stay is not granted, leadership at the agency will be in a state of turmoil. Further, there will be potential confusion as to lines of authority at the Commission while this matter is on appeal,” Assistant Attorney General John Hitt, who has represented Goldberg’s office in the matter, wrote in a filing this month.

O’Brien’s term as chair of the CCC is set to run through Aug. 31, 2027.

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