Gov. Tina Kotek talks to the Oregon Capital Chronicle in the ceremonial office of the state library in Salem on Wednesday, May 17, 2023. 

SALEM — The ousted head of the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission has put the state on notice of his plans to sue, claiming Gov. Tina Kotek fired him at the bidding of a political donor who operated a troubled chain of cannabis stores.

Steve Marks, the previous longtime executive director of OLCC, alleged he was “summarily forced out” by Kotek who bowed to pressure from Rosa Cazares, according to a tort claim notice sent to the Oregon Department of Administrative Services. Cazares and her partner, Aaron Mitchell, operated La Mota, a cannabis chain.

Cazares donated to Kotek and to then-Secretary of State Shemia Fagan, buying what Marks’ alleged was “leverage” to have him removed. Fagan also briefly worked as a $10,000-a-month consultant for a La Mota affiliate. Fagan resigned as secretary of state earlier this year over the revelations.

“In short, because Marks supported and carried out regulations that Cazares saw as onerous, she bought his ouster through financial graft,” Marks’ lawyer, William Gary, wrote in the notice last week.

Marks’ letter, first reported by Willamette Week, does not spell out specifically how he thinks Cazares is linked to his termination other than through campaign donations and it sheds no new light on Kotek’s decision to remove him.

Kotek has previously said her decision had nothing to do with Cazares or Mitchell.

According to Marks’ letter, the OLCC five years ago cited one of Cazares’ and Mitchell’s cannabis companies, Black Market Distribution LLC, for possibly diverting 148 pounds of marijuana to the illegal market.

The couple fought enforcement efforts for two years, then “began making massive contributions to the election campaigns of Oregon’s top Democratic Party leaders,” the letter alleges.

In the letter, Gary wrote that Marks was not given an explanation for Kotek’s decision to replace him.

“Governor Kotek did not provide — and she still has not provided — any reason for having pushed Marks out of his position, and Marks was provided no other notice or opportunity to contest the reasons for that action,” Gary wrote.

Marks had led the agency that regulates the sale of alcohol and recreational marijuana in Oregon since 2013, making an annual salary of about $223,000.

In a May 19 meeting with the Oregonian/OregonLive editorial board, Kotek said she fired Marks because she wanted new leadership at the agency. She said Cazares and Mitchell spoke with her when she was House speaker about their concerns over state regulation of the recreational marijuana industry, though she said they did not raise specific concerns about Marks.

“They certainly had no bearing on the decision I made,” she said then.

Kotek, who took office in January, said Marks was among other agency heads she replaced, as is customary for a new administration. She said nothing in particular led to her decision, though she said she was bothered by the controversial deal for a new state liquor warehouse in Canby, which will cost the state millions more than original projections.

Last year, under Marks, the OLCC sought another $84 million in bonding authority for the project, saying its original estimates were outdated, the supply of land had tightened and inflation had driven up labor and other costs.

The OLCC entered into a $40.7 million deal for a 33-acre parcel in Clackamas County for the project, far exceeding the appraisal paid for by the state, which put the price around $22 million.

“The freshest thing in my mind was the issue around the new warehouse because when I was on the campaign trail I remember having quite a few expletives about the deal on that warehouse and I was like, come on, you’ve been at this for eight years and we got a bad deal on that warehouse?” she said, referring to Marks.

“He was on a list that was like I think we need a new direction here,” she told the editorial board.

The governor said she made the call to get rid of Marks before she learned of his role in the OLCC’s diversion of high-end bourbon to a select few.

Last year, an OLCC internal investigation implicated six managers, including Marks, in the practice of setting aside bottles of highly sought-after bourbon, including Pappy Van Winkle, an especially hard-to-find brand out of Kentucky. They said they kept the bottles for themselves or to give as gifts. One manager said he filled request from lawmakers and others for liquor.

All six of the managers received written reprimands and ultimately left the agency, either through termination or resignation.

The matter is now the subject of an Oregon Department of Justice criminal investigation, as well as a state ethics investigation.