The executive director of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission stepped down last week, the most prominent example of the fallout from scandal that rocked the state agency after an internal investigation discovered some commission employees took liquor for personal use.

The internal investigation found that along with Steve Marks, the executive director, five top officials set aside expensive liquor for personal use or for gifts. All six admitted they held back the liquor, and the state attorney general opened a corruption investigation.

One of the officials, Chris Mayton, the director of the distilled spirits program, told investigators he collected some of the high-priced liquor for unnamed legislators. A spokesperson for Gov. Tina Kotek, who previously served as speaker of the House, said she never asked for liquor to be set aside for her use and wasn’t aware of other lawmakers who asked for the booze. Other lawmakers said they were not aware of the practice either.

Kotek asked Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum to investigate the liquor commission. That was, of course, the only course the governor could take. It also was the right choice. Any time state employees perform conduct that is unbecoming of the trust the public delivers to them, there needs to be an investigation. Plenty of questions still linger over the incidents, and hopefully the attorney general’s probe will find answers.

Yet as troubling as the scandal is, it isn’t an Iran-

Contra type of dishonor. If a fair investigation finds more wrongdoing, then those responsible should face lawful consequences. At the same time, state officials need to administer the same time of oversight — with the option of opening investigations — across the entire state. There already are some state-sponsored projects in Oregon that have long deserved closer scrutiny but have been seemingly ignored.

Stashing away high-priced booze to hand out to buddies and some state lawmakers is shameful and not very smart. Whether state officials and lawmakers know it or not, though, it is also the type of indignity they can ill afford.

Still, we wonder if proximity plays a key role in the reaction by state officials to the scandal and are curious if the governor and her fellow lawmakers will be as vigorous as they appear to be on this case as in other instances where there are clear examples of grift and insider dealings.

It’s a fair question. We’d like to know the answer.