Shemia Fagan's side-gig deal looked bad. She resigned.

What a refreshing outcome.

Someone resigned an office because they endangered public trust in the office.  

Shemia Fagan erred. She had a poorly-disclosed relationship with a private business that had dealings her office oversaw. It looked like a conflict of interest. It looked like she used her office for personal gain. 

But let's get something clear. It is not illegal for an officeholder to have outside earned income. Almost everyone does. We pay Oregon state representatives and senators very little. We celebrate this as having "citizen legislators," not "professional politicians." Former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nick Kristof showed off his working farm and vineyard, which he would have kept and managed while being governor, had he been elected. The governor has close responsibilities overseeing the OLCC. No one complained. Former gubernatorial candidate Betsy Johnson is an heir to a wealthy Central Oregon timber fortune, and she reports getting dividends from trusts and stocks, many of which operate in Oregon. No problem. The husband of Christine Drazan, the former Republican candidate, is a partner in a Portland law firm whose clients and interests would inevitably interact with Oregon government. The Drazan family reported income in recent years varying between $306,000 and $428,000 a year. No one complained about inevitable conflicts of interests with present and future law firm clients.

The "shocking revelation" regarding Shemia Fagan was that she was paid so much for a consulting contract: $10,000 a month--$120,000 a year. She would also get a $30,000 commission when she succeeded in meeting sales goals. Is it shocking that realtors get paid when they make a sale? Is $30,000 a corrupt amount? The listing agent commission alone on a transaction selling an average home in many Portland-area neighborhoods would be $30,000. Had Fagan's side job been doing a little real estate selling on the side, would we be shocked she got paid normal rates?

But, but, but --  her side-gig employer was La Mota, the state's second largest cannabis operation. So psychoactive cannabis is "dirty," but psychoactive alcohol is OK? The whole effort in Oregon is to regularize and clean up the cannabis industry so it looks more like the alcohol business. Isn't that a good thing? If she had the same consulting gig with an association of growers of Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs, would that have been OK? 

But, but, but -- La Mota was a campaign contributor. No surprise there. Nearly every big company in Oregon is a campaign contributor to one or more candidates. The $40,000 Fagan got from La Mota was small compared to well-publicized million-dollar contributions given by Phil Knight in the governor race. He is still at it, making contributions. Are campaign contributions corrupting? Who throws the first stone?

Oregonlive.com today

But, but, but -- the Secretary of State's audit got input from La Mota on the complex regulations involved with a planned audit of their emerging industry. Of course. Everybody involved in the industry and in law enforcement weighed in on cannabis regulations because they are a mess, as is their enforcement. La Mota's input was one of many stakeholders and their input was considered, as it should be, and some gets incorporated, as is common. It is why stakeholders are involved. Fagan thanked La Mota for its input. Well, of course. That is what officeholders do. In the end, however, the audit plan was widely distributed and accepted as appropriate, and then carried out independently and without tampering by Fagan, as attested to by the people who did the audit. 

But, but, but -- Fagan's job as Secretary of State gave her unusual access to other officeholders, including Connecticut's Secretary of State. She called Connecticut to share her knowledge of Oregon's experience with cannabis regulation. The Connecticut Secretary of State took her call. Well, of course. That is the nature of networking, having power and status, of having specialized knowledge in peer-to-peer interactions. Most Oregonians would happily take a phone call from Tina Kotek or Ron Wyden. I would want to hear what they have to say. Most financial advisors would take a call from Tobias Read, our state Treasurer. I would happily take a call from Republican state senator Tim Knopp, to see what was on his mind. Perhaps he would want to complain about a post. If it turned out he wanted to talk about an investment in a new Christian church camp on a private lake in Central Oregon, I wouldn't be offended or shocked. I would understand that he would have taken off his "legislator" hat and put on a "Christian church camp promoter" hat. None of this is criminal. Famous, rich, and powerful people get their calls taken. 

Yet I am glad Shemia Fagan promptly resigned. She did something wrong. Her arrangement with La Mota was unwise, especially without full open disclosure. She gave the appearance of self-serving conflict of interest. Maybe it was indeed a self-serving conflict of interest, although it is not clear to me that it is easily distinguished from other ways that legislators and other officeholders wear multiple hats and have multiple influences. 

It is hard to be and look independent in Oregon, given that wealthy people, business PACs, and unions all give enormous amounts of money to candidates. It is disclosed, but that doesn't clean it. Fagan erred by being connected to an industry with a bad reputation. If she had a $10,000/month retainer from Providence Health Systems to advise them on lawsuits against the hospital system, the money would have been the same, but it would have looked better. Helping expand cannabis to other states looks sketchy.

This is a moment when everyone is piling onto Shemia Fagan. Let me take the opposite approach. She did the right thing when it really counted. She respected her office. Her actions had the appearance of corruption. That was enough. Good for her for resigning. 

Republicans gleefully piling onto Fagan might reflect on how they defend Donald Trump and Clarence Thomas.

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