Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission director hired to clean up bourbon-hoarding scandal to retire
The Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission oversees the state's liquor stores. (Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission/Flickr)
The state administrator Gov. Tina Kotek picked to stabilize the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission in the wake of a bourbon-hoarding scandal announced his retirement Thursday.
Craig Prins will leave the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission effective July 1, he said during the commission's Thursday meeting. Kotek urged commissioners to hire Prins, formerly the state prison system's internal watchdog, in February 2023 to correct the commission's course after she requested the resignation of its former director, one of six high-level employees implicated in diverting rare bottles of bourbon for personal use.
Prins described his decision to retire as difficult but right in a statement to commissioners.
'We have reached major milestones in modernizing the OLCC's operations and rebuilding the public's confidence in our mission,' he said. 'Having had the honor to work with this organization's dedicated public servants, I have complete faith in their ability to build on this progress.'
Commissioners appointed current deputy director Tara Wasiak to replace Prins beginning July 1. Before joining OLCC, Wasiak was the interim director of the Portland Bureau of Transportation.
Kotek press secretary Roxy Mayer said the governor wished Prins the best and knows Wasiak will follow his example of leading the commission with integrity and accountability.
'Executive Director Craig Prins jumped into the leadership role at OLCC at a time of tumult for the commission,' Mayer said in an email. 'He delivered exactly what Oregon needed: stability, consistency and a dedication to excellent customer service.'
Before Prins took over, the commission was reeling from revelations that six top-level employees, including then-director Steve Marks, had used their positions to obtain rare, expensive bottles of bourbon for their own use.
Oregon is one of 17 'control states,' where state agencies regulate where and how liquor can be sold. Wine and beer are available in grocery stores, but hard liquor is kept in state warehouses and distributed to local liquor stores. The state also sets liquor prices.
And opportunities to buy rare bottles of liquor, such as Pappy Van Winkle, are supposed to be distributed in quarterly lotteries. Instead, investigators found that OLCC employees abused their positions by ordering rare bottles be sent to specific stores where they or their representatives could purchase them.
The Oregon Government Ethics Commission settled cases with two former OLCC employees in April, fining them each $500. The ethics commission last week rejected a proposed $500 settlement with Marks, saying he should face a higher penalty as the former director.
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