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Smoke screen: When it comes to potential ties to prominent Boston cannabis operator, top state pot official isn’t talking
As he forges a budding cannabis business empire, one-time Boston mayoral candidate Tito Jackson appears to have friends in high places.
A key member of the state’s Cannabis Control Commission has recused herself at least twice on votes related to the licensing of Jackson’s cannabis operations, according to a review of public records by Contrarian Boston.
In the most recent case during the CCC’s Sept. 12 meeting, Nurys Camargo declined to vote on the final approval for Jackson’s cannabis retail operation on State Street in downtown Boston.
Public officials in Massachusetts are required to publicly disclose potential conflicts of interest before voting on licensing approvals and other matters in which they may have a business or personal tie.
Or, alternately, they can simply recuse themselves - as Camargo did - in which case, rather conveniently, no explanation is required.
Contacted by Contrarian Boston, a spokesperson for the CCC declined to answer questions on exactly what the potential conflict of interest is involving Camargo and Jackson’s business Verdant Reparative.
There is Camargo’s $250 contribution years ago to Jackson’s mayoral campaign, but it’s not likely something as simple as that.
Meanwhile, the future of Jackson’s growing cannabis operation, which occupies a slender, seven-story building in downtown Boston, may rest in Camargo’s hands.
Jackson has made extensive preparations to open a cannabis cafe at his State Street building, but, like other would-be pot entrepreneurs, he has been waiting years now for the CCC to give a green light.
And Camargo, even as she recuses herself from votes on Jackson’s cannabis operations, has taken a leading role in drafting the long-delayed regulations under which cannabis cafes like the one Jackson hopes to open will operate.
A prominent critic of the pot commission, State Sen. Michael Moore, said the recusal may not be enough to remove questions of a conflict of interest for Camargo.
The regulations she is helping craft will have a major impact on the operation of cannabis cafes, including the one Jackson has eyed for his State Street building, where he currently operates a pot dispensary and a bar.
“She is saying she can’t vote on a potential conflict, yet she writing the regulations of the kind that would also create a conflict,” the Millbury Democrat told Contrarian Boston.
Camargo did not respond to Contrarian Boston’s inquiries by our deadline, while Jackson, reached by phone, declined to comment.
The public has the right to know exactly what the tie is between the CCC commissioner and one of the local cannabis industry’s more prominent figures.
Ditto for the cannabis industry that depends on the state regulator for fair dealing.
(Kudos to dogged cannabis and crime blogger/reporter Grant Smith Ellis, who first raised the issues of the recusals.)
Elite no more? Test scores plunge in Boston’s exam schools in wake of heavy-handed diversity initiative
The MCAS results for Boston’s trio of traditionally high-performing exam schools are out, and they are downright ugly.
The percentage of Boston Latin Academy students meeting or exceeding expectations in English language arts plunged
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