In early May the news came out that the Oregon Government Ethics Commission (Ethics Commission) rejected a negotiated deal for $500 with former executive director of the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (OLCC), Steve Marks. Under Marks watch an investigation determined that rare bottles of Pappy Van Winkle that were supposed to be available only through a lottery system were reserved for and allowed to be purchased by state regulators and other interested parties, alleged to be state legislators.  Previous to the Ethics committee’s rejection of Marks, it accepted $500 fines for other involved OLCC personnel, but for Marks, the Ethics Commission voted 7-1 to reject the negotiated deal.

Ironically, Susan Myers, the executive director of the Ethics Commission indicated that her investigation demonstrated the practice of buying bottles of Pappy Van Winkle outside of the regulated process reaches back as far as three decades.[1]

So, it begs question why the hyper focus on Steve Marks? A deal was negotiated for $500 and the Ethics Commission rejected it and is looking at further punishing him. There are several questions that need to be asked, has Steve Marks suffered enough and with three decades of misdeeds, why is he the only one walking the proverbial plank?

Let me start out by saying Steve was wrong and he has paid a price with losing his job and his reputation, his ability to get a position in the industry will be difficult. The Ethics Commission should consider whether giving him a higher fine will punish him effectively. What is the effective sanction is beyond my pay grade, but at this point how much higher can a fine go? And what purpose will it serve?

Second, there was a culture of corruption that Steve Marks stepped into and yes, I believe he was wrong for not stopping it and should have been sanctioned, but from a human being perspective it is easier said than done. If your turn off the government spigot of favorable inside deals and do the right thing you will pay a human cost. As someone who filed a retaliatory discharge lawsuit against the state Illinois and after two deposition they threw in the towel and gave me a settlement that was very much to my liking, I can tell you there is emotional price you pay for doing the right thing in a corrupt system. Those with the corrupt interests try to make your life hell. The easy path should never be taken, but in the normal course of things most people take the road of least resistance.

I am not excusing Steve of guilt, what I am saying is his course of action is more common than we think. The investigations should focus on the whole environment and not one individual, because focusing mostly on one individual allows the people that created and perpetrated the system to remain clean.

Chris Mayton, director of the distilled spirits agency, specified to investigators it was agency practice to divert bottles to legislators.[2] Yet, there are no legislators named in the OLCC investigative report. Which means the OLCC did not bother to conduct an investigation into lawmakers or chose to mimic the Supreme Court’s who leaked the Dobbs opinion investigation.

As part of this post, I want to state my relationship with Steve Marks, we are not friends nor are we enemies. We have met at liquor conferences and had friendly one-off conversations. I have never done business with Steve nor have any interest involved with him. I write as someone that sees a process that is being unfairly applied to one person.

To the Oregon Ethics Commission, I ask that you demand a more thorough investigation. If this goes back 30 years let’s sanction the people that created the culture of corruption and those that kept it going. Let us investigate the political class and bring legislators to bare for their misdeeds.

When I was in government I always went by the maxim that you can’t receive a benefit that the general public could not obtain. This principle was violated in Oregon and clearly, numerous people had their hand in the dirty cookie jar. Unfortunately, many of them are paying no price and faced no burden.

Their time will never come as somebody is protecting them. Instead, they are making an example of Steve Marks to the point past humiliation. Steve was wrong and took his punishment, the time is now for Oregon to do the right thing, and either open things up to cast a wider net and hold everyone involved accountable or let Steve Marks pay the $500 fine and finish up his punishment.

 

[1] https://www.opb.org/article/2025/05/09/olcc-pappy-van-winkle-bourbon-scandal-fine/

[2] https://www.wweek.com/news/2023/02/08/lawmakers-and-top-olcc-officials-benefited-from-diversion-of-rare-whiskey-investigation-says/