• The executive director of the liquor agency has handed in his resignation after he was accused of using rare and sought-after bourbon for personal use.
  • Executive Director Steve Marks added in his resignation letter that Gov. Tina Kotek asked him to step down. 
  • The liquor officials told an internal investigator they were paying for the whiskey they were accused of using for personal gain.

The Oregon bourbon scandal has raised a lot of questions regarding the power dynamics at the Oregon liquor agency. The executive director of the liquor agency has handed in his resignation after he was accused of using rare and sought-after bourbon for personal use. 

The executive director and other senior officials of the Oregon liquor agency were accused of using coveted bourbon for personal use. 

Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission Executive Director Steve Marks added in his resignation letter that Gov. Tina Kotek asked him to step down. He said his resignation would be effective from 5 PM, Wednesday.

The liquor officials told an internal investigator they were paying for the whiskey they were accused of using for personal gain. This sought-after whiskey costs almost thousands of dollars a bottle. 

Still, they are accused of using their knowledge and connections at the commission to obtain the products. Marks and the other officials straightaway denied they resold the whiskeys they bought.

Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum on Friday announced a criminal investigation into the allegations that senior officials in the state’s alcohol and marijuana regulatory agency, the state’s third-largest revenue generator, were openly violating ethics laws.

The investigation highlighted that public officials are prohibited from using confidential information to gain personal benefits. Any misuse of confidential information for personal benefit falls under the violation of ethics laws.

The officials purportedly sent limited bottles of top-shelf bourbon to a liquor store, often in the Portland suburb of Milwaukie, where the commission headquarters is located.

They would reserve them for pickup later. It was presumed that they used the whiskey for personal consumption or as gifts.

Upon investigation, Steve Marks, the executive director of the Oregon liquor agency, denied violating any Oregon ethics laws. However, he did acknowledge that he received preferential treatment to some extent in obtaining the whiskey as a commission employee. 

The extent of this preferential treatment has not been disclosed, but the authorities believe that it must have violated multiple Oregon statutes.