Questions about Oregon liquor commission director’s work habits sparked 2 investigations before retirement

The

outgoing Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission director

faced questions about his use of work hours in the months before he announced his retirement, records show.

One top manager said she felt compelled to report a trip Craig Prins took to a football game because she was worried that his behavior would

further tarnish

the high-profile state agency’s

damaged reputation

.

Another employee reported that Prins had asked him to play golf during work.

Two separate investigations by the Oregon Department of Administrative Services ultimately found no wrongdoing by Prins, but they reveal unease about Prins’ work habits among his staff.

In the football case, Prins sent a selfie from the game to a colleague who later said he had to work late that day because Prins handed off work. Prins requested 4.5 hours of time off after he was told of the investigation into his use of time during an out-of-town conference to attend the game.

Prins, 55, announced his retirement last month, surprising agency insiders. He told the commission in a public meeting that he was stepping down to travel and spend time with his wife and daughters who are in college.

Prins said in a statement that both cases were “thoroughly investigated” and that he fully cooperated.

“I’m grateful that the investigations found that the allegations were unsubstantiated,” he said. He said he intended to work for two years after his appointment “and move the agency forward by improving and modernizing its operations.”

“It has been an honor to work with so many inspiring public servants and help them deliver so many lasting benefits for our fellow Oregonians,” he said.

Dennis Doherty, who serves as chair of the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission, said Prins is following his original exit plan.

“He has done that, and is now, after almost three decades of public service, about to start a well-earned retirement,” Doherty said in a statement released by the agency. “I want to thank him for his dedicated work on behalf of the agency and the Oregonians we serve.”

Prins qualifies for more lucrative police and firefighter benefits under Oregon’s state pension system and is eligible to retire after 25 years in state government, according to an OLCC spokesperson.

Prins previously worked as inspector general at the Oregon Department of Corrections; some corrections officials receive police and firefighter pension benefits.

The investigations of Prins came amid

open ethics cases

in the wake of a bourbon diversion scandal that led to the firing or resignations of the commission’s previous leader and five other top managers.

The commission regulates liquor and cannabis sales and serves as a revenue-generating juggernaut, bringing in a projected $576 million for the current two-year budget.

Prins replaced former director Steve Marks, who was reprimanded along with the other now-former managers for setting aside sought-after bourbon, including bottles of Pappy Van Winkle, for themselves. They paid for the in-demand bottles, which are nearly impossible to find on store shelves.

The recent investigations show employees had questioned Prins’ use of work hours.

The Oregonian/OregonLive previously reported on the investigation that centered around Prins’ attendance at a college football game, but OLCC documents released in response to a public records request reveal further details of the complaint.

Records from the Department of Administrative Services included a transcript and notes of an investigator’s interviews with Prins’ deputy, Tara Wasiak, and Rich Evans, senior director of licensing and compliance. Their names are redacted; the interviews contain information that makes clear their positions.

In January, Wasiak told the investigator that Prins had gone to the Orange Bowl earlier that month while attending an alcohol industry conference in Florida, the records show.

She made the report, she said, because the game was more than five hours from the site of the national conference Prins attended and Prins had not mentioned beforehand that he planned to go to the game.

The semifinal game between Notre Dame and Penn State was about 400 miles from the conference site.

She learned about her boss’s attendance from another employee and spent a weekend considering whether to report it to the Department of Administrative Services, the state’s human resources arm.

“She believed it was concerning because it felt like an inappropriate use of Agency time and she was concerned for both” Prins and the OLCC, the investigator wrote.

The investigator noted that Wasiak cited “reputational concerns due to issues with prior leadership. The ethics training that followed ‘Pappy-gate’ are clear that there is a duty to report, and if you don’t report you could be caught up in it yourself.”

Wasiak said Prins had emailed Evans a selfie from the game and she saw the photograph.

Evans had contacted Wasiak as he prepared for his own interview with the investigator about the game and told her he could not find the selfie Prins sent him via the state’s email system, the investigator wrote.

Wasiak told the investigator that “people have grumbled” about Prins’ use of work time, though she offered no specifics. She noted a “perception from staff” who questioned “whether he is working,” the investigator noted.

She said she did not monitor Prins’ work hours, noting that it “is not her job” to manage her manager, the notes said. However, Wasiak told the investigator that she let Prins know about employees’ perceptions.

In his interview, Evans said Prins had handed off work that Prins should have handled himself; he did not offer examples. He said he worked late the day Prins attended the Orange Bowl, according to a transcript of his interview.

“I’m gonna have to work late to get this work done,” Evans told the investigator. “I’m busy. He gave me these things so he can go to a football game.”

Evans said Prins sent him a selfie from the game, but he could not find it. He said he planned to show the image to the investigator.

“It’s troubling that I can’t find the photographs to show you,” Evans said, according to the transcript. “I don’t know what happened to them.”

It remains unclear what happened with the image; a liquor commission spokesperson said it had been retained in the state’s email system and was never deleted.

“That email was not retracted,” said John Brady, the liquor commission spokesperson. “That email with the photo is there.”

The agency released the selfie in response to a public records request from The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Prins also was interviewed during the investigation and explained that he asked Doherty, the commission chair, for permission to go to the game.

Doherty said Prins told him about a “last minute deal” to go to the game either shortly before the conference or while they were already there.

“He’s a Notre Dame guy, so I said, yeah, go ahead and go,” Doherty told the investigator.

Prins said he worked while driving to the game, emailing one of Gov. Tina Kotek’s aides about a new hire and signing paperwork.

“Please, please tell me you’re doing this hands free, though,” the investigator responded.

“I’m doing it hands free,” he said.

Prins attended the game, he said, then returned to the conference in time for the first round of meetings the next morning.

The state’s investigation found that Prins had not misused state resources, though it noted he later submitted a request to use 4.5 hours of paid time off for the time he drove to the game.

Prins paid for his own game ticket and rental car when he attended the game, the investigation determined.

The investigation was completed in February.

Two months later the Department of Administrative Services opened a second investigation — this one focused on an allegation that Prins “played golf while on the clock” and invited other executive team members to join him.

The investigator spoke with a liquor commission employee who said Prins had invited him to play golf one day “but could not recall the date.” The employee said he told Prins he couldn’t join him “because he was working.” The employee’s name is redacted.

Prins recollected that he intended to golf after work that day, records show.

“While there are inconsistencies in their recollection of that event, both confirmed they did not go golfing,” the investigator wrote in the report.

Prins told the investigator that he plays golf at the Salem Golf Club and played as part of a work conference activity with other liquor commission representatives.

The redactions make it difficult to discern the number of state employees Prins discussed potential golfing outings with.

He told the investigator he had used three hours of vacation time to go golfing with a neighbor last summer.

The investigation concluded that the allegations that Prins spent work hours golfing were not substantiated.

On the day Prins announced his retirement, Kotek’s spokesperson issued a statement praising Prins for delivering “exactly what Oregon needed: stability, consistency, and a dedication to excellent customer service.”

She announced Wasiak as Prins’ successor.

— Noelle Crombie is an enterprise reporter with a focus on criminal justice. Reach her at 503-276-7184 or ncrombie@oregonian.com.

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