The Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission — embattled after a scandal in which agency leaders stashed rare bourbons for themselves — has a new board chair.
Gov. Tina Kotek has appointed Marvin Révoal, who has been a member of the OLCC Board of Commissioners for nine years.
“Marvin Révoal is a respected community leader, and I trust that he is committed to leading the commission through this time of change and course correction,” Kotek said in a statement.
That leaves the board with just six members until Kotek appoints a seventh. The Oregon Senate will also need to approve that designee.
Révoal will work alongside agency interim director Craig Prins, who the board appointed last week after Kotek’s recommendation.
Former director Steve Marks resigned earlier this month after an internal OLCC investigation revealed his agency’s top managers had been reserving bottles of rare whiskeys for their own purchase. For a chance to buy those same bourbons, members of the public must compete against thousands of other Oregonians in a state-run lottery.
Kotek’s office said the governor had already called for Marks to step down as part of a broader reorganization of state agency leadership under her administration before she learned about the bourbon purchases.
Once she became aware of the investigation, Kotek called for more wholesale change at the OLCC, requesting that all top-level managers who acknowledged obtaining liquor via preferential means lose their jobs.
Kotek also called on Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum to launch an investigation into what civil infractions might have occurred within the OLCC. Rosenblum has since said she’ll go farther: The Oregon Department of Justice is now looking into the matter for possible criminal charges.
OPB reporter Dirk VanderHart contributed to this report.