‘Smacks of good old boys’ network’: Officials accused of keeping best bourbon for themselves

Several state officials whose jobs were to oversee Oregon’s liquor sales are being investigated for keeping the good stuff for themselves.

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An internal investigation done by the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission has found that several officials diverted several popular and expensive bourbons for their own use, instead of selling the bottles to consumers, The Associated Press reported.

The officials are said to have paid for the whiskeys, for instance, Pappy Van Winkle’s 23-year-old whiskey, which can go for thousands of dollars a bottle on the secondary market, themselves and kept it from the open market, The Oregonian and AP reported.

“Pappy has become a form of currency and power,” Heather Greene, the chief executive of Milam & Greene, a Texas distillery, told The New York Times.

The investigation alleges that they used their knowledge and connections to obtain the bottles, violating a state law that prohibits public officials from using confidential information for personal gain, the AP reported.

Several lawmakers, who were not named, allegedly also asked to have bottles of distilled spirits set aside, The Oregonian reported.

“It smacks of a good old boys’ network,” Mike Marshall, executive director of Oregon Recovers, an advocacy organization for people who are recovering from addiction, the newspaper reported.

Oregon’s Gov. Tina Kotek had called for the resignation of the commission’s executive director, Steve Marks, but as of Thursday, he was still at the agency, The Oregonian reported.

The commission generates about $629 million each year for the state’s general fund through liquor sales and another $312 million in marijuana taxes, the newspaper reported.