[#item_full_content] [[{“value”:”The organizational structure of Rhode Island’s Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) is somewhat unusual. Some government agencies, such as the Department of Environmental Management (DEM) and the recently created Executive Office of Housing (EOH), are established as cabinet positions that operate under the direct supervision of the Governor. Other agencies are given more independence. Others, such as the Ethics Commission or the Board of Elections, are independent of the Governor, and for good reason: one wouldn’t want the Governor to have undue influence over elections or ethics investigations. Such power could quickly lead to abuses against political opponents.
The independence of these state agencies means that the people heading them are nominated by the Governor, and approved by the Senate, but they are not cabinet positions. When Governor Daniel McKee calls a cabinet meeting, DEM Director Terry Gray and EOH Director Deborah Goddard are invited and generally expected to be there. The Chair of the Ethics Commission, Lauren Jones, and the Chair of the Board of Elections, Jennifer Johnson, are not invited and, indeed, it would likely be inappropriate for them to attend, save under very special and unusual circumstances.
As part of an Access to Public Records Act (APRA) request, I have a list from September 2025 of all heads of state agencies who are regularly invited to and attend the Governor’s weekly cabinet meetings. On the list are members of Governor McKee’s cabinet. Not on the list are the chairs of the various state agencies that don’t answer directly to the Governor, such as the aforementioned Ethics and Elections Boards, as well as the leadership of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA), and many more.
Here’s the relevant page, slightly redacted:
There is one chair of an independent state agency that the Governor routinely invited: Kimberly Ahern, Chair of the Cannabis Control Commission. From The Rhode Island Cannabis Act; R.I. Gen. Laws § 21-28.11-2:
“The regulation, licensing, and enforcement requirements pertaining to regulated cannabis establishments shall be conducted pursuant to the provisions of this chapter by virtue of an independent three-member commission which shall exercise all powers necessary for the implementation, administration, and enforcement of this chapter.” [emphasis mine]
Why would Governor McKee violate protocol in this way? Why did he feel the need to direct the CCC as he might the Department of Corrections of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services? Might it have to do with the hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions?
Beyond ensuring the CCC Chair attends his cabinet meetings, the Governor expressed great interest in the Commission’s goings-on, as I established here and here. But there’s more: Starting in the same month Ahern became Chair of the CCC, June 2023, Governor McKee’s Chief of Staff, Antonio Afonso, scheduled monthly meetings with her:
In establishing the CCC, the General Assembly took care to ensure the agency was independent of political influence. When Kimberly Ahern became chair of this nascent organization, she gave up that independence to Governor Daniel McKee, positioning herself as yet another department head. We need to ensure Ahern understands that the position of Attorney General, an elected office she’s currently running for, is constitutionally separate from the Governor’s office. Keeping the state’s “top cop,” the Attorney General, separate from the Office of the Governor, allows for the kind of checks and balances that might, for instance, prevent policies that protect profitable cannabis oligopolies.
When first planned, neither the legislative nor the executive branch of government was supposed to be close enough to the CCC to influence it for political or financial gain. Unfortunately, no one at the time, including reporters, seems to have been paying attention, so the Governor was able to exert influence and control over the CCC by simply ignoring its independence and treating Chair Ahern as his employee (An employee earning $204,069 – Why is she giving that up to run for Attorney General? That position pays $146,107, about $50k less). As a result, four years later, Rhode Island’s cannabis oligopoly controls the market and makes outrageous profits.
[I reached out with a first draft of this reporting to the Governor and to the Ahern for Attorney General campaign. I heard nothing back from them. Though now that it’s out, maybe they’ll have something to say.]
The Marijuana Mafia: How McKee, Ahern, and the CCC protect the cannabis retailer oligopoly
I filed a campaign finance complaint against the McKee campaign
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