The Oregon Health Authority Lied and Can't Be Trusted on Issues of Alcohol and Taxes
Who knew and when did they know?
The website of the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) reports the following as two of the agency’s Core Values:
Integrity We are each accountable for maintaining the highest standards and outcomes in all aspects of our work. We are good stewards of the public trust and the public dollar. Our decisions are informed, fiscally responsible, open, and easily understood.
Transparency: We communicate honestly and openly, and our actions are upfront and visible. We provide open access to information and meaningful opportunities to provide input and participate in our decision-making.
On Thursday, in a continuation of outstanding reporting, the Oregonian and writer Sami Edge reported that the OHA lied when it told the media, lawmakers, and a Task Force studying tax increases on alcohol, that its two-year suppression of an independent report it commissioned saying increased alcohol taxes would have little or no impact on problem drinking was inadvertant and a result of reduced staffing due to the COVID pandemic. The Oregonian reports:
“Emails released by the Oregon Health Authority show that the agency delayed the release of a report which detailed the minimal impacts of beer and wine taxes on excessive drinking while the agency was pursuing an increase in beer and wine taxes.”
And that’s not all. After the Oregonian initially reported the existence of the buried report last January, the OHA said it had not shown the report to anyone outside the public agency besides the Center for Disease Control. In fact, OHA gave the findings of the report to Mike Marshall, executive director of Oregon Recovers, the most active anti-alcohol, anti-alcohol industry, and recovery advocacy in the state—which was also advocating for higher taxes on alcohol. Moreover, based on Marshall’s feedback, the OHA softened parts of a memo it was creating about the report to downplay the findings that noted increased taxes would do little or nothing to slow excessive alcohol consumption and play up the notion that higher taxes were still a good policy. The OHA was hiding a report that contradicted what it had been selling for more than two years.
Now would be the right moment to scroll to the top of this article and re-read two of the “core values” the OHA professes.
For my readers who have not followed my missives on this scandal, you can read this initial article and read this follow-up.
To summarize:
1. The OHA commissioned an independent report on the cost of excessive alcohol consumption to Oregon and the impact that raising taxes on beer, wine, and cider would have on excessive drinking.
2. In 2021 a bill was introduced in Oregon that would have increased taxes on beer and wine by nearly 2,800%. It was supported by Representative Tawna Sanchez, Oregon Recovers and the OHA. It was being touted as a means of reducing consumption by 15%.
3. An interim report was released in February 2021 that showed excessive consumption cost the state $4.8 Billion.
4. The bill to raise taxes on beer and wine 2,800% failed.
5. The final report commissioned by the OHA was delivered in September 2021. It noted that large tax increases on beer, wine, and cider in Oregon would reduce excessive drinking in the state by about 1%, and decrease drinking by responsible drinkers by 4%. Unlike the Interim report that noted a $4.8 billion cost to the state of Oregon due to excessive drinking, the final report was not released to the public.
6. In 2023, Representative Sanchez introduced another alcohol tax hike bill that would have increased the tax on beer by 1,200% and wine by 500%. Still, the final report showing tax increases would have little or no impact on excessive consumption was not released to the public or lawmakers. The bill failed.
7. Later in 2023, a bill authorizing the creation of a Task Force to study the impact of raising taxes on beer, wine, and cider was introduced and passed, creating the Task Force on Alcohol Pricing and Addiction Services.
8. In January of this year, the Oregonian reported on the existence of the Final Report and its suppression by the Oregon Health Authority. The OHA said it was unable to get the report out to the public when it received it in 2021 due to understaffing due to the pandemic. The OHA said it had told no one but the Center for Disease Control about the report.
9. At the second meeting of the newly formed Task Force in early February of this year, the OHA spoke about the Final Report that had been suppressed, apologized, and reiterated that it did not mean to bury the report and noted that no one else outside the agency was shown the report besides the CDC. At the same meeting, when members of the task force were asked if they knew about the report, no one, including the now-chair of the task force and sponsor of the two failed bills to increase taxes on alcohol Representative Sanchez, did not say they had seen the report.
The OHA hid then lied about this report to help advance its agenda to raise taxes on alcohol. It suppressed information that would have been critical for lawmakers to know as they considered bills on increasing taxes to address substance abuse and creating a task force to study the issue. THE OREGON HEALTH AUTHORITY CAN NO LONGER BE TRUSTED TO SPEAK WITH ANY AUTHORITY OR CREDIBILITY ON ANY ISSUES CONCERNING ALCOHOL AND TAXES. HEADS SHOULD IMMEDIATELY ROLL.
Today at 2:00 pm the Task Force on Alcohol Taxes is scheduled to meet for a third time and it will be streamed. At that meeting, members of the Task Force should ask the following questions:
1. Why did the OHA lie to members of the task force, to the media, and to lawmakers?
2. Why did the OHA share the findings of the final report with the most anti-alcohol industry organization in the state, but not with representatives of the Oregon alcohol industry?
3. Did the OHA share the findings of the Final Report with anyone else, with anyone on the Task Force, and, especially, with its chairwoman and sponsor of two bills to raise taxes on alcohol, Representative Sanchez?
4. Should the task force be abandoned since it was created under fraudulent circumstances?
Answers to these questions should be the first thing on the Task Force’s agenda tomorrow and if they are not answered to the satisfaction of every member of the Task Force, that body should vote to remove Representative Sanchez from her position as chairwoman and vote in a representative of the alcohol industry as the new chair.
If anyone is wondering, this is how government agencies advance their agendas: by using duplicitous means to get what they want.
I sincerely appreciate the reporting. I’ll be reading the next installment after today’s hearings.
But this exact situation is not unique to the beverage industry, as you know.
It’s rather comical when the patriarchy wonders why Gen Z’s don’t trust government and political groups and are shying away from careers based in civic duty.
I would bet serious money that the OHA are not welcoming to new talent, or keen on advancing un-groomed/outside leadership.
This type of tunnel vision, secrecy and agenda advancement is disgusting. And it’s rife in today’s mature leadership. Anecdotally, it’s probably one of a few main factors why succession plans have been failing or simply, not occurring.
There’s not necessarily a gap of able workers, there’s a gap in shared mutual values and socioeconomic equity.
Transparency and overturning long held positions of a select few, across many organizations, is well overdue in every state and across many sectors.
I don’t see many organizations succeeding or growing until diversity and equity are “actually realized” and not just virtue signaled by clever marketing or brand positioning.
As we've seen across the board in the past few years in both state and Federal govt., there is very little transparency and there is a great deal of lying, obfuscation and duplicitous behavior among public health authorities. The core rot is only now showing itself. But who will hold them accountable?