The head of Maine’s Office of Cannabis Policy, John Hudak, is facing some heat.

David Boyer Submitted

Already the target of a “Fire John Hudak” movement spearheaded by Rep. David Boyer, a Poland Republican, Hudak is now also under fire from the Legislature’s Government Oversight Committee.

The panel recently backed Boyer’s call to investigate a possible conflict of interest by Hudak, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Boyer told the committee Friday that Hudak should have recused himself when his office negotiated a seed-to-sale software contract with a company led by a former business partner.

“This conflict of interest is stunning,” said Sen. Craig Hickman, a Winthrop Democrat who co-chairs the committee.

“It needs to be investigated,” said Rep. Michael Lemelin, a Chelsea Republican.

Sen. Jill Duson, a Portland Democrat, said that when there is even the appearance of a conflict of interest, officials should recuse themselves, a “simple step” that wasn’t taken.

“The best way we address growing distrust of government,” Duson told colleagues, “is to disclose, just disclose, any appearance of conflict.”

According to Boyer, one of the leaders of a successful 2016 citizen initiative to legalize cannabis in Maine, Hudak was a co-founder of a firm specializing in marijuana policy called Freedman & Koski Inc.

One of the partners, Lewis Koski, went on to become the chief strategy officer for Metrc, a Florida-based firm that earns its money by charging a fee to growers that need to use its system to track commercial marijuana plants from seedlings to sale.

The firm collected $630,000 from the state between 2019 and 2022, according to Boyer, to help create the rules governing the new cannabis businesses in Maine.

Hudak, a scholar at the Brookings Institute, was hired late in 2022 to run the state cannabis office.

In 2023, Boyer said, Hudak negotiated a new contract with Metrc worth another $350,000 to the firm.

“At the very least,” Boyer said, Hudak ought to have recused himself during the renegotiations. “It doesn’t look great.”

Boyer said the investigation is timely because Metrc’s state contract expires next year and the state will decide whether to continue to do business with the firm.

With the committee’s backing, the Legislature’s nonpartisan, independent Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability will probe the issue Boyer raised.

The committee said another issue Boyer brought up — related to illegal cannabis growing operations — is best dealt with by law enforcement and other legislative panels.