Drug commission chair accused of sending naked selfie, lewd text about state rep
An anonymous complaint received by the office of Gov. Tina Kotek in January, alleges the Governor-appointed chair of the Alcohol and Drug Policy Commission sent lewd, discriminatory, offensive text
An anonymous complaint emailed to Oregon Governor Tina Kotek’s office, and shared with her senior staff, contained a text message allegedly from Tony Vezina, chair of the state’s Alcohol and Drug Policy Commission (“ADPC”) in which the texter sent a lewd photo of a naked man and suggested the texter and the unidentified recipient meet with Representative Rob Nosse (D-Portland) to “turn him out” regarding two bills pending before the Oregon legislature during its 2023 session.
The complaint, previously unreported, was included in a large batch of documents made public by Kotek’s office in response to media inquiries about Kotek’s wife’s role in her office.
The text message string included with the emailed complaint indicates the sender is “Tony.” It begins with a photo of a man, apparently naked, taken by himself in what appears to be a bathroom mirror while brushing his teeth, with the caption “Ive been cutting [sic].” The recipient responded, “Nom nom nom” and “Looking good.”
The texter then turned to business, suggesting “We need to go to Salem soon and see Rob Nusse [sic].” Then,
“We need to see where he is at on HB 2319 and OHA peer licensing.”
“We need to ‘turn him out.’”
“I figure that’s right up your alley.”
State Representative Rob Nosse is a Democrat who has represented a district primarily located in Southeast Portland since 2014. His official biography says he “lives in SE Portland with his husband Jim.”
Vezina’s LinkedIn page says he is the Executive Director of 4th Dimension Recovery Center, which matches young people with alcohol and drug addiction problems with peer mentors. He also works as a part-time trainer and consultant for the MetroPlus Association of Addiction Peer Professionals, according to the page.
Vezina served as an ADPC member from 2020-2022. Governor Kotek reappointed him to a new term beginning March 1, 2023, scheduled to end in 2026. The ADPC is charged with advising the Governor on addiction matters. Oregon has suffered from perhaps the most high-profile addiction crisis of any state in the union.
The complaint email, sent from an email account called “deez people” on January 22, 2024, was to Constantin Severe, Kotek’s public safety advisor. The email author asked Severe to ensure Kotek receives the message, then, “I commend your decision to remove Mike Marshall from the [ADPC].” A couple weeks prior, Kotek had removed Marshall, who runs the Portland addiction nonprofit Oregon Recovers, from the ADPC after Marshall posted on social media an insensitive message about the death of a prominent Oregon wine businessman.
During his removal, Marshall issued a threat via comments to OPB: “If I were to be replaced there would likely be multiple stories about the composition of the task force, its mission, the role campaign contributions played in its formation, and possibly even the personal life of [the deceased businessman].”
The email complaint continues, alleging that Vezina’s alleged text message “is not only offensive but also fosters a culture of discrimination and misconduct against the LGBTQIA2S+ community.” The author elaborated,
The use of the term "turn him out" is prison slang, referring to a violent process experienced in male prisons where an inmate is forcibly coerced into a passive or sexually female-identifying role through rape, intimidation, and physical violence. Using such language against an elected official who identifies as LGBTQIA2S+ is inexcusable and deeply offensive to the LGBTQIA2S+ community, which has historically faced discrimination and violence.
The email complaint was shared by multiple high-ranking Kotek staffers, including recently departed Chief of Staff Andrea Cooper, recently departed communications director An Do, assistant Chief of Staff (and now Chief of Staff) Chris Warner, and Lindsey O’Brien, the assistant Chief of Staff for public engagement who went on leave from her position the same time Cooper left her position, and a host of Oregon Health Authority staff. It is unclear whether Kotek herself became aware of the complaint.
In an email dated January 23, Rep. Nosse emailed Severe and OHA staff that he had “spoken to Tony Vezina last night,” and “I think we both think this thing might be fake, the text with the photo, and the email is anonymous and so I don’t plan to do much about it.”
Today, Nosse wrote in an email to me that “Mr. Vezina and I could not figure out if it was fake or not.” He wrote that he has “talked with Mr. Vezina who I work with all the time on a variety of things.” He and Vezina “both had a good laugh about it.”
In response to a follow-up question about who Nosse and Vezina speculated could be behind the anonymous complaint email, Nosse declined to provide names.
Kotek’s spokeswoman did not respond by publication time to an email from me this morning asking if the Governor’s office conducted any investigation of the complaint beyond receiving Nosse’s email. Vezina did not respond by publication time to an email from me this morning asking him to confirm the text messages are from him, and the photo is of him.
Vezina remains chair of the Alcohol and Drug Policy Commission.
UPDATE 1 PM, MAY 2, 2024:
Tony Vezina emailed me May 2, with the following statement:
I have dedicated my life to helping people recover from alcohol and drug addiction; this includes working with various communities, including the LGBTQ+ community. I have a great working relationship with Rep. Nosse and hold him in high esteem, which he would also say about me. I would never propose anything like what is stated in this egregious complaint.
When I asked him if he would confirm or deny that the text message string and photo that accompany the complaint were from him, he responded:
“I did not say or propose anything remotely close to what is alleged.”
So not a lot new there, other than Vezina’s refusal to specifically admit or deny the text messages and photo are from him.
I spent 45 minutes googling every listed member of the Commission.
There is a lawyer and circuit court judge, but absolutely nobody from Oregon’s law enforcement community.
Many of the Commission members were major advocates of Measure 110, and it would be highly unlikely there would be any of the kind of informed debate one would hope for in a state where the fatal overdose rate topped 1000% in a single year.
More example of how undemocratic the Democratic administration of Czarina Kotek is.
Of course, she could always appoint her wife to the Commission for her “lived experience.”
What a stinking mess the dems have made in Salem. At this rate the Oregon governorship will have less respect than the Biden administration.