SALEM — Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, said when he first heard about Secretary of State Shemia Fagan’s moonlighting career, he wondered about the source of the information.

Willamette Week reported last week that Fagan signed a $10,000-per-month contract with the owners of an Oregon cannabis chain at the same time her office audited state regulations on cannabis businesses. The cannabis entrepreneurs also are high-profile Democratic donors.

“When the paper that endorsed the candidate realized that there is bad behavior and reports it, they don’t try to hide it and don’t try to put a spin on it, but is diligent in doing the research and discovery, that adds credibility to me, that there’s gotta be something there,” Hansell said. “And so when I heard that the Willamette Weekly was the one that was saying these things, my first reaction was I’ll bet it’s true. I think it’s accurate.”

Fagan announced Tuesday, May 2, she will step down May 8. Her deputy, Cheryl Myers, will step into the position until Gov. Tina Kotek appoints a successor.

“It is clear that my actions have become a distraction from the important and critical work of the Secretary of State’s office,” Fagan said in a statement released through her office. “Protecting our state’s democracy and ensuring faith in our elected leaders — these are the reasons I ran for this office. They are also the reasons I will be submitting my resignation today.”

Hansell said he believes Fagan had no choice but to resign.

“Well, I certainly believe it was the right thing for her to do,” he said. “I’ve always felt that elected officials need to be accountable for their behavior, and that we have a public trust. And as more of what she had done came to light that public trust was just eroding very quickly. And more and more people and groups were encouraging her or flat out telling her, ‘You need to resign.’”

Fagan, 41, said she believed any investigations would “show that I followed the state’s legal and ethical guidelines in trying to make ends meet for my family.”

Kotek issued a statement saying Fagan had contacted her to say she was resigning. Kotek supported the decision.

“It is essential that Oregonians have trust in their government,” Kotek said. “I believe this is a first step in restoring that trust.

Under the state constitution, Gov. Tina Kotek would appoint a Democrat to fill out the rest of Fagan’s term, which runs until early January 2025. The office is up for election in 2024.

The House and Senate were in session when word spread of Fagan’s decision to step down.

Rep. Bobby Levy, R-Echo, issued this statement: “I am saddened that when elected officials don’t follow the rules and do the right thing, it gives all the rest of us who are elected a bad rep.”

Rep. Greg Smith, R-Heppner, has had to handle conflicts of interest that arise from his work in economic development. As a representative, he said, he declares conflicts of interest on the House floor in front of his colleagues, and Oregon has a process for other elected officials to handle conflicts of interest.

“There is a very defined process you go through in the state of Oregon, and from what I can tell, she didn’t follow that protocol,” he said.

Hansell said the swiftness of the whole episode shows that no one is above the law.

“When individuals that have been elected by the people to a particular position use that position wrongly and illegally,” he said. “And it’s sad, it’s unfortunate I think the whole system suffers when that happens.”

Oregon does not have an impeachment process, but Smith said the House has a process to remove members, and it takes a two-thirds majority — 40 out of 60 representatives — to take that action.

“We’ve done that once,” he said.

Oregon also has a recall process for elected officials.

“If the citizens of Oregon want to recall an elected official, they can do it,” he said.

He said if Oregon were to have impeachment, he would want that legislative process to require a two-thirds majority to take politics out of it. That kind of authority needs some guardrails, he said.

Smith chairs budget subcommittees that oversee the offices of the governor and the secretary of state’s. He said he gets to see the audit the secretary of state’s office is doing the cannabis industry.

Smith also said he did not see Fagan’s resignation in a political light.

“She wasn’t transparent, really,” he said. “That’s what it comes down to.”