Transitions at the CCC. (created via submitted photo via Boston Globe and Google image search)

Following a change of law that granted her sole authority to appoint the Cannabis Control Commission, Governor Maura Healey has announced her choices to run the revised and often troubled agency. In a release, Healey announced the appointment of three new commissioners including. One name is quite familiar to Western Mass and Springfield in particular.

Legislation Healey signed on April 19 ended the terms of the five members of the commission which several of the state’s executive officers selected. Now the governor alone will appoint a three-member commission. Healey chose Christopher Harding, Xiomara DeLobato and Anthony Wilson, a former Springfield City Clerk and associate city solicitor.

“I am grateful to the Governor for the opportunity to serve the Commonwealth,” Wilson said in a statement Healey’s office released. “I look forward to working with my fellow commissioners to ensure Massachusetts remains a national leader in building a safe, well-regulated, and equitable cannabis market.”

The bill Healey signed sought to right the CCC’s listing ship after years of inefficiency, infighting and litigation. Beyond the size of the commission, the legislation new clarifies that the Commission chair is effectively its chief executive officer. Questions about accountability and chain of command were among the issues that dogged the CCC in its prior form.

In her release, Healey emphasized the law’s potential to support and improve an important part of the Commonwealth’s economy.

“This industry supports thousands of jobs and small businesses across Massachusetts, and it’s important that we have a regulatory structure that is effective, accountable and built to meet the needs of a growing industry,” she said. “These appointees bring strong leadership and management experience, and I’m confident they will help move the Commission and industry forward.”

Healey designated Harding, chief of staff and undersecretary at the Executive Office of Health & Human Services, as chair. DeLobato is the Vice President and chief of staff for the Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council. She also sits on the Board of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority.

Although those in Western Mass may know Wilson from his time in Springfield, his legal and public service career has taken him across the Commonwealth. He left Springfield in 2019 to become Cambridge’s City Clerk, leading that office through COVID. He departed from the Cambridge City Clerk’s office in 2022 and continued to practice law. In that time, he also worked on public policy at the Edward Collins Center for Public Management at UMass-Boston.

Blast from the Past. Then-Springfield City Clerk Anthony Wilson administers the oath to the City Council on January 1, 2018. (WMP&I)

Wilson’s time in Springfield overlapped with several significant challenges and changes in the city. He worked on litigation and complex contractual matters such as the casino. However, he became especially visible as the attorney for the Council. In that role, he would advise councilors during meetings and review and/or draft most items on the agenda. Consequently, he was right in the middle of city medical marijuana policy debates that began after Massachusetts voters legalized it.

The trust he developed among councilors assured his election as City Clerk when Mayor Domenic Sarno claimed to have nominated him. (The mayor has no role in the election of the Clerk under the charter; the Council independently fills the position.) Wilson took office I 2016 and succeeded Wayman Lee, who had ascended to the role—also from the Law Department—during the Control Board era.

As Clerk, Lee worked with then-associate city solicitor Wilson and helped him with the transition. He called Wilson “level-headed” and well equipped for the challenges the state cannabis board has. In an interview, Lee explained that his successor’s time as Clerk in two different cities prepared him for the CCC.

“You got to balance the City Council, balance the mayor, balance the public and balance the staff,” Lee said of a clerk’s competing responsibilities and challenges.

Wayman Lee and Anthony Wilson not long before the Clerk’s office changed hands. (via Mike Dobbs/The Reminder)

Seeing as Wilson pulled that off in Cambridge and Springfield, Lee believes somebody like that is in a good position to bring order and change to the oft-troubled CCC.

“He has all the skills that he needs to reform the Commission,” Lee said of Wilson.

The Council’s support ran deep, too.

Springfield Ward 2 Councilor Michael Fenton praised Healey’s selection. Noting that he and Wilson had met early in their respective legal careers, Fenton said he had been “honored” to help see his friend through the process that elevated him to Clerk.

“Anthony is smart, inquisitive, and open-minded. Exactly what you want in a board member,” Fenton texted. “He has experiences in the law, government, and cannabis development. He’s a great fit for the CCC and will be a terrific voice with ties to WMass.”

Healey’s appointments necessarily mean that none of the members of the old five-member Board will be returning. Among them were former Springfield City Councilor and Gaming Commissioner Bruce Stebbins and former state Treasurer and Easthampton State Senator Shannon O’Brien.

Stebbins had been reappointed just last year. O’Brien was in the middle of a rocky term.