TABC Director Stepping Down After Embarrassing Report Reveals Cozy Industry Relationship

AUSTIN, TX — The director of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is stepping down from her post in the wake of a series of stories by a news agency that revealed agency workers had been going on expensive junkets funded by the alcohol industry.

TABC Executive Director Sherry Cook said in a news release on Monday that she would be stepping down effective May 23 an enter retirement. Her move comes after a series of articles by the Texas Tribune revealed an agency too cozy with the industry it's supposed to regulate, including spending thousands of taxpayer dollars to send agency employees to conferences largely funded by the alcohol industry.

Many of those conferences took place in fancy locales, from Florida to Hawaii, the Tribune reported. The development also comes on the heels of a rigorous grilling of TABC higher-ups last week at the House Committee on General Investigating and Ethics centered on overall spending controversies and the agency's failure to provide accurate reports on state-owned vehicles top brass at the agency had been driving, the Tribune reported.

In a statement, the agency announced Cook "...will retire from her position May 23 following more than 40 years of public service to the people of Texas." The agency said a replacement would be discussed at the May 23 meeting of the three-member commission overseeing TABC.

Gov. Greg Abbott welcomed the news. "It's time to clean house from regulators not spending taxpayer money wisely," Abbott wrote on Twitter. "This is a good start."

>>> Read the full story at Texas Tribune

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