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Chris Mayton, the director of the distilled spirits program, told the human resources investigator who carried out an inquiry in the matter last summer that Elmer T. Lee bourbon is "highly sought after by OLCC employees" and that he had directed a Milwaukie liquor store to set aside bottles for employees who then purchase them. He told Hampton he's taken orders for particular spirits hundreds of times, including from lawmakers he did not identify.

He described his role at the agency as "facilitator," making sure people with connections to the agency got the liquor they wanted.

"Mayton often would pick up more than one bottle of Elmer T. Lee, carrying the money for other individuals to make their purchase," Travis Hampton, a retired Oregon State Police superintendent who works for the liquor commission's human resource department, wrote in one report. "He has done this for scores of employees, from warehouse workers to executive managers. He was asked to list the managers he assisted in this manner." Marks was among the managers Mayton took requests from, he said.

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