Last week, Kristen Chilson of Northway Strategies, a paid contractor for the Lewis County Republican Party, wrote to you here about my alleged failure to disclose information.
I’d like to respond directly.
Kristen Chilson wrote what she wrote because she is a paid political operative on behalf of the Lewis County Republican Party. That is a verifiable fact on the Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) website.
Chilson is also the daughter of two executive board members of the Lewis County Republican Party, Greg and Elizabeth Rohr.
Chilson alleges failure to disclose on my part because she doesn’t like that I provided website structure for a political action committee (PAC), which is essentially a business service that she, herself, also provides as paid political contractor under the name Northway Strategies. Now, let’s not neglect the fact that she knows I provided this service because it was, in fact, disclosed to the PDC.
Furthermore, had she asked or done any actual fact-checking at all, she would have learned that I in no way authored, wrote, provided or otherwise made records requests for any content on the website that she’s so unhappy about. I provided structure only. None of the investigative work featured on the site was done by myself. It was provided to me in sets by the PAC itself.
They complain about the $500 fee and that I must be getting paid another way, somehow, that is unreported. Well, the fact I provided no content for the site is why that fee is so reasonable. Again, had she asked the publication or myself, she would have been informed of that.
Most interesting to me is that, in the same breath that Chilson is screeching about disclosure, she completely fails to mention at all that she has founded PDC complaints and violations against herself and her business, Northway Strategies. Not just complaints that were tossed out — actual founded complaints and violations. These founded complaints and violations, again, are pertaining to services provided by her business on behalf of the Lewis County Republican Party.
But what’s more interesting to me is that, despite the things that Chilson alleges, in my opinion without any fact-checking by herself or by The Chronicle, is that The Chronicle would choose to sponsor her letter to the editor on Facebook to be further pushed and displayed to more people — again, without any verification of the information.
And, The Chronicle did this without also sharing the article pertaining to their own PDC violations that was posted online to their website on the exact same day as Chilson’s letter. It would seem that The Chronicle is more interested in using — and paying for — unfounded, not fact-checked information to be further pushed in our community, while not giving their own founded complaints and violations the same space or distribution treatment.
Will The Chronicle give this letter to the editor in response the same sponsored distribution treatment? Or will they continue to unfairly represent information online and via The News Dump?
Brittany Voie
Chehalis
