The Chronicle failed to maintain publicly available commercial advertiser books, a lawyer representing the newspaper acknowledged in a letter to the Public Disclosure Commission (PDC).
The March 13 letter from a lawyer at the Dan Brady Law Firm is a response to a formal PDC complaint against the newspaper and the Silver Agency, both owned by Chad and Coralee Taylor.
The PDC has not yet responded to the complaint.
“Both the Chronicle newspaper and the Silver Agency marketing firm were very reluctant to even provide the books for public inspection as required under RCW 42.17A.345,” complainant Kyle Wheeler wrote on Feb. 13. “When these books were eventually provided, they were incomplete in not only the required categories listed in this RCW but I later discovered a transaction listed on the Lewis County Republican Party financial statements which were not included on the Silver Agency books until pointed out and corrected. “
In their response, the Dan Brady Law Firm said that CT Publishing “was surprised that the public could access company records that in almost any other circumstance are not available to the public.”
Once The Chronicle became aware of the campaign finance and public disclosure requirements, it “began assembling the records requested,” the law firm stated.
“However, the records were not organized or formatted in such a manner that would allow immediate and complete disclosure,” the letter reads.
According to the response, the requested records are now available “to the extent they exist."
Both The Chronicle and the Silver Agency created “an internal record retention and data fulfillment process to ensure timely and complete disbursement of any information requested.”
The letter states both The Chronicle and the Silver Agency established email addresses to service future responses.
In recent months, Wheeler has filed several other PDC complaints against local officials and entities, including Centralia Mayor Kelly Smith Johnston, the Lewis County Republican Central Committee, Commissioner Scott Brummer and commissioner candidate Christina Riley.
All five complaints are currently in the “assessment of facts” status, according to the PDC. They can be found at https://tinyurl.com/3mdmrnzu.
Chad and Coralee Taylor purchased The Chronicle and its sister publications in January 2021.
