A common sentiment I’ve heard from Paso Robles residents lately is, “I’m completely lost on the ex-city manager story. I gave up trying to understand or care.”
We just passed the one-year mark since the demise of that ill-conceived paid parking program. Remember that? The brainchild of our former city manager. That whole mess is the reason Paso Robles took such a black eye in the first place.
To date, the council refuses to pay us our money back.
Now, we’ve got a new, experienced city manager who doesn’t need an assistant, and we’ve saved ourselves millions in the process. Chris Huot has been doing the job efficiently for the past year.
Yet somehow, instead of moving forward, we’re still watching The Tribune continue its relentless campaign—mostly targeting Paso City Councilmember Chris Bausch and CalCoastNews‘ Karen Veile.
Let me be honest—I’m part of the story, and even I am lost on what The Tribune is trying to do. They’ve taken this all the way to civil court, with the city even suing Bausch. What exactly is their angle here?
What started as a show of support for Ty Lewis has spiraled into a wild conspiracy cooked up by the mayor, Lewis himself, as well as Clive Pinder, Gina Fitzpatrick, and others. Somehow, a group of SLO County’s infamous online rage farmers and trolls got involved.
These folks have said unspeakable things. One comment was so outrageous that District Attorney Dan Dow stepped in.
This has all gone way too far—and the same names keep showing up, weaponizing The Tribune and Paso Robles Daily News with half-truths and made-up stories. They’ve tried to disguise them as satire. They’ve tried us in the press.
And here’s the kicker: To this day, there is still no evidence to back up their claims. Lewis resigned. And now? He’s running around like some private investigator. Yet we’re still in court.
Since the last hearing, Councilmember Bausch has fully complied with all requests. But The Tribune seems to be hoping to find some “gotcha” moment. Some of us believe they’re going to twist his words and try to argue he withheld something from his personal devices—and motion the judge to make him turn over his phone.
The city itself reviewed Lewis’ claims and tossed them out as meritless. So, as we have told The Tribune repeatedly, they are wrong. The Tribune will be handed a whole lot of nothing from the city’s attorney.
Unless there’s actual proof that Bausch used his personal phone or email to take official action as a council member, there’s nothing legally required to be disclosed. Sharing political opinions, showing support, or engaging as a private citizen doesn’t count as government work under public records law. Karl Olson, The Tribune‘s attorney, was successful in San Jose; he may want to go read his own case law.
Just for comparison: In San Jose, former Mayor Sam Liccardo used his personal Gmail for almost all of his city business. He had a shadow government, as far as letting lobbyists write city policy for him.
That turned into a real scandal. The First Amendment Coalition and San José Spotlight (Karl Olson) sued San Jose city for hiding records, redacting things without reason, and deleting emails. He was a repeat offender.
Here, Councilmember Bausch hasn’t done anything remotely close. There’s no proof he used his personal email for city business. So this avalanche of public records requests is nothing but a fishing expedition. They even asked for his call logs. Seriously? What kind of precedent are we setting when a part-time elected official can be forced to hand over their personal devices, which might contain private health info, family messages, calendars, and more?
Without a doubt, this past election showed the dark side of party politics. The Democratic Party and The Tribune didn’t just go after conservatives—they turned on their own. Reporters went after Democrat Debbie Peterson in Grover Beach, accusing her of falsifying her finances to qualify for discounted water rates. And in doing so, they exposed private info about Grover Beach residents—a true data breach.
In my opinion, this is about taking a bogus workers’ comp claim and using it as a weapon, interfering with Paso Robles’ first real election in years, where voters had actual choices and multiple candidates per seat.
So here we are, a year later. Still fighting. Still being dragged through the mud. And for what? You decide. Is The Tribune lawsuit about transparency? Δ
Linda C. George, who ran for a Paso City Council seat in 2024, writes to New Times from Paso Robles. Send a response for publication to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Jun 12-22, 2025.