Well, they’ll sue you when you’re trying to be so good. They’ll sue you just like they said they would. They’ll sue you when you’re tryin’ to go home, and they’ll sue you when you’re there all alone. Feels like the whole county’s in a feud! Everybody must get sued! (Apologies, Bob Dylan!)
Let me see if I have this right. The Tribune is suing Paso Robles and City Councilmember Chris Bausch over unfulfilled Public Records Act (PRA) requests to learn more about the acrimony between Bausch and former City Manager Ty Lewis.
Then, Bausch filed a cross complaint against The Tribune arguing that the news outlet had requested too many public records (Is that a thing?). Bausch also accused Paso of not providing him with legal representation and “misquoting” him when it came to complying with those requests.
Then, Paso filed a cross complaint against Bausch, alleging he refused to comply with legal PRA requests. Oh, my!
According to attorney Karl Olson, who’s representing The Tribune, this legal clusterfuck (Let’s just call it what it is, eh?) is unprecedented.
“The city, in their cross complaint, says that they think this is the first time a public agency has filed a cross complaint against one of their own council members,” Olson said. “And I don’t know if it’s the first time it’s ever happened, but I’d say, at the very least, it’s unusual.”
Court records prove The Tribune filed 19 PRA requests for email and text exchanges and two audio recordings between Bausch and Lewis, and Bausch only turned over one. In his cross complaint, Bausch claims that The Tribune asked for “700 searches” and didn’t give him sufficient time to comply.
Meanwhile, Paso City Attorney Elizabeth Hull said the city made “numerous efforts to work with Mr. Bausch to get those documents held on his personal devices,” including offering IT services to help him locate the requested exchanges. Hence, Paso’s cross complaint.
Everyone might want to slow their lawsuit roll, but it seems clear the biggest villain and crybaby in this little courtroom drama is Bausch. Transparency, sir! It’s required of elected officials.
Speaking of courtroom dramas, Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong will testify before Congress on May 7. According to the Committee on Education and Workforce, the university failed to address “antisemitic, violent protests” on campus.
The hearing—“Beyond the Ivy League: Stopping the Spread of Antisemitism on American Campuses” chaired by Tim Walberg (R-Michigan)—aims to hold administrators accountable for allowing “rampant antisemitism on college campuses.” The hearing also aligns with President Donald Trump‘s executive order to take “forceful action” to combat antisemitism.
Man, free speech can be a real bitch, amirite? Anti-Zionist and Pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses in the face of the ongoing Gaza war were meant to highlight the asymmetrical nature of the conflict between the Israeli military and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups, which attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Can’t you condemn collateral Palestinian civilian deaths without being called an antisemite? Can’t you argue that Israel’s policies regarding Gaza have created an apartheid state without being accused of antisemitism?
These are astonishingly complex and highly controversial issues that people should be able to disagree about without labeling legitimate criticism of Israeli policies as rampant hatred of all Jewish people, but unfortunately like many issues targeted by the Trump administration, multifaceted issues are reduced to black and white.
For his part, Armstrong is trying to appear like he’s doing something. (It’s what he does best! Worst?) He announced an antisemitism task force that will collect data and develop an “action plan” for antisemitism education and cultural awareness at Cal Poly. I wonder if the university has an anti-arabism task force?
Cal Poly already hid its DEI office in the University Personnel division following Trump’s anti-DEI executive order. Cal Poly’s no Harvard, which is suing Trump over his extortion.
Speaking of Trump and DEI and being a total dickhead about any and all vulnerable populations, should transgender students be able to use the bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identities? Should transwomen be able to compete in women’s athletics?
Once again, these are complicated questions that we as a community have been struggling to navigate and answer over the past several years, and we’ve made progress and gained a more complete understanding of the issues surrounding this complicated topic, but now thanks to Trump’s culture war against DEI programs, we seem to be moving backward.
At the April 15 Lucia Mar Unified School District board meeting, people showed up to argue in favor of and against trans rights. Why? Was there something on the agenda about it? That would be a negatory, good buddy.
They were there thanks to a flyer purportedly distributed by Arroyo Grande’s Harvest Church and signed off by Shannon Kessler, director of culture impact, complaining that a trans female track athlete used the women’s locker room, which traumatized student Celeste Duyst, who wept during public comment as she recounted the “biological male” being in her presence in the locker room.
Current California state law allows students to use the facilities that align with their gender identity, in direct conflict with Trump’s executive order. Duyest later turned up on Fox and Friends Weekend—of course—to recount her story. Trump’s culture war rages on. Δ
The Shredder ain’t gonna goosestep. Tell it your side at shredder@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Apr 24 – May 4, 2025.
He should have a city managed device(s) that secure all communications. If he doesn’t it’s a failure of the city manager and IT department.
People are fiddling as Rome burns. Can we just focus on our economy instead of identities? Our economy is collapsing and the dollar has lost between 6 and 10 percent of its value in the last 3 months.
We’re in the ditch and all you contributors care about is who you can pin the blame on, who cares? We need a $30 minimum wage, we need to slash defense spending 80%, we need to tax concentrated wealth, we need modest gun control, we need publicly financed elections, we need well funded public education, we need a public option for healthcare, we need public housing, parents need robust maternity leave, women need reproductive health care, we need a separation between church and state. I would vote for ham sandwich if it would make these basic principles of a humane society happen.
Both parties are a repulsive and corrupt pile of garbage.