The Tribune is suing Paso Robles and City Councilmember Chris Bausch; Paso Robles is suing Bausch; and Bausch is suing them both. As of April 21, the three are caught in a cross-complaint crossfire.
In March, The Tribune sued the city of Paso Robles and Bausch over what it said were unfulfilled Public Records Act (PRA) requests amid its search to uncover the truth behind the conflict between Bausch and former City Manager Ty Lewis. According to courthouse documents, The Tribune filed 19 PRA requests, but Bausch failed to turn over any responding documents except for one from his personal devices.
California’s PRA gives every person the legal right to receive the available public records they request within a reasonable timeframe.
Bausch pushed back with a cross complaint against The Tribune on April 18, claiming he wasn’t given adequate time to respond to its many requests. He also accused the city of not providing him with legal representation and “misquoting” him as unwilling to comply with the PRA requests.
On April 21, the city of Paso Robles filed one against Bausch in response, alleging that he has refused to comply under PRA law despite its best efforts to encourage him to turn over records.
The Tribune‘s attorney, Karl Olson, told New Times that a situation like this is unprecedented and that he’s never seen anything like it in his career.
“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.”
According to Bausch’s April 18 complaint, The Tribune requested “700 searches” and didn’t give him enough time to turn over documentation.
“The Tribune, who has asked for this many searches; it is certainly their right to do so but [The Tribune] can hardly complain if it takes 70 times as long to do 700 searches as it does to perform 10 searches,” the document states.
Bausch also criticized the city, specifically City Attorney Elizabeth Hull, for prematurely proclaiming he was unwilling to comply with the PRA. In his complaint, Bausch said that he was only requesting a “reasonable amount of time to complete literally thousands of searches” and wouldn’t create documents “that do not exist.”
City Attorney Hull told New Times via email that the city has made “numerous efforts to work with Mr. Bausch to get those documents held on his personal devices.” According to the city’s April 21 complaint, those efforts included staff conversations as well as offering IT services to search Bausch’s personal and work devices.
“Bausch has provided varied, unsubstantiated, and unlawful reasons for his refusal to comply with the [PRA],” the city’s complaint read.
Olson told New Times that he agrees with the city’s complaint against Bausch and that he found Bausch’s complaint to lack merit.
“The Public Records Act was enacted to give members of the public, including newspapers, a right to access public records,” he said. “What I think he’s kind of trying to do is punish people who are exercising their constitutional rights to access public records and to discourage people from requesting public records, and that’s inappropriate.”
Bausch did not respond to a request for comment. Ī
This article appears in Apr 24 – May 4, 2025.