Tacoma news outlet fined for soliciting cash in exchange for news coverage of candidates

The Tacoma Weekly agreed Thursday to a $15,000 fine for “soliciting payments from candidates in exchange for promoting them in the publication’s editorial content,” the state Public Disclosure Commission reported.

Half the fine was suspended, the PDC reported on Twitter. The agency enforces campaign finance laws in Washington state.

Tacoma resident Luke Byram filed a complaint against Tacoma Weekly with the commission in October 2020. Attached to the complaint was a flyer advertising a $2,500 package for an editorial, cover story and a “Tacoma Weekly endorsement,” The News Tribune reported in fall 2020.

“Let’s get you elected!” the flyer read.

State law prohibits a person from soliciting from a candidate “money or other property as a condition or consideration for an endorsement, article or other communication in the news media promoting or opposing a candidate for public office, political committee or political party” (RCW 42.17A.480).

Tacoma Weekly publisher John Weymer told The News Tribune in October 2020 that the flyer was sent to candidates by mistake.

“An uncorrected version went out to the candidates, and it was immediately corrected,” Weymer said. “We do not sell our endorsements.”

The flyer first gained attention in September 2020 after it was shared on Twitter by Evelyn Fielding Lopez, former executive director of the PDC. Lopez filed her own complaint.

The PDC also tweeted Thursday: “Two Pierce County Council candidates who paid for the promotion — Javier Figueroa and Jason Whalen — previously paid fines of $150 each for failing to disclose sponsor identification with cover stories that ran in the Tacoma Weekly.”

This story was originally published September 23, 2021 at 1:05 PM.