A few weeks ago, I and The Weekly received a registered letter from our City Attorney Brian Doyle.
This was not an acknowledgement of, or a congratulations for, the work we do in covering news of our City and community.
The letter begins, “To ensure that Santa Clara taxpayer’s expenditures are in compliance with state law, I am requesting that The Weekly complies with the necessary statutory requirements for ‘a newspaper of general circulation.’”
Attorney Doyle asked for a list of our subscribers, their addresses, amount they pay, and how often. In addition, he wanted to know the names of those subscribers who also advertise with our paper.
In addition, he requested the location where we print and dates for every printing over the last 36 months.
In an act of good faith, I and my office supplied Attorney Doyle with a copy of our County adjudication, our City Adjudication and a two-page 2017 letter from former City Clerk Rod Diridon, Jr., which verified that we meet the test for a newspaper of general circulation and are recognized as the official publication for the City of Santa Clara for years.
Doyle immediately responded stating we did not give him everything he wanted.
The Weekly was following the advice from our legal counsel, which represents the California Newspaper Publishers Association.
Therefore Mr. Doyle, we have been requested to ask you, on what authority do you make this request?
How many newspapers have you made this request to in the past year?
How many have responded, if any?
Wouldn’t it be a sad day in our community if a city could arbitrarily decide they were the only authority to approve a local newspaper?
There is no question Mayor Gillmor and her regime would like to see The Weekly disappear. She would like to see the messenger terminated.
It is your local newspaper that reports on the activities of our City, the Council, the City Manager and dozens of subjects. We remain as the only real mainspring for local news.
The Weekly is, and has been, the source of accurate news and reporting in our community for decades. This includes reporting on nefarious activities of our Council and City Manager.
As many readers have come to realize, The Weekly is real. We report the facts, tell the truth and peel the banana on issues that are not as they appear.
The Weekly and the Silicon Valley Voice (SvVoice.com) are published for the public to obtain objective news and articles that highlight community, sports, politics, non-profits, schools, restaurants, businesses and a host of topics of interest to you.
If you like the idea of an open community newspaper, your subscription to The Weekly is your endorsement.
