Organic or Pitched? Wall Street Journal Article was a Full Court Press, Wined, Dined, and Slimed
Earlier this week Picon spoke with County Commissioner Mike Clark regarding the Point In Time (PIT) Count. After he read our article, he gave us a call about public records in his possession regarding the Wall Street Journal article we commented on. He shared the emails with us, saying, “maybe you can make sense out of them” and while we were surprised, we sure were not shocked Washoe County sunk low in order to get positive press making it appear they were reducing homelessness by 50% back in November 2023. They had absolutely no choice after the disaster of the CHAB (Community Homeless Advisory Board) meeting on September 11, 2023.
We’ve posted all the emails surrounding the WSJ article. All Washoe County Government was trying to do is to blow their own horn and promote a success which is now questionable. You know, homelessness is being reduced by 50% in Washoe County.
As you can read in the email provided, the Wall Street Journal reporter Jim Carlton was warned by a colleague – Xxx “The numbers for Reno are UP a bit this year so I’m not sure by what metric they are down. I’d be cautious there” Xxx
We were amused by Mr. Tolles choice of who was involved and not involved in those interviews with Jim from the WSJ. Why was Mr. Tolles allowed to choose? A further comment, Picon was interested to learn Owen Truesdell, VP of Public Affairs at The Abbi Agency, who is referred to as the “Sultan of Smirk” was on this email string with Par Tolles.
But, hey, Jim was wined, dined, and slimed with people doing anything and everything to accommodate his needs for this article, most anything he asked for, he got; Jim got access to photos from inside the campus, he got to interview ‘guests’ inside the campus, two of them, we’ve redacted their phone numbers. We encouraged Commissioner Clark to give them a call and learn how they were selected to be called, you know, identified, as was commented in an email from Assistant County Manager, Kate Thomas, “Dana, perhaps some of the sups over there with a good participant relationships can see if anyone wants to volunteer?” We pondered if the county offered a spiff. Cuz it seems that important.
We keep going back to Owen Truesdell from The Abbi Agency being on the email string which leads us to ponder was this an organic article with Jim from the WSJ reaching out. Or was this a pitched piece from a local PR firm.
Why was Par Tolles directing the Wall Street Journal who to reach out to. How did the Wall Street Journal find Tolles? Tolles directed Jim to Kate Thomas – Assistant County Manager, Neoma Jardon – Director of Downtown Reno Partnership, and Grant Denton – Safe Camp. Mr. Tolles used to be on the board of the Downtown Reno Partnership, and Mr. Denton used to be involved with the Downtown Reno Partnership, Ambassador Program, and we believe was employed by them. Two handpicked cheerleaders of the Nevada Cares Campus, since their careers are dependent on the success of the program, and Jardon who Tolles had worked with in the past.
Housing and Homeless Services Division Director, Dana Searcy, who refuses to release data to Commissioner Clark, certainly stepped up to find the two people “Liz” identified for “this one article, please.” An exception being made for the Wall Street Journal, while an elected Washoe County Commissioner gets told “no” by Ms. Searcy on a regular basis, but Clark doesn’t have the readership the Wall Street Journal does
Assistant County Manager Kate Thomas got to make some “suggested edits” to the article.
We were further amused Par Tolles was pitching the Village at Sage Street, a project he was involved in.
After reviewing all the emails Commissioner Clark sent to us, we commented to him that it would appear he is missing a whole lot, he’s got a bunch of holes as to how this went down but this sampling gives us the overall vibe that the Washoe County team wanted some press to make it seem they were having success in reducing homelessness and this article certainly accommodated that wish. It was an early Christmas gift to Washoe County and something they spread the word about far and wide.
Our advice to Washoe County is to remember that lovely old quote from Will Rogers, “Get someone else to blow your horn and the sound will carry twice as far.” Perhaps a little less rah-rah and some real facts and figures would have done better for Washoe County, but, hey, the Mayor of Anchorage was excited, maybe he could pick up the Nevada Cares Campus costs and save Washoe County taxpayers for a program that just isn’t working to the level the county claims.
Our favorite email was from Nevada 2nd Judicial District Court Department 7 Judge Egan Walker was interviewed but not quoted in the article, who might have summed it up best, “Who cares about the press.”
