Candidates can find guidelines on how to run a campaign at the Public Disclosure Commissions (PDC). It is also a fantastic resource for the news media to research how to do advertising policies and procedures for their advertisers.
The Deer Park Gazette’s mission is to keep the public informed about what is happening in our community. Advertisements on our website is what keeps the lights on. Everyone who wants to advertise with the Gazette is welcome. We do not endorse or give preference to any candidates.
We would love to hear from people who want to advertise with us for any reason. All ads are on a rotation and done by our server program, not by any one person, so that each ad will get an equal amount of time. Therefore, human bias is not in the equation.
Our current ad prices are as follows:
- Leaderboard 728×90 pixels
$30 for 30 days - Wide Skyscraper 160×600 pixels
$45 for 30 days
Further Information from the PDC
The ads that all public candidates can publish on our websites are exempt from sponsor identification only if the ad is a clickable link to candidates’ websites. It is not a requirement, according to the Public Disclosure Commission (PDC), which is the governing organization on public sponsor requirements. It falls under the exemption of small online ads with limited characters. We have also confirmed this with a contact at the PDC in the past.
The following text is directly from the PDC site:
“Small online ads with limited characters may display sponsor ID & party preference in an automatic display such as a mouse tip/rollover or non-blockable pop-up that remains visible for at least 4 seconds OR on a webpage that is conspicuously linked to the small ad and reached with one mouse click.”
If an advertiser does not have a website, they must clearly state the words “paid for by” or “sponsored by” followed by the sponsor’s name & address. Include all sponsors’ names and addresses when there is more than one.
It is not the responsibility of the Gazette to enforce PDC rules. Each campaign is liable for their own ads placed with the Gazette. The Gazette staff will not disclose campaign plans of any advertisers, political or otherwise, as that is private information.Here is the link to the PDC guide that our decision on how to handle all campaign ads is based: PDC.wa.gov/learn/publications/political-advertising-guide.
PDC Contact Information
Phone: 1-877-601-2828
Email: [email protected]
Disclaimer
Richard Schut, who is currently running for re-election for City Council Position 3, is one of the owners of the Deer Park Gazette; this is not a secret. However, Mr. Schut is not involved in articles about the upcoming election for fairness and transparency. Even ads that he runs on the Gazette’s website are invoiced and paid for by his campaign.
