Interview: Kyle Smith
Q. How did the Rain Shadow Report get started?
“This whole thing started around a cup of coffee at NorthTown (Coffeehouse).
Keith Effler, Phil Ostriem, and I were talking about how boring the local publications were.”
Q. Boring how?
“If I wanted to know what the Washington Post and the Seattle Times thought about a movie, then the Yakima Herald would be a perfect place to look.
We were frustrated that there was no original content to read over a cup of coffee. At least nothing in print. Growing up I read a great deal of Sherlock Holmes and was enamored with the stories of the Strand Magazine, and how people would line up to buy and read it.
About the same time, the elders at my church expressed wanting to build a small business that served specific needs within the community. Some of those needs were cultural, and some were political. The RSR sprang from that. One of the long-term goals was that the RSR would enable candidates in local elections to communicate directly with voters.”
Q. How does the RSR do that?
“By asking candidates the exact same questions, and printing their answers, we believe that our readers would be able to compare and contrast the positions taken by the candidates, and select the candidate they liked best.”
Q. What is the cultural purpose of the RSR?
“We wanted there to be a publication that provided entertainment pieces, rather than just talking about where to go to be entertained, the RSR offers short-stories, and anecdotes, and occasionally poetry.”
Q. Is it the intent of the RSR to exclusively feature local contributors?
“Yes. But I may break that rule in the future, if something catches my eye.”
Q. The RSR came out last August, and only a handful of people saw it, and then seemingly overnight, there were allegations of fraud, corruption, and slander. What happened?
“After the RSR went out, the initial response from the community was tepid. Then, I was contacted via email by a member of Chelsea Mack’s political campaign. She said that the (RSR) ‘Seemed kind of shady’.”
Q. Shady how?
“She wanted to know which company funded the RSR.”
Q. This is the woman that claims Keith runs the RSR, and that he interviewed himself, using the pen name “Kyle Smith”?
“Yeah.”
Q. What was your response to her?
“I wrote a brief email explaining the RSR’s purpose, and how it worked. That’s all.”
Q. Then what happened?
“She hired a lawyer who contacted both Keith, and I through emails, and threatened a class action law suit if Keith Effler did not take out an advertisement in the Yakima Business Times, and the Yakima Herald Republic, claiming full responsibility for the RSR.
At this point, I called my writers and told them what was going on. Then I called a lawyer, and he informed me to not delete anything, and to hold on to everything.”
Q. What are the connections between the Rain Shadow Report, Keith Effler, Conquest Church, and the Dance Syndicate of Yakima?
“Keith Effler helped start the Yakima Valley Society for Cultural Education, which heads a number of artistically minded ventures, such as the Dance Syndicate, Music Syndicate, Theatre Syndicate, Culinary Syndicate and Fashion Syndicate. Keith also has relationships with several of the people there. He is also on the Board of the YVSCE, and served as YVSCE president of the Board from 2010-2014.
Keith semi-regularly attended Conquest church three years ago, and now only occasionally attends.
Keith was hired by Conquest Church to supply photos for the RSR and we ended up using him to coordinate printing and, along with a third party, to format the paper.
The Elders of Conquest Church decided to contribute to two local political campaigns during this election cycle. Keith’s campaign was one of them.”
Q. There are a few accusations floating around on Facebook, and from Katlyn Bane of the Yakima Herald Republic, that Keith Effler made the Rain Shadow Report specifically to slam his political opponents, and to make himself look good. How would you respond to those charges?
“My response would be that the RSR was amateurish, and any favoritism shown was purely inadvertent. Keith didn’t write or edit any part of the RSR. As to the “Slamming candidates” accusation, I assume that it is referencing my summation at the back of the newspaper about each of the candidates. I gave my honest opinion, and made a point of listing their strengths, and a weakness. It was obviously an editorial.”
Q. Other accusations were made that the RSR interview claiming to interview the candidates besides Keith Effler were entirely made up, and never happened. Is there any way to know who’s telling the truth?
“That’s absurd. Our reporters have either recorded all of the interviews with the candidate’s permission, or chains of emails between RSR reporters and the candidates. These could be produced, if needed.”
Q. Your name is listed as a volunteer coordinator for Keith Effler’s campaign, yet you insist that you’re not involved in his election. Wouldn’t it seem that your ties to his bid for city council are much stronger than you let on?
“I would like [Keith] to win, but he listed me as a volunteer coordinator without my permission. I asked him to remove the name “Jared Bower” from the list a month and a half ago, because I was too busy to help out with his campaign, and I was uncomfortable having my name on a job title I wasn’t doing.”
Q. Some people are claiming that Keith only won the primaries because of the RSR.
“I would say that it’s ludicrous to believe that he won because of the RSR. It was a badly and clumsily edited 12-page freshman edition.”
Q. What made you choose the pen-name “Kyle Smith”?
“I wanted a pen-name, because I noticed that members of the press are treated differently by both artists and politicians. I wanted to be able to sit quietly and see how people behaved when they thought “the media” wasn’t in the room. I have to say, it has been extremely enlightening. My real name is Jared Bower, but I chose ‘Kyle Smith’ as an inside-joke. It’s from Homestar Runner: StrongBad Emails. ‘Kyle Smith’ submits a badly-written request for good writing. ‘Kyle Smith’ can’t write. I can’t write. It seemed appropriate.
Q. Why do several of your contributors use pen-names?
“Reasons vary between individuals, but I think my people don’t want to be pigeon-holed. As an example, a contributor to the first issue wrote about food. “Best and worst tacos in town.” I don’t think she wants to be known as ‘The food writer’, any more than I wish to be known as Jared Bower, ‘The Politics Guy’.”
Q. What’s next for the Rain Shadow Report?
“We will continue to provide content for free. But in the long-run, Conquest Church intends to spin this business off to one of the RSR’s contributors, releasing total ownership. At that point, I will cease to be senior Editor. Whatever direction it takes from there, who knows.”
After this interview, and the subsequent publishing, the author supposes that he too should expect to be hounded by various reporters, seeking to prove that it is in fact, the interviewee, interviewing himself. And then to allay that suspicion, the author will have to be interviewed by another writer also using a pen-name, and so on, ad infinitum.