photo credit: Greta Mart/KRCB

The sale of Santa Rosa's Press Democrat looks imminent.

The Press Democrat Guild is the local union for editorial staff at the Santa Rosa newspaper and its sister publications around Sonoma County.

The guild is bringing its current contract to an early end, a move they hope will smooth the takeover by Hearst Media.

Phil Barber, a reporter and member of the Press Democrat Guild, said it was still a tough decision.

"It was a choice of poisons in a lot of ways," Barber said.

Barber, a guild leader, said the union opted to waive the remaining year and a half of the current contract, set to expire in August, 2026.

That allows the Press Democrat's owners, Sonoma Media Investments, to sell the paper to Hearst Media, owners of the San Francisco Chronicle.

As part of the agreement between the paper's staff and Sonoma Media Investments, the guild will not attempt to block the sale.

In exchange, guild members will receive a payout, and, according to reporting in KQED, be offered employment at the their current salaries by Hearst. Barber said the current contract was seen as a stumbling block for Hearst, opening the door to bids from other parties.

Prominent Sonoma County real estate developers Bill and Cindy Gallaher were among a group of people who made a bid for the paper; another offer is rumored to have come from Alden Capital, an investment firm, which has been described as the "destroyer of newspapers".

With the path clear for Hearst, Barber said the guild is, "looking forward to hearing more about what Hearst will bring to ownership if in fact this deal goes through, and what Hearst can offer our workers."

"But we're hopeful in the long run that we can all still be providing the strong community journalism that I think made the Press Democrat and its sister newspapers a valuable asset," Barber said.

Barber said the memorandum of understanding to waive the contract has been signed by Sonoma Media Investments and the Press Democrat Guild, but he said the guild has not yet communicated with Hearst directly.

Editiorial staff at the Chronicle, like the Press Democrat, have their own bargaining unit under the Pacific Media Workers Guild umbrella.

One of the competing bidders for the newspaper is no stranger to the its coverage.

Husband and wife duo Bill and Cindy Gallaher, founders and leaders of real estate developer Gallaher Companies, are angling to bring the paper into their portfolio.

Asked why, Cindy Gallaher said, "because we know they're in negotiation to sell it to Hearst, and we feel it's important that we maintain a local paper for local issues."

The Press Democrat and it's sister publications the Sonoma Index Tribune, Petaluma Argus-Courier, Sonoma County Gazette, La Prensa Sonoma, Sonoma Magazine, and North Bay Business Journal are owned by Sonoma Media Investments, commonly called SMI.

The locally based group, led by prominent political lobbyist Darius Anderson, purchased the Press Democrat in 2012.

Former Congressman Doug Bosco, a member of the SMI ownership group, all but confirmed an impending sale of the paper in a recent interview with the San Francisco Standard.

Bosco said the many of the paper's owners are aging and interested in selling or passing it to on.

Publishing powerhouse Hearst, which owns the SF Chronicle, quickly emerged as a front runner to buy the 128 year old newspaper, with apparently an $8 million bid.

The rival bid headed by the Gallahers said they are offering $12 million.

Komron Shahosseini, another member of that prospective purchasing group, stressed their local ties.

"What we've done is essentially just said that there's an alternative here and it's a local alternative; and if SMI is interested, as they I think have made clear that they are in keeping the paper local, that we're available," Shahosseini said. 

The Gallahers are frequent fixtures of the paper's reporting. They are prominent in Sonoma County civil society, with philanthropic ventures like saving the Athena House in Santa Rosa and it's women's treatment and sober living program.

They are powerful local political players as well. Bill Gallaher mounted an unsuccessful $1.8 million dollar effort to recall former Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch over her decision to sue Gallaher's company Oakmont Senior Living for abandoning seniors during the 2017 Tubbs Fire. Okamont Senior Living ultimately settled over their conduct during the firestorm.

Despite the family's contentious relationship with the paper, which includes a libel lawsuit, Cindy Gallaher maintained that their influence on the paper's editorial independence would be, "pretty much none."

"It's a good paper," Gallaher said. "It's done a good job, and we don't intend to exert any editorial control."

Shahosseini said the investment group does not want to cut large numbers of staff, and would honor the contract agreed between SMI and the Press Democrat Guild.

Editor's note - a previous version of this story described Alden Capital as a hedge fund. As pointed out to KRCB News by a company spokesperson, Alden Capital previously operated as a hedge fund, but is now an investment firm, according to SEC filings.