Attorney General: Providence Journal Operating Illegally
Friday, August 05, 2011
While The Providence Journal is used to reporting headlines – they are one of the headlines in Connecticut.
Both the Department of the Attorney General and the Secretary of State’s Office have announced that the Providence Journal is among the highest offenders related to legal authority to conduct business in the state of Connecticut.
In all, 330 companies were found to be in violation of the law, according to authorities. “We have heard from Connecticut companies who are being undercut by outside firms who escape accountability by not obtaining a certificate of authority from our office to do business here. This needs to stop. We hope these fines send a deterrent message, as well as improve accountability for Connecticut consumers,” said Connecticut Secretary of State Denise Merrill.
It is not clear what kind of business the ProJo was conducting in Connecticut. The Journal is required to list what kinds of business transactions they are conducting, but under Connecticut state law, the information sent in by the Providence Journal is not made public, according to Av Harris, Director of Communications for the Secretary of State’s Office.
Thousands of businesses have properly filed
Under state law, business corporations, nonstock corporations, limited partnerships, limited liability companies, limited liability partnerships, and statutory trusts formed outside of Connecticut must obtain a certificate of authority to transact business in Connecticut by registering with the Secretary of the State’s Office and paying the statutorily established fee. More than 50,000 of these entities have properly filed with the Secretary of the State’s Office.
Harris, with the Secretary of State’s Office, told GoLocal that the Providence Journal has transacted business in Connecticut for a number of years and failed to obtain proper authority and therefore had to pay a penalty.
The Providence Journal, listed as one of the companies paying one of the biggest fines, shelled out $22,192.50 and is now in accordance with the law. By releasing the names of companies in violation of the law, Connecticut officials hope to spur the other companies that have neglected to do so to file the proper paper work.
“Unintentional Oversight”
In a statement to the Associated Press, the ProJo said that not properly registering to do buisness in the state was what they called an “unintentional oversight." “As soon as it came to light, we rectified the situation by registering with the state and paid the requisite license fees and penalties," said Deborah Tomilson, the Journal's divisional vice president of audience, business development and digital.
How the Providence Journal, as big an entity as it is, would not know about filing proper paperwork in a state they are doing business in is not known. We did ask the Secretary of State’s Office if their office is responsible for notifying companies. “The requirement to register has been part of Connecticut state statute for nearly 50 years, and the burden to register before legally transacting business in Connecticut is on the business entity. Our office would not know if a company was transacting business in this state if they were not registered to do so.”
Inquires to A.H. Belo Corp., of Dallas, parent company of the Providence Journal, were not immediately returned.
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