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Court rules against Carlsbad he-she council"it", lifts restraining order
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Gender Pretending
Mar 21, 2021, 5:58:22 PM3/21/21
to
This is a male pretending to be a woman.
<https://ca-
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CARLSBAD — A Superior Court last week dismissed the restraining
order a Carlsbad councilwoman obtained in September against two
of her constituents whom she claimed harassed her on Facebook
and other online forums.
Councilwoman Cori Schumacher obtained the order against three
people, Anthony Bona, Noel Breen and Larry Posner, although
Posner was released from the case in October. The three men had
criticized Schumacher for her positions on a number of community
issues and posted comments that she considered threatening.
“The issue here is essentially whether Bona and Breen were
engaged in a course of protected political commentary
(legitimate conduct) or made unprotected “true threats”
constituting harassment,” wrote Judge Cynthia A. Freeland in her
tentative ruling released Thursday. “The only reasonable
interpretation of these posts is social commentary, not personal
threats.”
Reached by email Thursday, Schumacher declined to comment on the
judge’s decision.
Bona said Friday by email that the judge “was able to look at
the big picture of what was going on and render a fair, unbiased
opinion.”
“I have been severely damaged by reckless news stories, which
had me colored as a stalker when I don’t know where she lives,”
Bona said. “Some news outlets reported me as surveilling her
when I never did nor did I have any intentions to. This is wrong
and needs to be acknowledged as wrong. My financial life and
personal life have suffered tremendously as a result.”
Bona and Breen filed what’s called an anti-SLAPP (Strategic
Lawsuit Against Public Participation) motion against Schumacher
asking the court to lift the restraining order.
“The public should feel free to use social media to criticize
public officials without fear of having their First Amendment
rights trampled by thin-skinned politicians,” said Scott Talkov,
an attorney representing Breen.
“When you run for elected office, you sign up to be disliked for
any reason or no reason, including reasons you’ll never
understand,” Talkov said in an email.
Breen posted several commentaries on the decision on Facebook,
include a live 15-minute commentary.
“Whatever our individual politics or attitudes toward the
councilwoman, the use of the court system in this manner is just
another piece of the delegitimization of public commenters,
reporters and news outlets,” Breen said by email Friday.
“I could have gladly missed out on the experience, but SLAPP
suits are a sad manifestation of broader issues in our country,”
he said. “It needs to be discussed every time it occurs.”
The judge scheduled a hearing April 9 for motions expected from
Bona and Breen seeking attorneys’ fees.
Schumacher was first elected to an at-large council seat in 2016
and ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2018. In a special March
2020 election, voters chose her to fill the District 1 seat left
open by the resignation of former Councilwoman Barbara Hamilton,
a term that expires in 2022.
<https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/communities/north-
county/carlsbad/story/2021-03-07/court-rules-against-carlsbad-
councilwoman-lifts-restraining-order>
<https://ca-
times.bright
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dims4/defaul
t/59f3dec/21
47483647/str
ip/true/crop
/3692x4758+0
+0/resize/840x1083!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-
times-
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3.amazonaws.com%2F4a%2F20%2F219db007cece839c4eb6a6c97f58%2Fimg-
3059595-sd-oe-cori-s-2-1-5g65hbvs.jpg>
CARLSBAD — A Superior Court last week dismissed the restraining
order a Carlsbad councilwoman obtained in September against two
of her constituents whom she claimed harassed her on Facebook
and other online forums.
Councilwoman Cori Schumacher obtained the order against three
people, Anthony Bona, Noel Breen and Larry Posner, although
Posner was released from the case in October. The three men had
criticized Schumacher for her positions on a number of community
issues and posted comments that she considered threatening.
“The issue here is essentially whether Bona and Breen were
engaged in a course of protected political commentary
(legitimate conduct) or made unprotected “true threats”
constituting harassment,” wrote Judge Cynthia A. Freeland in her
tentative ruling released Thursday. “The only reasonable
interpretation of these posts is social commentary, not personal
threats.”
Reached by email Thursday, Schumacher declined to comment on the
judge’s decision.
Bona said Friday by email that the judge “was able to look at
the big picture of what was going on and render a fair, unbiased
opinion.”
“I have been severely damaged by reckless news stories, which
had me colored as a stalker when I don’t know where she lives,”
Bona said. “Some news outlets reported me as surveilling her
when I never did nor did I have any intentions to. This is wrong
and needs to be acknowledged as wrong. My financial life and
personal life have suffered tremendously as a result.”
Bona and Breen filed what’s called an anti-SLAPP (Strategic
Lawsuit Against Public Participation) motion against Schumacher
asking the court to lift the restraining order.
“The public should feel free to use social media to criticize
public officials without fear of having their First Amendment
rights trampled by thin-skinned politicians,” said Scott Talkov,
an attorney representing Breen.
“When you run for elected office, you sign up to be disliked for
any reason or no reason, including reasons you’ll never
understand,” Talkov said in an email.
Breen posted several commentaries on the decision on Facebook,
include a live 15-minute commentary.
“Whatever our individual politics or attitudes toward the
councilwoman, the use of the court system in this manner is just
another piece of the delegitimization of public commenters,
reporters and news outlets,” Breen said by email Friday.
“I could have gladly missed out on the experience, but SLAPP
suits are a sad manifestation of broader issues in our country,”
he said. “It needs to be discussed every time it occurs.”
The judge scheduled a hearing April 9 for motions expected from
Bona and Breen seeking attorneys’ fees.
Schumacher was first elected to an at-large council seat in 2016
and ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2018. In a special March
2020 election, voters chose her to fill the District 1 seat left
open by the resignation of former Councilwoman Barbara Hamilton,
a term that expires in 2022.
<https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/communities/north-
county/carlsbad/story/2021-03-07/court-rules-against-carlsbad-
councilwoman-lifts-restraining-order>
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