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.”