Tom Reynolds' response? Suppress free speech questioning his campaign conduct by getting an attorney to threaten a law suit against a blogger for libel and slander.
At issue are allegations that Senator Reynolds "used campaign funds to heat his home" (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Oct. 19, 2006) that have been the subject of numerous postings on the "Milwaukee Rising" blog (http://milwaukeerising.blogspot.com/), authored by Gretchen Schuldt.
In response to Schuldt's postings, Schuldt received a letter from the Petrie & Stocking S.C. law firm asserting that Schuldt is "blatantly libeling and slandering" the good Senator, and demanding a "retraction," adding:
As Wisconsin Democrats turn up the political heat on Reynolds on this issue through a complaint to the State Elections Board, letters, and television ads, the attempt to shut down Schuldt is a desperate act of a wacky state senator against an excellent writer whose only apparent sin is her critical fact-based reporting.
As for Schuldt, she posted the cease and desist letter with the preface, "...Nothing like a little intimidation and suppression effort to squelch a rising controversy, eh?"
It seems Senator Reynolds is taking his direction on suppressing information flow from Karl Rove and Dick Cheney.
Laughing off and exposing this clumsy and bone-headed effort to shut down journalistic criticism, as Schuldt has done on her Milwaukee Rising blog, is a wise course of action.
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