 This is Corey Tomczyk. He's a Republican state lawmaker from Wisconsin and this man could singlehandedly take down an entire local news outlet all because they dared to publish a story about him that he did not like. So in August of 2021, the local outlet in question here is the Warsaw Pilot and Review, and they published an article about a heated debate that broke out during a board meeting over a diversity resolution. Now those opposed showed up to argue that it was un-American and Marxist and claimed that it was unnecessary because they've never heard of anyone being discriminated against before, therefore this resolution wasn't needed. Now at the time, he was just the local business owner and hadn't yet been elected to the state senate, but he was one of the individuals who showed up to speak out against this resolution. Now there were some teenagers that showed up to vocalize their support and he allegedly called one of these teenagers a gay slur after they spoke in favor of the resolution. And that's what the Warsaw reported about that he did not like. So on August 21st of 2021, the Warsaw Pilot and Review wrote, Julian Brown, who last week asked the board to be supportive of the ideals that we practice in school, again asked the members to pass the resolution. Quote, I don't know how people can direct so much hate to such a resolution, Julian said. His mother, Nora Brown, who also spoke at the meetings at her son, 13, and another speaker faced the slur at the executive committee meeting last week. Lisa Ort Sondergaard, who is a member of the County's Diversity Affairs Commission, witnessed the episode and said she heard a local businessman using the slur f***. This did not sit well with Christopher Wood, a vocal opponent of the proposal. Every once in a while, someone is going to be called a f*** Wood said. But we've got to get over it, Wood said, adding that in his view, freedom of speech was under attack. It was not clear whether he was referring to the freedom to call a 13-year-old a f***. So, this grown man allegedly called a child the f*** slur, and then another grown man allegedly defended him, presumably by claiming that if he's not allowed to call said child the f*** slur, then his free speech is under attack if you criticize him. Sounds on brand for Republicans, right? Now, again, this is all alleged, but there is evidence, which is why the newspaper decided to report on this. But Cory Tomzik, the man who was accused of saying this slur, he was not happy with this reporting, and the New York Times explains, Mr. Tomzik, who is now a Republican state senator, denied using the slur and demanded a retraction. When the pilot and review stood by its article, Mr. Tomzik sued. Three additional people who attended the meeting later gave sworn statements that they had heard Mr. Tomzik used the word, and during a deposition he admitted having said it on other occasions. In late April of 2023, a judge dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that Mr. Tomzik had not met the legal standard for proving that the report defamed him. And get this, Mr. Tomzik has acknowledged using the word before, court filing submitted by the pilot and review's lawyer, Brian Spahn, quote Mr. Tomzik as saying in a deposition, I have a brother who is a gay guy, and I've certainly, out of joking and out of spite, called him a f*** it more than once. Amazing defense for himself here. So let's just pause right there so I can give you some additional context. What we have here is what's known as a slap suit. Now, slap is an acronym that stands for strategic lawsuit against public participation. And these types of lawsuits are used by wealthy people like him to shut down their critics, typically individuals with less money and power. Now, even if there's no legal merit to their claim of defamation and or damages, that doesn't matter because the goal itself is not to sue and successfully win. The lawsuit or even the threat of a lawsuit is used basically as a form of intimidation to get critics to shut up. And getting them to be afraid of a lawsuit is the whole goal of this suit. They know they're not going to win, but they know that they might be able to bully people into silence if they threaten them with this frivolous lawsuit. Now, the problem with these lawsuits is that even if the defendants know that they didn't defame someone, just defending themselves could lead to them going bankrupt due to the legal fees, right? Even if they know that they're going to win, if they try to defend themselves, then that's going to be very, very costly. Now, as LGBTQ Nation reports, many states, but not Wisconsin, which by the way is where the newspaper is located, have anti-slap laws that prevent corporations and wealthy individuals from using the legal system to squelch free speech. Under such laws, journalists and others who have been sued can file a motion to dismiss a lawsuit if the case involves free speech. If the person suing can't show that they have a chance at winning, the suit is dismissed and they might have to pay attorney's fees for the defendant. And these anti-slap laws are crucial because it gives people with no money in power, journalists also, the ability to criticize those with more money and more power without the fear of getting hit with some bullshit lawsuit. And I'll link you to anti-slap scorecards so you can see whether or not your state has these protections in place, but in my state of Oregon and along the entire West Coast basically, we have really strong protections against these types of suits, which is probably why Kim Iverson backed down after threatening me with the defamation suit after I published a video criticizing her that she didn't like. In states like mine, this sort of behavior is discouraged. Wealthy people can't use the law to silence critics because there are protections for us. But as you can see in Wisconsin, there's absolutely no protections whatsoever against lap suits. And it's been utterly devastating to the Wausau pilot in review because the judge, even though he dismissed Tom's case, well, guess what? He can continue to wage lawfare against them by simply dragging out the case as long as possible. And even if it was dismissed, well, he has the right to appeal and drag it out even further. And guess what? That's exactly what he's doing. The New York Times continues, Mr. Tomzick has filed an appeal and the publication's founder and editor, Shereen Seuert, said she has no idea how she can continue paying both her lawyers and her staff of form. Every time I opened the mail, said Ms. Seuert, describing how she dreads finding a new bill, I want to throw up. Those dollars could be going to pay reporters for boots on the ground coverage, not paying legal fees for a lawsuit that appears designed to crush us, she added. They continue, the Wisconsin case First Amendment experts warned shows how a single defamation suit can become a cudgel against the media in a way the law never intended. For small local news organizations, many of which are barely getting by financially, the suit's threatened to put them out of business. That is the case with the pilot in review. Even though there is scant evidence that it reported anything false, let alone that it did so with actual malice, the long-established burden of proof that public officials like Mr. Tomzick must meet in a defamation case. And that last paragraph is really important because proving defamation in the court of law is very difficult to do. Even if you can prove that somebody said something about you that was false, proving malicious intent is a very, very high bar to reach. But it doesn't matter because this Republican, he knows that he can accomplish what he wants by simply dragging this out, and that's what he's doing. His case was already dismissed and his appeal will be dismissed, but he knows that the longer he drags this out, the more money that they're gonna have to pour into defending themselves, which accomplishes what he wants. It gets them to shut up. Since they wouldn't willingly shut up, he's trying to use the law to make them shut up, right? Now, this is a small four-person news outlet that was created in 2017, and they cover really important local news stories that impact the people of their communities, such as contaminated drinking water and whatnot. But they might literally be destroyed because of this man and his refusal to drop this frivolous lawsuit. Now, this slapsuit has cost them $150,000, and when you go to their website, you can tell that they're hurting because their GoFundMe is one of the first things that you see, and even though they've raised $45,000, that's just a fraction of the money that they'll need to defend themselves. So I'm gonna link you to their GoFundMe down below, and if you can, throw them a couple of bucks because this is not okay. Corey Tombsick is using his wealth to silence his critics, and he also probably used his wealth to secure himself a seat in Wisconsin State Legislature. And in the event an anti-slap law or bill, I should say, comes up, he's now in a position to where he can block it as a state senator. And by the way, he got elected running on COVID restrictions and stopping any mitigation measures against the pandemic. So, yeah, kind of goes to show you who he is. If you look at his website, he's a very Trumpian Republican. He's an election denier like Donald Trump, and he has a lot in common with Trumpian Republicans who have also sued media outlets. For example, Trump tried to sue CNN, but that was dismissed. His lackey Devin Nunes tried to sue the Washington Post. That was dismissed, and we just learned that Mississippi's former governor is suing a local outlet after they reported on his comments about welfare fraud. So, I mean, these Republican tyrants, they claim to care about free speech, and they denounce the supposed weaponization of our legal system when it comes to Donald Trump being indicted over his attempt to steal the 2020 election. But yet, what are they doing? They are continuously waging lawfare against their critics in a blatant attempt to get them to shut up, to get them to go away. But what happened to free speech? Like, it's not okay, and it shouldn't be tolerated, but the problem is that this is not going to stop until we have national anti-slap protections in place. But until then, what we can do in the meantime is rally around outlets like the Wausau Pilot & Review so we can at least help them exist until this is addressed nationally. So, consider supporting them on GoFundMe.