Books in Brief. - Review - book review

Unfree Speech: The Folly of Campaign Finance Reform, by Bradley A. Smith (Princeton, 286 pp., $26.95)

Sen. Dick Durbin called Bradley Smith a "nihilist." Commentators compared him to David Duke and the Unabomber. And then-Vice President Al Gore opposed his boss's nomination of Smith to the Federal Election Commission because "the last thing we need is an FEC commissioner who publicly questions not only the constitutionality of proposed [campaign-finance] reforms, but also the constitutionality of current limitations."

But question he does. Smith passed the Senate's grilling and today serves as one of six FEC commissioners. In Unfree Speech, he argues that "almost everything the American people know, or think they know, about campaign finance is wrong."

Smith debunks many common assumptions. Money buys elections? Then why in 1994, in the "conservative revolution" that saw the highest congressional turnover rate of the 1990s, did the 34 Republicans who defeated Democratic incumbents spend-on average-two-thirds of the amounts spent by their opponents? Empirical studies also contradict the assumption that campaign donations buy votes and access.

Smith considers current campaign-finance proposals plainly unconstitutional, and warns that the regulation of political speech will ultimately burden underdogs. Instead of additional restrictions, Smith advocates the vigorous enforcement of existing laws.

The stakes, Smith writes, are high. Because it is "based on premises that are at odds with the traditional notions of equality and free speech embedded in the Constitution," he says, "campaign finance 'reform' poses the greatest threat to free speech in America since the Alien and Sedition Acts two hundred years ago." That's exactly why Unfree Speech is a must-read for anyone wanting to make sense of the campaign-finance debate.

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