Our friends at the Center for Competitive Politics have just released a new report laying out a policy agenda that “outlines steps policymakers can take to increase incentives for citizen participation in politics, encourage electoral competition and simplify the maze of campaign finance regulations.”  While we disagree with some of their suggestions, and feel that others (like raising disclosure thresholds) don’t go far enough, the report is well worth reading.  In contrast with the tired rhetoric from groups urging ever-greater government control over political speech, CCP makes a number of common-sense suggestions that would promote free speech and political participation while making our nation’s campaign finance laws far more rational.

Wendy Kaminer has a terrific takedown in the Atlantic of the latest silliness emanating from campaign finance “reformers”: a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow Congress to regulate corporate political speech.

 

It’s hard to find a favorite passage from this article, because practically every sentence is a gem. But if I had to choose, I’d go with her dissection of the mantra that “money is not speech”:

 

Put aside the fact that liberals never complain that money isn’t abortion rights when they lobby for medicaid funds or that money isn't the right to an attorney when they lobby for indigent defense funding. Instead, simply remember reformers’ claim that money isn't speech when they explain that restrictions on corporate expenditures are essential to democracy because monopolizing wealth enables corporations to monopolize speech. In other words, they implicitly argue, we need campaign finance restrictions because money is speech. But explicitly conceding that money is speech would require them to acknowledge an intent to limit First Amendment rights, to engage in arguments about the value of corporate political advocacy, and present compelling reasons for criminalizing it. That’s a debate advocates of reform want very much to avoid, which is why they also attack the notion of corporate personhood.  

 

We’ve said it before; we’ll say it again: campaign finance reform is ultimately about censoring speech. Go read the whole article.

This year’s Federalist Society National Lawyers Convention included a great panel on anonymity and political speech featuring friend-of-IJ Brad Smith.  The video, below, is well worth watching:

 

The First Amendment means that government bureaucrats don’t get to play art critic. But in Arlington, Virginia, local zoning officials told Wag More Dogs that its mural depicting happy cartoon dogs, bones and paw prints was an illegal sign because it has “a relationship” with the business. Wag More Dogs has had to cover its cartoon dogs with an ugly tarp for the past three months so that it can stay open.

 

 

 

But Wag More Dogs’ owner, Kim Houghton, isn’t just rolling over and playing dead. Yesterday, the Institute for Justice filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of Kim arguing that government officials can’t force entrepreneurs to choose between their right to speak and their right to earn an honest living.

 

Coverage of the case launch can be seen here, here and here. For a short video that explains the case, see below.

 

If you haven't seen my colleague Bill Maurer's recent article in the Weekly Standard about "Campaign Finance Myths," it's definitely worth a read—particularly if you want a quick primer on why everything "reformers" are saying about Citizens United is wrong.

Late yesterday the Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed to take a case involving new state campaign finance rules.  We’ve reported on the case before, see here and here, which involves regulations that, among other things, require anyone spending more than $25 on a communication that mentions a candidate to register with the government.

 

This is great sign that the Wisconsin Supreme Court is taking seriously the threat that disclosure laws present to ordinary citizens.  The Institute for Justice filed an amicus brief in support of the court taking the case, arguing that Wisconsin’s new rules present a major threat to citizen speech.

 

The case is set for oral argument on March 9, 2011.  We will continue following the case closely.

All last month our friends at the Cato Institute held an on-line symposium on campaign finance reform and disclosure, entitled “Following the Money: The law and Ethics of Campaign Finance Disclosure.”  The contributors are UC Berkley Professor Bruce Cain, Electionlawblog’s Professor Rick Hasen, Cato’s own John Samples, and Common Cause’s Nikki Willoughby.  Check out the interesting debate.

Professor Rick Hasen has started an interesting debate on this subject with a recent blog post on Summary Judgments, the Los Angeles Faculty Blog of the Loyola Law School. He believes that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear IJ’s and the Goldwater Institute’s challenges to the matching funds provisions of Arizona’s “Clean Elections” law will result in, as the title of his post says, “An Effective End to Public Financing.” Professor Hasen graciously linked to IJ’s response to his post over at Election Law Blog. Check it out.