Campaign Finance Reform: The First Amendment Comes First.(Brief Article)(Review)

Campaign Finance Reform: The First Amendment Comes First Bradley A. Smith. Unfree Speech: The Folly of Campaign Finance Reform. Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540.

Federal Election Commissioner Smith warns that if campaign finance reformers have their way, Americans may end up with a system where "no political speech is allowed except with prior approval of the government."

Few of the ways candidates express themselves--pamphlets, newspaper ads, T.V. commercials--are free. "If spending money were not a form of speech," Smith writes, "the First Amendment would become hollow for all but newspapers and other press outlets, since any effort to spread one's message, through advertising or pamphleteering, could be stripped of First Amendment protections simply by attacking the expenditure of money."

Smith also contends that money doesn't influence politicians as much as many believe. Tough anti-bribery laws prohibit politicians from directly performing favors in return for campaign contributions. The reason the Abscam scandal of the 1970s and the Keating Five scandal of the 1980s were shocking was because they were atypical.

Since reformers can't prove money corrupts politicians, they argue campaign contributions unfairly open doors for lob: byists. What's overlooked is that lobbying organizations have influence not only because of their donations, but because they represent mass groups. The National Rifle Association's clout on Capitol Hill, for example, doesn't just come from its ...