Money talks: campaign finance and talk radio.

• Author: Doherty, Brian
• Position: Citings - Brief article

DOES THE First Amendment allow Americans to talk about politics without any legal restrictions? A Washington state court doesn't think so. After talk radio hosts Kirby Wilbur and John Carlson discussed their support for a ballot initiative to overturn a state gas tax, a Washington court decided that the two had contributed to the initiative campaign. Under Washington state's Fair Campaign Practices Act, the court said, the campaign to which they contributed must file public disclosure forms with a cash value attached to their words of support.

"Public disclosure" is an odd way to describe the filing requirement, since the regulated act--speaking in favor of an initiative on the radio using your own name--is inherently self-disclosing. Although the only relief the Washington counties who sued the initiative campaign explicitly sought was the disclosure requirement, the decision would also mean, given the letter of state law, that radio hosts would not be allowed to talk about campaigns at...