Bradley A. Smith (born 1958) is a former Commissioner, Vice Chairman and Chairman of the
Federal Election CommissionThe Federal Election Commission is an independent regulatory agency that was founded in 1975 by the United States Congress to regulate the campaign finance legislation in the United States. It was created in a provision of the 1975 amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act...
(FEC) and currently serves as the Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault Designated Professor of Law at
Capital University Law SchoolCapital University Law School is a law school in Columbus, Ohio, affiliated with Capital University.In recent years Capital University Law School has developed a strong reputation for public law. Many recent alumni have gone on to prominent political positions, and several alums serve in the state...
in
Columbus, OhioColumbus is the capital and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. It is the county seat of Franklin County, although parts of the city also extend into Delaware and Fairfield counties...
. A
MichiganMichigan is a Midwestern state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Ojibwe term mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
native, Smith received a
B.A.Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences or both....
, cum laude from
Kalamazoo CollegeKalamazoo College, also known as K College or simply K, is a private liberal arts college located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1833, the institution was American Baptist in origin, and acknowledges its historical relationship with that denomination, but today maintains no...
in
Kalamazoo, MichiganKalamazoo is the largest city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 76,145...
in 1980, and his
J.D.Juris Doctor is a first professional degree.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century as a degree similar to the old European doctor of law degree...
, cum laude from
Harvard Law SchoolHarvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. HLS typically ranks among the top law...
in 1990. He is the recipient of an honorary doctorate from
Augustana CollegeAugustana College is the name of two colleges in the U.S., and the former name of one in Canada, all founded by Scandinavian immigrants:*Augustana College *Augustana College *Augustana University College...
.
Academic career and influence
After graduating from
Harvard Law SchoolHarvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. HLS typically ranks among the top law...
and briefly practicing law with the firm of Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease, Smith joined the faculty at Capital University Law School in Columbus, Ohio in the fall of 1993. Smith's breakthrough came in 1996, when the
Yale Law Journal published his article, "Faulty Assumptions and Undemocratic Consequences of Campaign Finance Reform."
In "Faulty Assumptions", Smith laid out a case against campaign finance regulation, arguing that efforts to regulate money in politics had been based on a series of incorrect beliefs about the effects of money in politics, and that as a result not only had "reform" failed to accomplish its objectives, it had made many of the problems worse. "Faulty Assumptions" contains no original research and little that is new in terms of Constitutional theory. Nevertheless, the article can be considered one of the most influential articles published on campaign finance in the last quarter of the twentieth century. The importance of "Faulty Assumptions" lay in its blending of existing political science research with legal and constitutional theory. Before "Faulty Assumptions", most legal scholarship on campaign finance had followed a narrative that assumed the corruptive and anti-egalitarian effects of large campaign contributions and spending, and had then focused on the creating a legal regime to control those effects and justify regulation against a First Amendment claims recognized by the Supreme Court in
Buckley v. ValeoBuckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 , was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States upheld a federal law which set limits on campaign contributions, but ruled that spending money to influence elections is a form of constitutionally protected free speech, and struck down portions of the law...
. At the same time, these articles were largely ignorant of a growing literature in political science based on empirical studies of campaign spending and regulatory regimes. Smith's contribution was to bring these two arms of scholarship together, deftly blending the growing body of empirical data to the constitutional and legal principles laid out elsewhere. The result was a devastating assault on the very foundation of
campaign finance reformCampaign finance reform is the common term for the political effort in the United States to change the involvement of money in politics, primarily in political campaigns....
in both politics and constitutional law. Smith's analysis forced proponents of reform to rethink many basic assumptions, or at least to justify them against his critique.
Smith followed up the success of "Faulty Assumptions" with a series of academic articles further developing and refining his unique view, the most important of which is "Money Talks: Speech, Corruption, Equality and Campaign Finance", which appeared in the
Georgetown Law Journal in 1997. "Money Talks" continues in the vein of "Faulty Assumptions" but with greater emphasis on Constitutional analysis.
Smith's work on campaign finance culminated in a book,
Unfree Speech: The Folly of Campaign Finance Reform published by the Princeton University Press in 2001.
Unfree Speech consists largely of updated and reworked versions of Smith's prior law review articles, along with some new material. By the time
Unfree Speech was published, both Smith and his campaign finance scholarship had become something of a Rohrshock test for attitudes about campaign finance. The book met with near universal praise among opponents of regulation, such as columnist
George WillGeorge Frederick Will is a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper columnist, journalist, and author.-Education and early career:Will was born in Champaign, Illinois, the son of Frederick L. Will and Louise Hendrickson Will...
, who called it
"the Year's most important book on governance," and condemnation from supporters of regulation, who lambasted it, in one reviewer's words, as
"facile and boggling." Scholars such as the British political scientist
Michael Pinto-Duschinsky were more balanced and generally complimentary, but by the time of publication Smith had been appointed to the Federal Election Commission and the book was largely reviewed as a political tract, rather than as the scholarly manuscript Smith presumably intended.
Nevertheless,
Unfree Speech is an important work. It sold well enough to trigger the release of a paperback version in 2003. More importantly,
Unfree Speech paved the way for later works. Before
Unfree Speech, most books on campaign finance focused on sources of campaign funding and the creation of ideal regulatory regimes.
Unfree Speech paved the way for a number of scholarly books more skeptical of campaign finance and its underlying assumptions, most notably John Samples'
"The Fallacy of Campaign Finance Reform," but also including
Rodney Smith's "Money, Power, and Elections," and less directly, works such as
Melvin Urofsky's "Money and Free Speech" and
Ray LaRaja's "Small Change." Compared to these later works, Smith's
Unfree Speech is polemical and somewhat dated, but Smith's fluid and powerful prose leaves
Unfree Speech as the classic example of "anti-reform" literature, and it remains assigned reading in many classes and seminars on campaign finance.
Smith's writings outside of the area of campaign finance reform have garnered far less attention, leading to criticism that he has been a a "one-trick pony." Nevertheless, there is no denying his influence in both academic and popular debates on campaign finance reform.
FEC career
Smith's ability to write for a general audience soon attracted the attention of politicians and think tanks in Washington. The libertarian Cato Institute published a
Policy Analysis by Smith in 1996 (largely a slimmed down version of his
Yale Law Journal article of the same title) which was widely distributed in Washington. Smith became a popular witness before congressional panels, both for his contrarian views and his ability to simplify complex issues for ease of consumption. The pro-reform
Brennan Center for JusticeThe Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School is a progressive, non-partisan public policy and law institute that focuses on issues involving democracy and justice...
would eventually
refer to Smith as "the most sought after witness" to make the case against reform in Congress. Having gained the attention of Republican leaders in Congress, in 1999 then Senate Majority Leader
Trent LottChester Trent Lott Sr. is a former United States Senator from Mississippi. He has served in numerous leadership positions in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, including House Minority Whip, Senate Majority Leader, Senate Minority Leader, and Senate Minority Whip...
, on the recommendation of Senator
Mitch McConnellAddison Mitchell "Mitch" McConnell, Jr. is the senior United States Senator from Kentucky. He was chosen by his Republican colleagues as the Minority Leader in November 2006, making him the top-ranking Republican in the 110th Congress, which convened January 3, 2007...
, sent Smith's name to the Clinton White House as the Republican choice to fill an upcoming vacancy on the
Federal Election CommissionThe Federal Election Commission is an independent regulatory agency that was founded in 1975 by the United States Congress to regulate the campaign finance legislation in the United States. It was created in a provision of the 1975 amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act...
, which oversees enforcement of campaign finance laws.
After a lengthy battle between Senate Republican leaders and the White House, Smith was nominated to a Republican-designated seat on the FEC on February 9, 2000 by then-
PresidentThe President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition...
Bill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He was the third-youngest president; only Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy were younger when entering office...
to a six year term and confirmed to the post by the
United States SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate and the House are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution . Each U.S state is represented by two senators,...
on May 24, 2000. By this time, Smith had established himself as one of the leading experts on
campaign financeCampaign finance refers to the fundraising and spending that political campaigns do in their election races. As campaigns have many expenditures, ranging from the cost of travel for the candidate and others to the purchasing of air time for TV advertisements, candidates often devote substantial...
in the United States, with his writings on campaign finance and election issues having appeared in noted academic publications in addition to the
Yale Law Journal, including the
University of Pennsylvania Law Review and the
Harvard Journal of Legislation. He had also been a regular witness before the
United States House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives, commonly referred to as the "House," is the lower house of the bicameral United States Congress, the upper house being the United States Senate. The composition and powers of the House and the Senate are established in Article One of the Constitution...
and
United States SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate and the House are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution . Each U.S state is represented by two senators,...
on matters of campaign finance.
Because of his contrarian, deregulatory views on campaign finance, there was a strong objection to his nomination from reform advocates. The libertarian magazine
ReasonReason is a libertarian monthly magazine from the Reason Foundation. The magazine has a circulation of around 60,000 and has twice been named one of the "50 best magazines" by the Chicago Tribune.- History :...
noted that virtually all reform advocates "agreed that he was the wrong person for the job". His nomination, however, received strong support from groups and organizations favoring deregulation of campaign finance, including, in addition to
Reason, the
Wall Street Journal, the
Cato InstituteThe Cato Institute is a pro-free market, libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C.The Institute's stated mission is "to broaden the parameters of public policy debate to allow consideration of the traditional American principles of limited government, individual liberty, free...
, and others.
As Commissioner and later Chairman of the FEC, Smith remained controversial, particularly in 2004, when as Chairman he bucked the Republican Party and refused to support new regulations of so-called "
527 groupA 527 organization or 527 group is a type of American tax-exempt organization named after a section of the United States tax code, . A 527 group is created primarily to influence the nomination, election, appointment or defeat of candidates for public office...
s," organizations largely unregulated by campaign finance laws that were generally believed to favor Democratic Presidential candidate
John KerryJohn Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, and is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee....
. Smith's tenure was otherwise marked by efforts to reform the FEC's enforcement proceedings to provide greater due process rights for respondents, and a staunch stand against expansion of the law into uncharted areas. Smith also supported the creation of an Administrative Fines program and an Alternative Dispute Resolution Office at the FEC. As Commissioner, he maintained an active speaking schedule and rarely toned down his criticism of the laws he was charged with enforcing. He resigned from the FEC in August 2005 to return to teaching, writing in his
resignation letter to President Bush that, "Political activity is more heavily regulated than at any time in our nation's history."
Post-FEC career
After leaving the FEC, Smith founded a non-profit organization, the
Center for Competitive Politics, to promote deregulation of campaign finance. Smith is also a Senior Fellow at the
Goldwater InstituteThe Goldwater Institute is a Phoenix, Arizona-based public policy think-tank established in 1988. The president is Darcy A. Olsen. The Goldwater Institute advances public policies with emphasis on lower taxes, limited government spending, school choice, and a reduction in government management of...
, a member of the Board of Scholars at the
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, and a member of the Board of Trustees of the
Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions. He serves on the Advisory Board of the
Institute for Law and PoliticsThe Institute for Law and Politics is an interdisciplinary research institute based at the University of Minnesota Law School. The Institute for Law and Politics brings together faculty from the Law School and the University of Minnesota Political Science department to study national and...
at the
University of Minnesota Law SchoolThe University of Minnesota Law School, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is a professional school of the University of Minnesota. The school offers a Juris Doctor , Masters of Law for Foreign Lawyers, and joint degrees with J.D./M.B.A., J.D./M.P.A, J.D./M.A., J.D./M.S., J.D./Ph.D., J.D./M.D.,...
, and on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Election Law Journal. In 2007-08, he was a member of Advisory Panel on the Constitution and the Courts for the presidential campaign of (Mitt) Romney.
Smith, a Roman Catholic, lives in Granville, Ohio with his wife. He has two adult daughters.
External links