Voluntary Mandatory Self-Ratings and Limits on Speech

[Bill Stewart]

>On Wed, 15 Aug 2001, Tim May wrote:
> > Many of us don't believe this common belief today, that the First is
> > mainly about political speech, is consistent with the intent of the 
> Framers.

If you're talking about tobacco advertising or dirty pictures on the Net,
politicians will tell you "Oh, No, the Freedom-of-speech-and-press stuff
in the First Amendment isn't about that, it's about protecting political 
speech."
But if you're talking about campaign finance, "well, no, elections are too
important to let people with money pay to have their opinions published,
that would corrupt the election process."

We've got a current case in California, reported in the 8/21 SF Chronicle,
where Gov. Gray Davis is asking a judge to block psuedonymous TV ads
criticizing his atrocious mishandling of the electricity crisis.
This is pure political speech, not even mentioning elections or opposing 
politicians,
just slamming the "Gray-outs from Gray Davis".

According to the article by Ray Delgado, Davis's campaign committee sued,
complaining that the American Taxpayers Alliance, based in DC, broke
California law by not registering with the CA secretary of state
as a political organization and not disclosing the identities of its donors.
They spent about $2M, and it's headed by Scott Reed, a Republican
campaign consultant, and registed with the IRS as a non-profit corporation.
Delgado says that Time Magazine identified Reliant Energy as a big contributor,
and the Center for Responsive Politics says their prime donors are oil&gas 
companies
(big surprise there, eh?)  The Alliance's lawyer, James Bopp, says that this
ad is an assessment of the gov's performance in office, and protected by 
the First.
Davis's mouthpiece is Joseph Remcho, and the Judge is
San Francisco Superior Court Judge David Garcia.

(Of course, I'd be extremely surprised if the ad also criticizes Davis's
predecessor, Republican Party Reptile Pete Wilson, whose economic cluelessness
got us into this mess, leaving behind a system that would take *far* more
economic competence than any major Democrat can be expect to have to repair 
it.)