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June 16, 2006, 9:25 a.m.
Free Kirby Wilbur
By The Editors
Free speech is under assault in the state of Washington. In the name of campaign-finance reform, government officials in the state have claimed the authority to clamp down on their citizens right to speak out on public issues. This case is a chilling illustration of the dangers posed by our ever-multiplying campaign regulations.
Last year, two Seattle radio hosts named Kirby Wilbur and John Carlson began arguing on the air against a gas-tax increase of 9.5 cents per gallon. They encouraged their listeners to collect signatures and donate money in behalf of Initiative 912, a ballot referendum seeking to repeal the new tax.
Before long, gas-tax proponents a consortium of revenue-hungry municipalities throughout the state of Washington filed a lawsuit demanding that the No New Gas Tax campaign disclose the value of the hosts radio advocacy as an in-kind campaign contribution. A lower court agreed, asserting that Wilbur and Carlsons close ties to the anti-tax campaign made their advocacy cross the line between free speech and political advertising. And political advertising is, according to state law, subject to disclosure requirements.
Wilbur and Carlson were unhappy with the ruling, and they planned to appeal. In the meantime, however, they came up with a monetary value to assign to their radio advocacy, and began disclosing it to state authorities as a campaign contribution.
But they still faced an uglier prospect. Under Washington state law, initiative campaigns are not allowed to accept donations greater than $5,000 in the final 21 days leading up to an election. This posed a problem for Wilbur and Carlson, because their daily radio advocacy was listed as being worth more than $5,000 over a three-week period. If they continued to broadcast their arguments against the gas tax, they risked breaking the law. Outrageous as it seemed, the government would be able to prosecute them for publicly expressing themselves about a matter of public policy.
With the help of the Institute for Justice, Wilbur and Carlson have appealed to the state supreme court, which heard arguments in the case last Thursday. At issue are the state constitutions guarantees of free speech, as well as the contours of the states campaign-finance law.
Washingtons campaign-finance regulations do make an exception for commentary published in outlets that are not controlled by a candidate or campaign committee. But the lawsuit against Wilbur and Carlson claims that the two of them became so closely connected to the anti-tax movement that they should be considered principals in the campaign. According to an attorney who filed the suit against the radio hosts, their efforts to collect money and signatures for Initiative 912 suggested a level of control and involvement that would make them officers and/or agents of the campaign. Thus, we are supposed to conclude, they ought to be muzzled.
It is depressing to see campaign-finance regulation descend to such disgrace. But it is also instructive. The persecution of Wilbur and Carlson is a case study in how campaign-finance laws, far from strengthening the democratic process, can undermine the rights of free speech and association on which any democracy worth the name depends.
