Surprisingly enough, Washington State's Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling that would have made a radio host's on-air commentaries for or against a political issue reportable as in kind campaign contributions.
This has to be one of the most important court rulings on campaign finance laws to date.
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OLYMPIA — Talk-radio host John Carlson can talk all he wants on the air about political causes — even ones he's involved with — without worrying whether his broadcasts must be reported as campaign donations.
That's the upshot of a unanimous ruling Thursday by the state Supreme Court in a case stemming from an unsuccessful effort two years ago to revoke a state gas-tax increase.
"It's a great day for freedom of speech in Washington and great day for freedom of speech in America," said Carlson, one of two hosts at the center of the legal dispute.
The court's 9-0 ruling was a sharp rebuke of several local governments — including Seattle — that brought the original case. In a concurrence opinion, Justices Jim Johnson and Richard Sanders called it an "abusive" attempt by the municipalities to silence political opponents.
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=talkradio27m&date=20070427
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Mike Vaska, the lead attorney representing the local governments, argued the case was never an issue of free speech. He said that Carlson and Wilbur crossed the line of free speech by running a campaign from behind a microphone.
"They were the campaign," he said. "Had they not been running the campaign and had no connection, you don't have any disclosure requirement. They were doing more than talking about the issue, they were asking for money."
Wilbur, Carlson and the station argued their role with the initiative was within the normal bounds of radio fare.
The high court agreed.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420ap_wa_scow_talk_radio_disclosure.html
The NRO has an MP3 podcast with Kirby Wilbur that is worth listening to, even if the quality of the recording leaves much to be desired.
The State Supreme Court Rulings can be read here in Html (1) (2), and in PDF formats (1) (2). They are worth the read, especially the concurring opinion.
(Hat tip to the NRO's The Corner)
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