Bradley A. Smith Quotes

• With super PACs, we’ve seen voter turnout go up; interest in elections rise; and the number of competitive races increase. The campaigns of 2010 and 2012 have been more issue-oriented than their predecessors, not less.

  Bradley A. Smith

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Races, Elections

• Unlike many in the conservative camp, I accept theories of global warming, and accept that man-made activity has played a part in global warming. My differences have only been on what the solutions should be.

  Bradley A. Smith

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Warming, Accept

• Ultimately, the court is heading to a doctrine of ‘separation of campaign and state.’ This doctrine, like separation of church and state or separation of military and civilian authority, is not explicit in the Constitution but flows naturally from its structure and commitment to freedom and democracy.

  Bradley A. Smith

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Commitment, Structure

• The reality is that asking the public to fund political campaigns accomplishes nothing. Candidates continue to seek interest-group support through other channels, both financial and in-kind, and corruption problems abound.

  Bradley A. Smith

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Channels, Corruption

• The next time you download a book on Kindle, buy a Michael Moore screed at Barnes & Noble, or order up a political movie from video on demand, remember that it is the Supreme Court’s decision in ‘Citizens United’ that guarantees you the right to do so.

  Bradley A. Smith

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Moore, Kindle

• The DISCLOSE Act is a testament to the wisdom of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United. The First Amendment sought to place political speech beyond the government’s control, and we can be glad that it did.

  Bradley A. Smith

  Topics in Wisdom

  Tags in Sought, Testament

• Incumbents don’t like it, but political competition is a good thing. Incumbents usually outspend challengers by better than 3 to 1. Super PACs, which tend to support challengers, have nullified some of this advantage.

  Bradley A. Smith

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Tend, Super

• Few developments in campaigning have been as vilified and misunderstood as independent expenditure PACs, or, as they are colloquially known, super PACs.

  Bradley A. Smith

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Developments, Campaigning

• If candidates spend money on ads and other political speech and their opponents are rewarded with government handouts to attack them, that chills speech and is unconstitutional. Non-participating candidates certainly don’t volunteer to allow their opponents to receive taxpayer subsidies to bash them.

  Bradley A. Smith

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Subsidies, Unconstitutional

• Even leaving aside government policy, whole industries are already making expensive changes around the perceived need to ‘go green.’ Al Gore and countless other prophets of global catastrophe are making megamillions pushing these expensive solutions. Schoolchildren around the globe are being frightened by tales of impending calamity.

  Bradley A. Smith

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Global, Gore

• Every major federal campaign-finance-reform effort since 1943 has attempted to treat corporations and unions equally. If a limit applied to corporations, it applied to unions; if unions could form PACs, corporations could too; and so on. DISCLOSE is the first major campaign-finance bill that has not taken this approach.

  Bradley A. Smith

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Limit, Equally

• Elections are a competition with only one winner. Giving more money to the opponent every time one speaks on behalf of a favored candidate discourages the speech that triggers the matching funds.

  Bradley A. Smith

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Opponent, Winner

• There is no evidence that super PACs have led to a greater percentage of negative ads.

  Bradley A. Smith

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Evidence, Negative

• The truth is, the ‘Fortune’ 500 prefer lobbying to campaigning.

  Bradley A. Smith

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Lobbying, Fortune

• Americans may not always live up to the Bill of Rights, but Americans do not ban books.

  Bradley A. Smith

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Bill, Rights

• Tax rates should never be raised in some brackets without being raised in all brackets.

  Bradley A. Smith

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Tax, Raised

Bradley A. Smith (16)

Birth:	1958
Nationality:	American
Profession:	Professor

About

Bradley A. Smith is an American professor at Capital University Law School who served as Commissioner, Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Federal Election Commission between 2000 and 2005. He is best known for his writing and activities opposing campaign finance regulation. A Michigan native, Smith received a B.A. from Kalamazoo College and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1990. After 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.

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