On June 26 the Des Moines Register editorialized, "Spending money to further political views is freedom of expression, pure and simple" (Editorial, "Don't Force Limits on Campaign Donations").
Today (July 5) the paper published my op ed by way of response, "To claim that 'Spending money to further political views is freedom of expression, pure and simple,' states both too much and too little." Nicholas Johnson, "Line Blurs Between Campaign Contributions, Bribes." The link to the full column can be found from today's online Des Moines Register list of opinions at http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=OPINION01.
The link from the Nicholas Johnson Web site will be http://www.nicholasjohnson.org/politics/general/njdr0705.html.
After discussing the range of legal limitations on "free speech," my column continues:
"Thus, it's entirely too facile to assert that a stack of $100 bills 'is freedom of expression, pure and simple.' Indeed, it's not always. Under slightly different circumstances, the same participants, exchanging the same money, are engaged in punishable 'bribery' not protected 'speech.'"
To read the entire analysis click on one of the links, above.
(The earlier Des Moines Register op ed to which today's column refers ("Campaigns: You Pay $4 or $4000," July 21, 1996) can be found at http://www.nicholasjohnson.org/politics/general/campaign.html. Links to additional writing about political topics can be found from http://www.nicholasjohnson.org/mainpage.html#*%20Politics.)
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