FINANCING CAMPAIGNS

U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry last week struck down most of Missouri's new scheme of campaign finance laws as unconstitutional. The judge should be commended for seeing through a patchwork of phony reforms to the stark reality: This latest regime of campaign regulation is nothing more than incumbent protection, laced with a bunch of unconstitutional limitations on protected speech in political campaigns.

The judge agreed with plaintiffs on all issues they brought before her. She struck down: 1. A cap on how much total money candidates could spend during campaigns. 2. A requirement that any candidate mentioning his opponent in an advertisement indicate that the candidate approved the message. 3. A limitation on how much of their own money candidates could spend on their own campaigns. 4. A requirement that candidates disburse almost all of their leftover funds within a few months after the elections.

In a healthy democracy there is a need for more political speech, not less. We don't need new squads of campaign Message Police. The answer to money in politics is full disclosure. Missouri has had one of the nation's strongest disclosure laws on the books for 20 years or so. Lay before voters the facts of who donates how much to which candidates, and let them decide.