pudge's Journal: Free Speech Wins in WA

The Washiington State Supreme Court ruled that radio talk show speech does not count as an in-kind political donation that requires reporting under public disclosure laws. Yay, they got something right. Unanimously, too.

I wish the ruling had been broader -- they only said the public disclosure was not required because there was a specific exemption for this type of speech in the statute* -- but it's something.

*It really makes you wonder how the heck the state could possibly have thought this was legal. The statue specifically exempts a "news item, feature, commentary, or editorial in a regularly scheduled news medium that is of primary interest to the general public, that is in a news medium controlled by a person whose business is that news medium, and that is not controlled by a candidate or a political committee." Maybe they thought it wasn't news? Maybe they were biased against it because it was right-wing talk radio? I don't know. I won't read through it enough to figure it out, I've got other things to do ...