Bradley A. Smith, Chairman and Founder

Brad is one of the nation’s foremost experts on campaign finance law. He served as a Commissioner on the Federal Election Commission, resigning as of Aug. 21, 2005. Smith was elected as Vice Chairman of the Commission in 2003 and Chairman of the Commission in 2004.

A recent New York Times story referred to Smith as the “intellectual powerhouse” of the movement to roll back campaign finance restrictions. His 2001 book, Unfree Speech: The Folly of Campaign Finance Reform, was lauded by George Will as the year’s “most important book on governance.” Once called “the most sought after witness in Congress” on campaign finance issues, Smith has authored over 40 articles on campaign finance reform, appearing in academic publications such as the Yale Law Journal and Georgetown Law Journal, and popular publications such as The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and National Review. He has appeared on The O’Reilly Factor, Hardball with Chris Matthews, Bill Moyers Journal, the Lehrer News Hour, Fox News Special Report, ABC News, Washington Journal, and numerous other national and local television and radio programs.

As an FEC Commissioner, Smith won plaudits for his integrity and refusal to put partisan interests ahead of his duties, as well as his steadfast support for free speech. For his honesty and integrity, the Wall Street Journal dubbed him, “the only honorable man in this bordello.” Smith now serves as the Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault Designated Professor of Law at Capital University Law School. He has won numerous awards for his scholarship and teaching, and is a past member of the Advisory Committee to the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Election Law. He currently serves on the Editorial Board of the Election Law Journal, and the Editorial Advisory Board of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. Smith also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Studies, is a senior fellow at the Goldwater Institute and is a member of the Board of Scholars of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Smith is a cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School and Kalamazoo College and holds an honorary doctorate from Augustana College. You can follow him on Twitter @CommishSmith.

David Keating, President

David Keating has a long and distinguished career in nonprofit advocacy. Prior to joining the Institute for Free Speech, he was the Executive Director of the Club for Growth. While there, he played a key role in growing the organization’s membership and influencing economic freedom through public policy and politics. He also worked for many years as the Executive Vice President of the National Taxpayers Union and as the Washington Director of Americans for Fair Taxation.

In 2007, Keating founded SpeechNow.org due to his frustration with the incessant attacks on the First Amendment. His goal was to give Americans who support free speech a way to join together, pool their resources, and advocate for federal candidates who agree with them – and work to defeat those who do not. That group won the lawsuit against the Federal Election Commission that created what’s now known as the super PAC.

In 1996, Keating was appointed to the National Commission on Restructuring the Internal Revenue Service by then Senator Bob Dole because of his leading role in the development and passage of the Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights.

Keating has appeared on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” NBC’s “Today,” ABC’s “20/20,” PBS’s “The NewsHour,” Fox News Channel, “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” and many other news and talk programs.

Alan Gura, Vice President for Litigation

Alan joined the Institute for Free Speech as Vice President for Litigation in February 2021. In this role, Alan directs the Institute’s litigation and legal advocacy and leads our in-house legal team.

Prior to joining the Institute, Alan litigated complex federal matters for twenty years, in his own practice and as a partner in various Washington-area firms. He argued and won landmark constitutional cases in the United States Supreme Court and has appeared before numerous appellate and district courts throughout the country. Alan often speaks at law schools and continuing legal education seminars.

Alan began his career clerking for the Hon. Terrence W. Boyle, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina. He has also served as a Deputy Attorney General for the State of California, a litigation associate at the Washington office of Sidley Austin, and as counsel to the United States Senate Judiciary Committee.

Alan earned his J.D. at Georgetown (1995) and his B.A. at Cornell University (1992). He is an active member in good standing of the Virginia, District of Columbia, and California bars, the Bar of the United States Supreme Court, and various federal appellate and district court bars.

Selected Awards and Recognition:

• • • • • • 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America, The National Law Journal, 2013
          • Brief of the Week, The National Law Journal, Oct. 9, 2012
          • Appellate Lawyer of the Week, The National Law Journal, Aug. 25, 2010
          • Top 40 Lawyers Under 40, Washington, D.C., Legal Times, 2009
          • Champion of Justice, Legal Times, 2009
          • 2008 Lawyers of the Year, Lawyers Weekly USA

Tom Garrett, Chief Communications Officer

Tom became the Chief Communications Officer at the Institute for Free Speech in April 2023. Tom leads the Institute’s communications efforts. His duties include promoting the organization’s work and helping to educate the public on the value of First Amendment rights—and the importance of those rights to American culture and democracy. Tom creates content, designs strategies, shapes messaging, and engages media in support of these goals.

An attorney by trade, Tom has been a professional writer since college. Prior to joining the Institute, Tom was the Director of Communications at Council for a Strong America. During his career in communications, Tom has authored pieces that have appeared in hundreds of publications across the United States. Tom earned a B.A. in politics from Washington & Lee University and a J.D. from the University of Richmond School of Law, where he was Notes & Comments Editor of the University of Richmond Law Review.

Tom may be reached at tgarrett [at] ifs.org, and on Twitter at @TomGarrettIFS

Del Kolde, Senior Attorney

Del joined the Institute for Free Speech as a Senior Attorney in April 2021 after over 20 years as a government attorney in the Pacific Northwest.

Del has extensive experience in all aspects of litigation, including trial and appeals. He began his career trying felony criminal cases in state court and has handled diverse civil cases in both state and federal court. He has first-chaired over 60 jury trials. Most recently, he spent over a decade handling civil cases for local government clients, including civil rights and First Amendment cases. Del particularly enjoys oral argument and cross examination. He also has an interest in the intersection of technology and the law.

Del earned his J.D., with Honors, at the University of Chicago Law School and a B.A., magna cum laude, at the University of Washington.

He is licensed to practice law in the State of Washington. He is also admitted to the federal court bars of the Western District of Washington, Ninth Circuit, and U.S. Supreme Court.

In his spare time, Del enjoys trail running and spending time outdoors.

Charles Miller, Senior Attorney

Charles “Chip” Miller joined the Institute for Free Speech as a Senior Attorney in May 2023. Miller previously served as Ohio’s Deputy Attorney General, where he directed major litigation. Before joining the state AG’s office as General Counsel, he served as a judge for the First Appellate District of Ohio and had also served as a “visiting judge” on the Ohio Supreme Court. Prior to entering public service, Miller spent over 10 years at Keating, Muething & Klekamp, PLL as a litigation partner arguing cases before the Sixth Circuit and the Ohio Supreme Court.

Miller has extensive litigation and appellate experience and has spearheaded important regulatory matters. His previous work includes advancing innovative protections of free expression and competition in the digital sphere.

Miller is a graduate of Boston University College of Law and clerked for Justice Maureen O’Connor at the Ohio Supreme Court. Among other honors, Miller was selected to represent Boston University at the National First Amendment Moot Court.

Brett Nolan, Senior Attorney

Brett joined the Institute for Free Speech in January 2023.

Before joining IFS, Brett served as the Principal Deputy Solicitor General of Kentucky, where he represented the Commonwealth in a wide variety of high-stakes litigation at every level of state and federal court. In that role, Brett led a successful challenge against the Department of Treasury over the constitutionality of a federal law limiting the ability of states to modify their tax codes, and he helped secure a U.S. Supreme Court victory that upheld a state’s constitutional right to defend its interests in federal court.

Prior to that, Brett served as the Deputy General Counsel to the former Governor of Kentucky, where he advised the governor and other executive branch officials on legal and policy issues and represented them in litigation. Brett clerked for Judge John Nalbandian of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and Judge Karen K. Caldwell of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Between clerkships, he worked in private practice.

Brett attended the University of Chicago Law School, where he served as an editor of The University of Chicago Law Review and graduated with High Honors, Order of the Coif. Brett is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and Kentucky. He is also admitted to the federal court bars of the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First, Sixth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, and D.C. Circuits, as well as several district courts.

Courtney Corbello, Attorney

Courtney joined the Institute for Free Speech as an Attorney in April 2023. Courtney is a former member of the US Army where she served as a Cryptological Linguist specializing in Mandarin. After serving, Courtney then went on to attend UCLA Law School where she was a member and Vice President in the UCLA Moot Court Team. She was the sole recipient in her graduating class of the Order of the Barristers Statue as for being the top oral advocate among her peers. She was also the winner of the Roscoe Pound Moot Court Competition.

Courtney began her law career as a briefing attorney to Judge David Newell on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Following this clerkship, she accepted a position at the Texas Attorney General’s Office within the Law Enforcement Defense Division, where she worked on numerous high-profile civil rights cases. After 4 years with LEDD, Courtney then transferred to the General Litigation Division of the Texas Attorney General’s Office where she continued to represent the state in a wide range of significant cases such as First Amendment matters, lawsuits against the Federal Government, and Title VII claims. Through her 6 years with the Texas Attorney General’s Office, Courtney not only obtained extensive trial and appellate experience in both state and federal courts, but also changed or created law in doing so.

Courtney is licensed to practice law in Texas, including all federal district courts and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the District of Columbia.

Ryan Morrison, Attorney

Ryan joined the Institute for Free Speech as an Attorney in December 2018. He began his career as a prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. through the Attorney General’s Honors Program. Ryan was a trial attorney in the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division and also worked as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

Subsequently, Ryan accepted an appointment from President George W. Bush and joined the U.S. Air Force Office of the General Counsel as Special Counsel and Special Assistant to the General Counsel. In addition to working on Air Force matters, Ryan assisted the U.S. Department of Defense Office of the General Counsel with congressional investigations and the Department’s legislative program. He received the Secretary of Defense’s Outstanding Achievement Award for his service. At the end of the Bush administration, Ryan became an Associate General Counsel in the Office of the Deputy General Counsel (Legal Counsel) for the U.S. Department of Defense and represented the Department’s interests in Guantanamo Bay habeas corpus litigation. Later, Ryan clerked for the Honorable Eugene E. Siler, Jr. for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and entered private practice after the clerkship. He became an associate at the Louisville, Kentucky office of Dinsmore & Shohl LLP and represented Fortune 500 and Fortune Global 500 companies in various types of litigation. After four years of private practice, he joined Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin’s administration and served in multiple roles.

Ryan graduated Order of the Coif from the University of Kentucky College of Law, where he was a member of the Kentucky Law Journal and the president of the Federalist Society. He graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in finance from Western Kentucky University.

Ryan is licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and is also admitted at the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Sixth and Ninth Circuits, as well as the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Kentucky.

Nathan Ristuccia, Attorney

Nathan joined the Institute for Free Speech as a First Amendment Fellow in September 2023 and was subsequently hired as an attorney.  He began his legal career as a clerk for the Hon. Victor J. Wolski, Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims.

Prior to entering law, Nathan worked as a historian at the University of Chicago.  He is the author of more than a dozen scholarly articles and an award-winning book: Christianization and Commonwealth in Early Medieval Europe: A Ritual Interpretation (Oxford University Press, 2018).

In 2022, Nathan graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was an Articles Editor for the Georgetown Law Journal and a Bradley Fellow at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution.  He received the Francis E. Lucey, S.J. Award, presented annually to the student with the highest academic achievement in the graduating class.  Nathan earned his Ph.D. and M.M.S. from the University of Notre Dame and his B.A. from Princeton University.

He is admitted to the bars of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States Court of Federal Claims.

Doug Granger, Director of Development

Doug joined the Institute for Free Speech as Director of Development in October 2023.

Previously, Doug served as Director of Development Marketing at the Institute for Humane Studies where he worked to advance free speech and academic freedom in higher education. Prior to his time in the liberty movement, Doug worked as a university administrator in international affairs, as well as various roles in marketing, advertising, and consumer research in the private sector.

A native Northeast Ohioan, Doug earned his Master of Applied Politics degree from the University of Akron’s Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics and his B.A. in Comparative Politics from the University of Mount Union.

As a self-professed “political junkie” and illustrator, Doug also enjoys drawing editorial cartoons where he lampoons public figures across the ideological spectrum – all in the spirit of political free speech.

Helen Knowles-Gardner, Research Director

Helen joined the Institute for Free Speech as Research Director in July 2023 after working for almost 20 years as a political science professor.

She has written extensively about various aspects of American law and politics, including co-editing/co-authoring two books about freedom of speech (Judging Free Speech: First Amendment Jurisprudence of U.S. Supreme Court Justices; and Free Speech Theory: Understanding the Controversies). Her third co-authored book about expressive freedom will be published in 2024 (Filming the First: Cinematic Portrayals of Freedom of the Press).

She is the author of four other books (including The Tie Goes to Freedom: Justice Anthony M. Kennedy On Liberty – the first book about Justice Kennedy’s jurisprudence), and numerous peer-reviewed and law review articles. Over the course of her career, she has been frequently interviewed by numerous media outlets.

Helen earned her Ph.D. in Political Science from Boston University and a B.A. in American Studies, with first class honors (graduating first in her class), from Liverpool Hope University College (now Hope University) in Liverpool, England.

An avid runner, Helen participates in races across the country (including the Marine Corps Marathon), running with the Flag for Team RWB, a national organization devoted to enhancing the lives of the nation’s veterans. She and her husband, a disabled U.S. Navy veteran, live in upstate New York.

Peter Russo, Director of External Relations

Peter became the Director of External Relations at the Institute for Free Speech in January of 2024. Peter leads the Institute’s organizational outreach efforts. His duties include allying and working closely with entities dedicated to defending American’s First Amendment rights. Peter works with senior staff to advance the Institute’s priorities and responds to strategic opportunities as they present themselves at the state and federal levels while building strong relationships with allied interest groups and stakeholders.

Before joining the Institute, Peter worked as a freelance communications and strategy consultant, writer, and advisor. Before that, he was the Director of Government Affairs at the Cato Institute after serving four years in the United States Senate as a Finance Committee staffer. Peter earned a B.A. in English from Hillsdale College.

Susan Bradley, Office Manager

Susan supports the Institute for Free Speech staff as Office Manager. In addition to her work at IFS, Susan has served as President of the Mount Vernon Republican Women’s Club since January of 2011. A native of the DC area, she currently resides near Mt. Vernon with her husband Bob.

Susan can be reached at sbradley [at] ifs.org.

Tiffany Donnelly, Deputy Director of Communications

Tiffany joined the Institute for Free Speech as Media Manager in November 2019 and was promoted to Deputy Director of Communications in 2023. She is responsible for compiling and distributing the Institute’s signature weekday Daily Media Update, which contains topical news stories and commentary on a variety of issues surrounding campaign finance and free speech generally. Tiffany also monitors news sources for relevant commentary and discussions on political speech stories that IFS can engage with and contribute to and maintains the Institute’s website and social media presence. She authors op-eds and blogs on a variety of political speech subjects as well.

Tiffany holds a B.A. in History from Brown University and a J.D. from the University of Louisville. Prior to earning her J.D., Tiffany worked as a Paralegal at the ACLU’s National Office, where she managed client outreach in education-related cases across the country.

Tiffany can be reached at tdonnelly [at] ifs.org.

Sarah Fisher, Associate Director of Communications

Sarah Fisher joined the Institute for Free Speech as the Associate Director of Communications in July 2023. She assists the Chief Communications Officer and Deputy Director with press outreach, long-form writing, and website management.

Prior to her role at IFS, Sarah served on the communications team at Council for a Strong America for over three years. In her career, she has also developed social media content and strategy for a wide variety of organizations in the arts and entertainment sectors. Sarah holds a B.A. in Media Studies from the University of Virginia.

Sarah may be reached at sfisher [at] ifs.org.

Mike Columbo, Senior Fellow

Mike is a pro bono Senior Fellow with the Institute for Free Speech and is also Counsel at the California-based Dhillon Law Group. In his practice with Dhillon Law, he focuses on political law compliance, First Amendment rights, whistleblower claims, and defense of white collar criminal and administrative enforcement matters, including related litigation. He also serves as counsel to state and federal candidate campaigns, political action committees, and nonprofits, including 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations, advising them on formation, governance, fundraising, and communications.

Prior to joining Dhillon Law, Mike was Of Counsel in the Political Law Section of the California law firm of Nielsen Merksamer. He has served as counsel to former FEC Commissioner Lee E. Goodman, as a staff attorney at the Federal Election Commission, a white collar defense attorney, a prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, and as a judicial law clerk.

Mike’s extensive experience has allowed him to see up close how complicated campaign finance regulations chill political speech. Mike is a graduate of The George Washington University Law School and Vassar College.

As a Senior Fellow, Mike assists IFS in analyzing legislation and regulatory proposals that affect political speech rights. He also writes op-eds and reports on the Institute’s behalf.

Parker Douglas, Senior Fellow

Parker joined the Institute for Free Speech in September 2018. He was a Senior Attorney from September 2018 to May 2020. In May 2020, Parker joined the Alliance Defending Freedom and transitioned into his new role with the Institute for Free Speech as a Senior Fellow.

Parker graduated Order of the Coif from the S.J. Quinney School of Law at the University of Utah, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Utah Law Review, holds a Ph.D. with Honors from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and graduated with honors from Pitzer College of the Claremont Colleges, with a double major in English and History.

Prior to joining IFS, Parker was the 2017-2018 Supreme Court Fellow assigned to the Supreme Court of the United States, where he served in the Office of the Counselor to the Chief Justice. Previously, he served as Utah Federal Solicitor to Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes, where he litigated Utah’s trial, appellate, multi-state, and amicus matters in all federal courts. Parker has also been an Assistant Federal Defender, practiced in the Supreme Court and Appellate section of Latham & Watkins’s Washington, D.C. office, and taught several law courses at the University of Utah, S.J. Quinney School of Law. He was law clerk to the Honorable Michael W. McConnell, then of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals and now Director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford University, and to the Honorable Tena Campbell of the United States District Court for the District of Utah.

Parker has litigated over 300 federal matters and numerous others in state courts. He has handled cases concerning civil rights – the majority involving the First Amendment – criminal prosecutions, separation of powers, antitrust, trade secret, and sovereignty disputes. He has tried many cases to a verdict – both to juries and the bench – argued over forty appeals in federal and state courts of appeal, as well as suppression, Daubert, and dispositive motions, recorded in over fifty opinions. Parker has also represented clients on appeal or through amicus briefing in every federal court of appeals, including the Supreme Court, and in many state courts of appeal.

Gary Lawkowski, Senior Fellow

Gary is a pro bono Senior Fellow with the Institute for Free Speech and Counsel at Dhillon Law Group. His current practice focuses on political law, election law, administrative law, appellate work, and nonprofit issues.

Before joining the Dhillon Law Group, he served in various capacities at the U.S. Department of the Interior for nearly four years, where he became Counselor to the Secretary. In that capacity, he advised the Secretary and other senior department leaders on complex and sensitive policy and legal matters. He also served as a Senior Policy Advisor at the White House Domestic Policy Council.

Gary has a wealth of experience in campaign finance and political law. He served as counsel at the Federal Election Commission for over four years, including stints with former Chairman Lee Goodman, former Vice Chairman Don McGahn, and, most recently, Commissioner Sean Cooksey. He also served as legal counsel to a national nonprofit organization.

Gary earned his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law and holds a B.A. in Foreign Affairs and Economics from the University of Virginia.

George Scoville, Adjunct Fellow

George is a pro bono Adjunct Fellow with the Institute for Free Speech and an attorney at Sims|Funk, PLC, in Nashville, where he represents individuals, closely held companies, and corporations in a variety of complex commercial disputes.  For the first three years of his practice, George worked for a mid-sized Tennessee law firm, representing consumer-product manufacturers and designers in tort litigation in state and federal court.  He began his legal career as a Judicial Law Clerk to United States District Judge Sheryl H. Lipman in Memphis.  As a law student, George published the first paper in the academic literature to comparatively analyze state statutes that prohibit or regulated political communications coordinated by campaign committees and independent expenditure groups.  Shortly after his graduation, he also published a full law review article on public employees’ free speech rights in the digital age.

In addition to his law practice, George is an Adjunct Professor of American Government and Constitutional Law at Belmont University.  In his spare time, he volunteers as the executive director and treasurer of the Tennesseans for Sensible Election Laws political action committee, which, in its few short years of existence, has already prevailed in constitutional litigation, challenging Tennessee’s onerous campaign-finance regime.  Before attending law school in his mid-thirties, George lived and worked in Washington, D.C., where he worked as a policy analyst for a global trade association of IT companies, a new media strategist for the Cato Institute, and a channel lead for a cutting-edge political and industry communications consulting firm before founding his own strategic communications practice.  In other words, George developed his passion for protecting free speech rights while cutting his teeth in the trenches of local and national political, issue-advocacy, and brand-positioning campaigns.

Eric Wang, Senior Fellow

Eric is a pro bono Senior Fellow with IFS and is a Partner at The Gober Group. Eric’s practice focuses on federal and state campaign finance, lobbying, political nonprofit, and government ethics laws. He has advised clients on the campaign finance laws in all 50 states and in many municipalities.

Prior to joining The Gober Group, he was Special Counsel in the Election Law practice group at the Washington, D.C. law firm of Wiley Rein. Eric has served as interim general counsel at Americans for Prosperity and as counsel to former Commissioner Caroline Hunter at the Federal Election Commission. Eric writes frequently about political law issues and has been published in USA Today, Roll Call, The Hill, Politico, and The Washington Times, among other notable outlets.

In his role as a Senior Fellow, Eric authors analyses for IFS of the constitutional and practical issues inherent in campaign finance and political speech regulations proposed in Congress, at regulatory agencies, and in state legislatures around the country. He also contributes opinion pieces to outlets around the country on these issues.

Eric earned his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and holds a B.A. in Public Policy from Princeton University.

Edward H. Crane

Ed Crane is the founder and former President of the Cato Institute, one of the nation’s most prominent public policy organizations. Crane is the co-editor of several books, serves on the Board of U.S. Term Limits, and is a member of the Mont Pèlerin Society. He is a chartered financial analyst and former vice president at Alliance Capital Management Corp. Crane holds an MBA from the University of Southern California.

Read more about Edward »

Jenny Kim

Jenny Kim currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer and Partner for the Gober Group, where she specializes in lobbying laws, government ethics and conflict of interest laws, campaign finance laws, and tax-exempt laws at the U.S. federal, state, and local levels of government. Before joining the Gober Group, she was vice president of operations and general counsel of the Philanthropy Roundtable. She served previously as deputy general counsel of political law and vice president of public policy at Koch Industries, one of the largest private companies in America. Kim led the Koch Industries criminal justice reform portfolio, resulting in the passage of the First Step Act, the first federal criminal justice reform legislation in decades.

Stephen Modzelewski

Stephen (“Moz”) Modzelewski has been active in finance since 1982, when he joined Salomon Brothers. While there, he developed the conceptual framework for “option adjusted spread,” which has become a standard analytical metric for complex fixed-income securities. In 1988, he and a colleague left Salomon and established the hedge fund Parsec Trading Corp., and in 2002, he established his own trading and investment firm, Maple Engine. He also serves on the Institute for Free Speech’s Audit Committee and the boards of the Reason Foundation and the Institute for Justice.

Eric O’Keefe

Eric O’Keefe is the Chairman of the Board, Citizens for Self-Governance. O’Keefe has helped form advocacy groups to hold politicians accountable for much of the past 35 years. One such group was the Wisconsin Club for Growth, which he founded in 2004. It played a significant role in supporting Gov. Walker’s union law reforms in 2011 and 2012, which led to O’Keefe being a “target” in a John Doe investigation. O’Keefe became the lead plaintiff in federal and state lawsuits to halt the sweeping government abuses that pervaded this “investigation” and managed the litigation and communications to fight against this government attack on citizens for exercising their First Amendment rights for two years. The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in his favor against the investigation in 2015.

Daniel Shuchman

Daniel Shuchman is a long-time champion of free expression. He is a New York-based private investor and philanthropist. Most recently, he managed investment funds at MSD Capital, L.P., the investment office of Michael S. Dell, for almost 20 years. Shuchman was a board member of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) from 2007-18, and Chairman of the Board from 2016-18. He is Chairman of Let Grow, a nonprofit group he co-founded, with Jonathan Haidt and Lenore Skenazy, dedicated to enhancing and promoting resilience, self-reliance, and independence in America’s kids.

Bradley A. Smith

Chairman and Co-Founder, Institute for Free Speech and Blackmore-Naught Designated Professor of Law, Capital University Law School.

Brad is one of the nation’s foremost experts on campaign finance law. He served as a Commissioner on the Federal Election Commission, resigning as of Aug. 21, 2005. Smith was elected as Vice Chairman of the Commission in 2003 and Chairman of the Commission in 2004.

A recent New York Times story referred to Smith as the “intellectual powerhouse” of the movement to roll back campaign finance restrictions. His 2001 book, Unfree Speech: The Folly of Campaign Finance Reform, was lauded by George Will as the year’s “most important book on governance.” Once called “the most sought after witness in Congress” on campaign finance issues, Smith has authored over 40 articles on campaign finance reform, appearing in academic publications such as the Yale Law Journal and Georgetown Law Journal, and popular publications such as The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and National Review. He has appeared on The O’Reilly Factor, Hardball with Chris Matthews, Bill Moyers Journal, the Lehrer News Hour, Fox News Special Report, ABC News, Washington Journal, and numerous other national and local television and radio programs.

As an FEC Commissioner, Smith won plaudits for his integrity and refusal to put partisan interests ahead of his duties, as well as his steadfast support for free speech. For his honesty and integrity, the Wall Street Journal dubbed him, “the only honorable man in this bordello.” Smith now serves as the Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault Designated Professor of Law at Capital University Law School. He has won numerous awards for his scholarship and teaching, and is a past member of the Advisory Committee to the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Election Law. He currently serves on the Editorial Board of the Election Law Journal, and the Editorial Advisory Board of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. Smith also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Studies, is a senior fellow at the Goldwater Institute and is a member of the Board of Scholars of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Smith is a cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School and Kalamazoo College and holds an honorary doctorate from Augustana College.

John Snider

John Snider, Treasurer, is retired. His most recent position was as a member of the Andersen Tax Private Accounting Solutions group. He also serves as the Institute for Free Speech’s Treasurer and is a member of the Audit Committee. He began his career with Arthur Andersen in Chicago. Snider received his BBA in accounting from the University of Notre Dame in 1971, and became a CPA in the same year. Snider also serves on the Advisory Council of the Snite Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame.

In Memoriam, Herbert E. Alexander

Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of Southern California and Director, Citizens Research Foundation.

Stephen Ansolabehere

Professor of Government, Harvard University.

Related Readings:

• “What Is the Place of Corporate Money in Democratic Politics?”
• “Arizona Free Enterprise v. Bennett and the Problem of Campaign Finance”
• “Unrepresentative Information: The Case of Newspaper Reporting on Campaign Finance”
• “Did Firms Profit from Soft Money?”
• “Why is there So Little Money in U.S. Politics?”
• “Are PAC Contributions and Lobbying Linked? New Evidence from the 1995 Lobby Disclosure Act”

Read more about Stephen »

Lillian R. BeVier (Retired)

David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus, University of Virginia School of Law.

Related Readings:

• “First Amendment Basics Redux: Buckley v. Valeo to FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life”
• “Mandatory Disclosure, ‘Sham Issue Advocacy,’ and Buckley v. Valeo: A Response to Professor Hasen”
• “Campaign Finance ‘Reform’ Proposals: A First Amendment Analysis”
• “Campaign Finance Reform: Specious Arguments, Intractable Dilemmas”

Read more about Lillian »

Bruce E. Cain

Professor of Political Science, Stanford University and Spence and Cleone Eccles Family Director of the Bill Lane Center for the American West.

Related Readings:

• Democracy More or Less: America’s Political Reform Quandary (Excerpt)
• “More or Less: Searching for Regulatory Balance,” in Race, Reform, and Regulation of the Electoral Process: Recurring Puzzles in American Democracy
• “Shade from the Glare: The Case for Semi-Disclosure”

Read more about Bruce »

John Coleman

Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Professor of Political Science, University of Minnesota.

Related Readings:

• “Assessing the Potential Effects of Citizens United: Evidence from the States”
• “Pay to Play: Parties, Interests, and Money in Federal Elections”
• “The Benefits of Campaign Spending”
• “The Distribution of Campaign Spending Benefits across Groups”
• “Congressional Campaign Spending and the Quality of Democracy”

Read more about John »

Richard M. Esenberg

Founder, President, and General Counsel, Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty and Adjunct Professor of Law, Marquette University Law School.

Related Readings:

• “The Lonely Death of Public Campaign Financing”

Jay Goodliffe

Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Brigham Young University and Research Scholar, Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy.

Related Readings:

• “Campaign Fund-raising and Spending for Deterrence and Savings”
• “Campaign War Chests and Challenger Quality in Senate Elections”
• “When do War Chests Deter?”
• “War Chests as Precautionary Savings”
• “The Effect of War Chests on Challenger Entry in U.S. House Elections”
• “Campaign Finance in U.S. House Primary and General Elections”

Read more about Jay »

Joel M. Gora

Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School.

Related Readings:

• “Free Speech Matters: The Roberts Court and the First Amendment”
• “In Defense of ‘Super PAC’s’ and of the First Amendment”
• “Free Speech, Fair Elections, and Campaign Finance Laws: Can They Co-Exist?”
• “Don’t Feed the Alligators: Government Funding of Political Speech and the Unyielding Vigilance of the First Amendment”
• “The First Amendment…United”
• “Statement of Joel Gora Concerning the Proposed Executive Order on Disclosure of Political Spending by Government Contractors”
• Better Parties, Better Government: A Realistic Program for Campaign Finance Reform
  
• “The Legacy of Buckley v. Valeo“
• “Buckley v. Valeo: A Landmark of Political Freedom”

Read more about Joel »

Jeffrey Milyo

Frederick A. Middlebush Chair in the Social Sciences, Department of Economics, University of Missouri.

Related Readings:

• “Do State Campaign Finance Reforms Increase Trust and Confidence in State Government”
• “Campaign Spending and Electoral Competition: Towards More Policy Relevant Research”
• “Do State Ethics Commissions Reduce Public Corruption? An Exploratory Investigation”
• “Do State Campaign Finance Reforms Reduce Public Corruption?” (Working Paper)
• “Keep Out: How State Campaign Finance Laws Erect Barriers to Entry for Political Entrepreneurs”
• “Mowing Down the Grassroots: How Grassroots Lobbying Disclosure Suppresses Political Participation”
• “Campaign Finance Red Tape: Strangling Free Speech & Political Debate”
• “State Campaign Finance Reform, Competitiveness, and Party Advantage in Gubernatorial Elections”
• “Corporate PAC Campaign Contributions in Perspective”

Read more about Jeffrey »

Michael C. Munger

Director, Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Program and Professor of Political Science, Public Policy, and Economics, Duke University.

Related Readings:

• “Locking Up Political Speech: How Electioneering Communications Laws Stifle Free Speech and Civic Engagement”

Read more about Michael »

David M. Primo

Ani and Mark Gabrellian Professor, Professor of Political Science and Business Administration, University of Rochester.

Related Readings:

• “Risky Business: Do Disclosure and Shareholder Approval of Corporate Political Contributions Affect Firm Performance?”
• “Disclosing Disclosure: Lessons from a ‘Failed’ Field Experiment”
• “Information at the Margin: Campaign Finance Disclosure Laws, Ballot Issues, and Voter Knowledge”
• “Full Disclosure: How Campaign Finance Disclosure Laws Fail to Inform Voters and Stifle Public Debate”
• “What Does Research Say About Public Funding for Political Campaigns?”
• “Campaign Finance Laws and Political Efficacy: Evidence from the States”
• “Public Opinion and Campaign Finance: Reformers Versus Reality”

Read more about David »

Larry J. Sabato

Robert Kent Gooch Professor of Politics, University of Virginia and Director, UVA Center for Politics.

Related Readings:

• “PACs and Parties”

Read more about Larry »

John Samples

Vice President and Director, Center for Representative Government, Cato Institute.

Related Readings:

• “Why the Government Should Not Regulate Content Moderation of Social Media”
• “Move to Defend: The Case against the Constitutional Amendments Seeking to Overturn Citizens United”
• “The Costs of Mandating Disclosure”
• “The DISCLOSE Act, Deliberation, and the First Amendment”
• “Broadcast Localism and the Effectiveness of the Fairness Doctrine”
• “A Critique of the National Popular Vote Plan for Electing the President”
• The Fallacy of Campaign Finance Reform

Read more about John »