Why Speech Isn't Money

Opponents of campaign-finance reform contend that money is speech.

When then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush suffered a running injury, Ken Lay scribbled a note: "Dear George, I was sorry to read that you will be going through knee surgery in a few days." That was speech.

When Mr. Lay turned 55, his friend George sent the Enron chief this note: "Wow! That is really old. It's a good thing your wife is so young and beautiful." That was speech, too.

The lobbying letters Mr. Lay sent the Texas governor over the years likewise were filled with speech. "Electric customer choice is gaining momentum across the country", Mr. Lay wrote in one that urged deregulation in Texas, which the state adopted. Mr. Lay sent dozens of such letters. If speech were money, George W. Bush could have run a pretty full campaign using just the Lay missives. Instead, Mr. Lay and Enron associates gave Mr. Bush $312,000 for his two gubernatorial campaigns and $113,800 for his presidential bid. In all, the company gave Republicans $426,500 in the 2000 campaign.

Enron also sent Democratic candidate Al Gore $13,750. The total for Democrats in 2000 - $362,000 - represented a major change from previous years, in which Enron gave almost nothing to Democrats.

If speech and money were the same, Enron could have covered its bases with a nice Hallmark card to Mr. Gore. As Enron understood, however, money is money and speech is speech. The Enron scandal, however, shows one characteristic that speech and money share: Both can be double talk.