BRADLEY A. SMITH – Chairman
Bradley A. Smith is a Professor of Law at Capital University Law School. He is one of the nation’s leading authorities on Election Law and Campaign Finance. In 2000, he was nominated by President Clinton to fill a Republican-designated seat on the Federal Election Commission, where he served for five years, including serving as Chairman of the Commission in 2004. Previously, he had been on the Capital University Law School faculty from 1993 to 2000. He has also taught law at George Mason University in Virginia.
Professor Smith is a fixture in the national discussion on campaign finance, and has been called “the most sought after witness” when Congress considers campaign finance issues. His writings have appeared in leading law journals across the country, including the Yale Law Journal, Georgetown Law Journal, the Harvard Journal of Legislation, and Pennsylvania Law Review. He also writes for popular publications such as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and National Review.
Professor Smith’s book, “Unfree Speech: The Folly of Campaign Finance Reform (Princeton University Press),” received national attention when it was published in 2001. Syndicated columnist George Will praised it as “the year’s most important book on governance.” The Times of London called it “a much needed dose of realism which has relevance far beyond America,” and Publishers Weekly described it as “a marvelous contrarian view: moderate in tone, elegant in language, clever in argument.”
CHRISTOPHER P. FINNEY
Christopher P. Finney is a shareholder in the law firm of Finney, Stagnaro, Saba & Patterson Co., L.P.A., where he concentrates in real estate and commercial law. He is co-founder of the Cincinnati-based Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST), where he led campaigns against local tax increases. Mr. Finney has successfully litigated against government abuse and wasteful spending.
DAVID N. MAYER
David N. Mayer is Professor of Law and History at Capital University, where he teaches courses in American constitutional history, English and American legal history, and intellectual property (copyright and unfair trade practices law), as well as a seminar in Libertarianism and the Law.
Before teaching at Capital, Professor Mayer taught at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law in Chicago, Illinois; held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute for Humane Studies, George Mason University, in Fairfax, Virginia; and was an attorney with the firm of Pierson Semmes and Finley in Washington, D.C.
He has written The Constitutional Thought of Thomas Jefferson (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1994, paperback 1995), The Liberty of Contract (Cato Institute, 2011), and several articles in law reviews, history and political science journals.
DAVID J. OWSIANY
David Owsiany is the executive director of the Ohio Dental Association. He is a past president and senior fellow in legal studies for the Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions. He is a past president of the Columbus Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society and has done work as a legal policy analyst for the Reason Foundation. Mr. Owsiany worked on the staff of the United States Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C., and clerked for Justice Robert W. Cook of the Illinois Appellate Court. He has written dozens of articles on legal and public policy issues that have appeared in various publications including the University of Toledo Law Review, State Court Docket Watch, Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, and Akron Beacon Journal.
DAVID R. LANGDON
David R. Langdon has a national First Amendment, nonprofit and political law practice based in Ohio. He has litigated hundreds of election and campaign finance law cases throughout the country, with a particular emphasis on initiative and referendum and ballot access issues. He also advises nonprofit public policy and political organizations on complex tax and campaign finance regulatory issues.
