Smith followed "Faulty Assumptions" with a series of academic articles further developing and refining his approach, notably "Money Talks: Speech, Corruption, Equality and Campaign Finance", which appeared in the "Georgetown Law Journal" in 1997. "Money Talks" focuses on Constitutional principles of campaign finance regulation. Smith also wrote "Unfree Speech: The Folly of Campaign Finance Reform", a book published by the Princeton University Press in 2001. By the time "Unfree Speech" was published, both Smith and his campaign finance scholarship had become something of a Rorschach test for attitudes about campaign finance. The book met with near universal praise among opponents of regulation, such as columnist George Will, who called it "the Year's most important book on governance," and condemnation from supporters of regulation, with journalist Eliza Newlin Carney lambasting it as "facile and boggling." Scholars, including the British political scientist Michael Pinto-Duschinsky were more balanced and generally complimentary. "Unfree Speech" is an important academic work. It sold well enough to trigger the release of a paperback version in 2003. More importantly, "Unfree Speech" paved the way for later works. Before "Unfree Speech", most books on campaign finance focused on sources of campaign funding and the creation of ideal regulatory regimes. "Unfree Speech" was a forerunner for a number of scholarly books published in the early 2000s that were more skeptical of campaign finance reform and its underlying assumptions, including John Samples' "The Fallacy of Campaign Finance Reform," "Money, Power, and Elections" by Rodney Smith, Melvin Urofsky's "Money and Free Speech," and Ray LaRaja's "Small Change." Smith's ability to write for a general audience soon attracted the attention of politicians and think tanks in Washington. Smith became a popular witness before congressional panels, both for his contrarian views and his ability to simplify complex issues for ease of consumption. Having gained the attention of Republican leaders in Congress, in 1999 then Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, on the recommendation of Senator Mitch McConnell, sent Smith's name to the Clinton White House as the Republican choice to fill an upcoming Republican vacancy on the bipartisan Federal Election Commission, which oversees enforcement of federal campaign finance laws. After a lengthy battle between Senate Republican leaders and the White House, Smith was nominated to a six-year term on the FEC on February 9, 2000 by then-President Bill Clinton, and confirmed to the post by the United States Senate on May 24, 2000.