Stephen Colbert's Super PAC Goes To Washington (Part 3)

From Huffington Post by Dan Froomkin and Paul Blumenthal

View video here.

This is part three of a five-part series by The Huffington Post about Stephen Colbert's ongoing exploration of the nation's campaign finance laws. Stay tuned through the week of Jan. 16, 2012, for the rest of the series. Read about his PAC launch inpart one and his super PAC launch in part two.

WASHINGTON -- In May of last year, with Comedy Central's parent company still threatening to shut down his newly created super PAC, Stephen Colberttook his fight straight to the Federal Election Commission.

The most remarkable thing about the act was not that a comedian, staying in character, submitted a serious request to the FEC, but that he got a majority of the commissioners to agree to anything.

Colbert's parody of a right-wing blowhard may be one of the greatest ongoing jokes in recent television history, but in its own sphere, the modern FEC may be an even bigger one.

Five of the six commissioners are still serving despite the fact that their terms have expired. The three Republican members, seemingly dead-set on undermining what few campaign finance laws remain, have repeatedly deadlocked the commission, essentially preventing it from policing the electoral system.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), as the top Republican in the upper chamber, is by tradition accorded the privilege of picking the Republican commissioners. And McConnell, perhaps the nation's preeminent opponent of campaign finance rules, does not appear to be planning to pick anyone because he seems perfectly happy with the status quo. Even if Obama were to submit five nominees to the Senate for confirmation, McConnell could still stand in the way if those appointments were not to his liking.

Reform groups that support campaign finance regulation have been calling on President Barack Obama to do an end-run around McConnell, on the grounds that the nation must have a cop on the electoral beat. Two of the groups recently wrote in a letter to Obama:

The FEC is widely recognized as a failed, dysfunctional enforcement agency and has itself become a national campaign finance scandal. The refusal of the FEC to properly enforce the campaign finance laws is well known to candidates and political operatives. This has created a "do-anything-you-want approach" to complying with the country's campaign finance laws.

Apparently, however, there is one way to get the FEC to do its job: show up with a lot of cameras and klieg lights, a few great lines, and a big, easily incited audience.

COLBERT'S CASE

Colbert stormed the FEC's downtown Washington, D.C. office building on May 13 not because of anything the commission had done to him, or because campaign finance rules were too strict.

Hardly.

He went because his corporate bosses at Viacom, Comedy Central's parent company, were still not satisfied even after his PAC became a super PAC, and he needed a so-called media exemption from reporting requirements.

Super PACs can accept unlimited contributions from corporations -- but they still need to report all of those contributions, in-kind and otherwise, to the FEC. And Viacom did not want to get in the business of assigning values to contributions of things such as studio time or a show's staff.

While on air, Colbert asked his lawyer, Trevor Potter, the obvious question: "How do the guys on Fox get away with it?" And Potter explained that Fox is exempt because it is a media organization.

"The media exemption says that if you're a broadcast station, not owned by a candidate or a party" -- "I'm not!" Colbert interjected -- "and you're reporting the news in your normal way of going about business, then you're exempt. You're not making a corporate contribution when you talk about candidates and politics."

So Potter drafted a request for a media exemption, and two days later, Colbert showed up (along with several hundred fans) to file it in person.

Two major reform groups -- Democracy 21 and, ironically, the Campaign Legal Center, which Potter leads -- urged the FEC to limit Colbert's media exemption so that it would not apply to ads he aired on other shows and networks. (That would conceivably have allowed news networks to get into the business of producing campaign ads.)

And six weeks later, in a rare moment of functionality, the commissioners voted 5 to 1 to grant Colbert a limited exemption, saying he does not have to report Viacom's in-kind contributions as long as his ads only run on his show. Having satisfied Viacom with FEC approval for an exemption, Colbert could proceed in the unlimited-donation super PAC big leagues.

Video produced by Sara Kenigsberg.

Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert Expose More Super PAC Loopholes Without 'Coordinating'

From Huffington Post by Katia McGlynn   (See video via the link.)

Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart's grand experiment in using satire as a political weapon continued Tuesday night on "The Daily Show," when the "Colbert Report" host dropped by to "not coordinate" with Stewart on how his Super PAC money is being spent.

Stewart already released two attack ads on Colbert's behalf ahead of the South Carolina primary, one painting Mitt Romney as a serial killer and another suggesting that a vote for Colbert is a vote for Herman Cain. But that doesn't mean he hasn't been confused about how he should spend the rest of the money. So on last night's show, Colbert came by to remind him of some of the giant "loopchasms" in the FEC laws protecting the Super PAC that they can exploit with vigor.

First, Colbert reminded Stewart of what he realized on Monday night's "Daily Show," that he can comment on what he wants the PAC to do as long as he says it publicly, as a citizen, on television. If Stewart is watching and abides, that doesn't count as "coordination."

So, Colbert did the only logical thing: he pulled out a cardboard TV set, stuck himself inside and started doing the "Report" right there at Stewart's desk:

"Nation, I am calling on the Super PAC," Colbert said to no one in particular, "Not to run vicious character assassination ads that impune and borderline slander any candidate -- if in any way those ads can be traced back to me."

Think that's not coordinating? Then you'll love the next two FEC loopchasms Stewart and Colbert exposed last night. First, they figured out that they can call Stewart's Super PAC lawyer and Colbert's exploratory committee lawyer at the same time (it helps that they are the same person, Trevor Potter) and even though their conversation is obviously about the PAC, Potter can confirm that they're not coordinating as long as Colbert doesn't give concrete instructions.

"Still can't believe that's legal," Stewart said in disbelief.

Watch the full segment above and hear about the third, even more unbelievable fact regarding PAC spending. Let's just say that even if they did get accused of coordinating, neither Stewart nor Colbert would have to worry about who's going to pay the fines (and no, they won't be going to "The Big House").

Mitt Romney Pays A Tax Rate Much Lower Than Your Rate!

This video is from June of 2011, yet it clearly shows exactly the kinds of people that are leading the GOP campaign toward the White House. Millard the Willard Romney, a rat by a different name, pays a 15% tax rate just because he is part of the privileged few who earns income from investment holdings. Yet, the working classes of this nation pay over twice as much in their tax rates!!

Sour Grapes From The News-Record: Greensboro, NC

Hey folks, what is funny about this article by Doug Clark is that Mitt Romney is probably equally qualified as Stephen Colbert. Romney, a predatory private equity executive raping companies for their assets, and then writing off the expenses, unraveling, and investment on their taxes, while ultimately, shipping off the nature of the business to China. And, Romney fixed up the Olympic business office. And, he was a  governor of Massachusetts. Romney pretends to be something he is not. He pretends to be honest, and honorable. But in truth, he is a liar, and fake. He proclaims that middle income Americans are envious of millionaires, and millionaire offspring, such as Romney (Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and still keeps it there.), who have benefitted from the income inequities. Yet the research has shown, that income inequities are a dangerous and destabilizing factor in the economy. The greater the inequities, the greater the destabilizing affect.  

Colbert is the producer of his media company, supervisor of a large staff, and entertainer. He is savvy, fast-thinking, clever, and very intelligent. It would be my guess that Stephen Colbert would likely do a better job at being president.  

"Stephen Colbert for president? It can't get much worse than 

that", by Doug Clark

Stephen Colbert's "Mitt the Ripper" ad is wrong on facts, but who cares? It's just comedy, right?

Well, not really. It's political. It's meant to derail Mitt Romney's drive to the Republican presidential nomination., which he could nail down if he posts a big win in South Carolina.

Pat Paulsen alsoran for president, but he never intended to influence the actual election.

Colbert is different. In the guise of entertainment, or satire, or whatever, he really wants to have an impact.

Will he?

I hope not.

We talk about politicans with oversized egos. None compares to Stephen Colbert. This man is really trying to take out a presidential candidate.

Because Colbert plays a conservative in his TV persona, you'd think he'd aim his satirical attacks at President Obama. It doesn't look like he wants to havethat kind of impact.

---

Jon Huntsman went to South Carolina to drop out of the race today, endorsing Romney.

Don't wait for a Romney boom as a result.

Huntsman was a curiosity ... a thoughtful, experienced leader whom hardly anyone outside Utah had ever heard of.

If you went to the trouble to learn anything about him, you might have learned he was someone who should have been seriously considered.

Imagine -- a Republican former governor nominated by a Democratic president to serve as ambassador to China, one of our most important diplomatic posts. That says a lot.

Except to Republican voters.

Huntsman's third-place showing in New Hampshire was his high-water mark ... this time around.

Maybe he'll be back, if he can muster the resources of a Mitt Romney.

But Huntsman might have been in the wrong party. If only by 2016 we canl have another avenue besides the two-party system for serious, thoughtful and less-than-mindlessly partisan candidates to mount a credible campaign for the presidency.

Stephen Colbert Has One Million Supporters For His Presidency

Here is Stephen Colbert's Facebook Page.

See it 

HERE!

Colbert Super PAC Releases Romney Attack Ad In South Carolina (VIDEO)

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From Huffington Post and Carol Hartsell

Stephen Colbert's PAC Parody Explains Campaign Finance To America (Part 1)

From Huffington Post by Dan Froomkin and Paul Blumenthal

This is the first part of a five-part series by The Huffington Post exploring Stephen Colbert's explanation of the nation's campaign finance laws to the public. Stay tuned through the week of Jan. 16, 2012, for the rest of the series.

WASHINGTON -- Two years after the Supreme Court voided many of the country's bedrock campaign finance laws, much of the American public is still confused by the change -- and stupefied by the often-impenetrable jargon that frequently encumbers any discussion of the topic.

But one public figure has managed to pierce the veil of dullness to actually demonstrate -- in an electrifying way -- just how dangerous and corrupt the current system of political campaign financing has become.

In an indication of the desperate state of campaign finance laws -- and the mainstream media -- that person is a comedian: Stephen Colbert, who plays a right-wing blowhard on the Comedy Central show "The Colbert Report."

Colbert has spent much of the past year on a crusade to accept unlimited contributions from corporations, unions and individuals in order to make political statements and lavish himself with luxuries. In so doing, he may have helped bring the troubling issues surrounding campaign finance to the public's attention more than either the reform community or traditional media.

The comedian has often used his on-air persona's actual participation in events to help educate his viewers about what he says are the craziest elements of the United States' political system. This journey began on March 30, 2011, when Colbert announced on his show that in order to influence the 2012 elections, he would be forming a political action committee.

"If you wanna be a political playa in 2012, you need a PAC," he said.

In his ensuing adventures, such as receiving approval in June 2011 for a super PAC, Colbert has exposed many of the potential dangers of the current campaign financing system, including the influence of PACs and unlimited-donation super PACs, secret contributions by big donors, the failure of regulators, and the coordination between campaigns and supposedly independent groups. On Jan. 12, Colbert took his antics to their next logical conclusion: He declared a run for the presidency of the United States ... of South Carolina.

"It's not very often that money-in-politics questions wind up in pop culture," said John Wonderlich, policy director at the Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit that supports campaign finance transparency. "Colbert takes the most legalistic or complicated aspects of campaign finance and boils it down into a digestible popular form in a way that's unique."

Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21 and a longtime supporter of tougher campaign finance regulation, is also a fan. "I think Colbert has made a real contribution to educating a broader public about the dangers involved in our current campaign finance system," he said.

Colbert's personal appearances before the Federal Election Commission and the attention he has generated on the subject even garnered the praise of FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub, who thanked Colbert for "shining a little light on this obscure corner of the federal government."

ABOUT THOSE PACS

Forming a PAC seemed an appropriate starting point for Colbert. The committees have traditionally been used to provide a vehicle for a group of people -- employees of a corporation, members of a union, supporters of a political figure -- to pool their money for campaign contributions or independent expenditures in support of the election of candidates.

The first PAC dates back to 1944, but their use exploded in the 1970s and the 1980s.

As he signed the forms to create his own PAC in March, Colbert joked about what else he could do with the money he raises.

"Let's say I'm Sarah Palin and I've got a couple of million dollars in my PAC there. Can I use that to, like, take private jets someplace?" Colbert asked his guest and lawyer Trevor Potter, a former FEC chairman and counsel to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) during his 2008 presidential run.

Potter, who has since become Colbert's campaign finance straight man, responded with a smile, "You can!"

A common criticism of PACs connected to political figures is that they can be used to pay for things like luxury travel with funds contributed by other people. A PAC belonging to former Republican vice presidential candidate Palin, for instance, provided tens of thousands of dollars for her to travel to Israel and to take private jet trips across the United States

As Colbert has demonstrated, forming a PAC can be as easy as filling out a form and asking for money.

Video produced by Sara Kenigsberg.