Stephen Colbert vs. Karl Rove: Who's better at 'money laundering'?
Stephen Colbert is setting up something that鈥檚 pretty close to a money laundering operation. Why? So that rich folks and corporations can anonymously channel money into his "super PAC" 鈥� a political action committee that in turn can spend unlimited funds advocating for issues and candidates it likes.
Again you ask, why? What鈥檚 the point of a comedian setting up such sophisticated campaign-finance apparatus? The answer to that seems obvious 鈥� he鈥檚 making fun of it. As we鈥檝e said before, Mr. Colbert is a performance artist as much as a comic. What he鈥檚 highlighting here is the absurdity of US campaign finance regulations 鈥� or rather, how they may be regulations in name only.
After all, he鈥檚 defined PAC as standing for plastic and/or cash, and invited supporters to a political BYOB party 鈥� Bring Your Own Billions. His show now features a 鈥渉eroes crawl鈥� at the bottom of the screen that lists names of donors to his political slush fund.
As to the amount of cash he鈥檚 collected so far, he said on Thursday鈥檚 show 鈥渨e鈥檙e into numbers I wouldn鈥檛 want to serve in federal prison鈥�.
If you鈥檙e confused, we鈥檒l back up a bit here and lay out Colbert鈥檚 finance landscape. In June, he won approval from the Federal Election Commission to form a super PAC, a kind of committee that can raise and spend unlimited amounts of cash on political activities. The main limitation of such organizations is that they鈥檙e not supposed to directly coordinate activities with a candidate.
Of course, you鈥檇 have to be a special kind of donor to entrust your money to Stephen Colbert. He鈥檚 not going to use it for ads that discuss the merits of President Obama鈥檚 approach to Israel. Indeed, the Colbert Super PAC produced an ad that urged voters in the recent Ames, Iowa, straw poll to vote for 鈥淩ick Parry.鈥� (Texas Gov. Rick Perry鈥檚 name is spelled with an 鈥渆鈥�.)
Now, another limitation of super PACs is that they must disclose their donors, and that was the jumping-off point for Colbert鈥檚 Thursday show. He had his lawyer, Trevor Potter, come out and give him the paperwork for his brand new shell corporation, named 鈥�Anonymous Shell Corporation.鈥� This kind of organization, known in campaign finance terms as a 501(c)(4) firm, doesn鈥檛 have to disclose its donors. In turn, it can give unlimited amounts to super PACs.
鈥淲hat is the difference between that and money laundering?鈥� asked Colbert.
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to say,鈥� said his lawyer.
Colbert has a specific target in mind here. He鈥檚 after Karl Rove 鈥� earlier on the show, he鈥檇 interviewed a canned ham wearing glasses, calling it Mr. Rove is a force behind the creation of a GOP super PAC named 鈥�American Crossroads,鈥� and a shell corporation named 鈥�Crossroads GPS鈥� that can accept unlimited cash from individuals and corporations, then funnel it to American Crossroads.
鈥淐rossroads GPS鈥檚 policy is to not provide the names of its donors to the general public,鈥� notes the group on its .
For its part, American Crossroads is currently the biggest source of outside expenditures in the 2012 campaign cycle, according to the watchdog group Center for Responsive Politics. So far it鈥檚 spent more than aiding GOP causes.
We鈥檒l note that the House Majority PAC, a liberal group, is close behind in second place, at around $900,000 for Democrats. Will Colbert Super PAC ever make the top 10 here? We鈥檙e calling him out 鈥� he鈥檚 just doing chump change so far.
