Stephen Colbert shuts super PAC. Where did the money go?
Stephen Colbert has closed his "super political action committee," in case you haven鈥檛 heard. The funnyman announced the move on his eponymous Comedy Central show earlier this week. He said he was disappointed that rich groups such as his 鈥淎mericans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow鈥� didn鈥檛 appear to have had much influence on the election. He also professed to be worried that angry donors were after him for revenge.
鈥淗ow did they find out I work at 鈥�The Colbert Report鈥�? 鈥� he wailed before dressed up as Karl Rove to appease his presumed pursuers.
Yes, that鈥檚 what we said 鈥� he sacrificed a canned ham. He鈥檚 a performance artist, what can we say? If you want more background on that, read , which has replaced the old Colbert super PAC home page on the web.
As the obit says, 鈥渄on鈥檛 stop bereaving.鈥�
As is often the case with Mr. Colbert, there鈥檚 a bit more substance to this bit than first meets the wallet, um, eye. When he shut the super PAC, it still had almost $800,000 in contributions, mostly from small donors who鈥檇 sent in money after watching his show. What happened to the cash?
Glad you asked! We don鈥檛 really know. It鈥檚 quite possible that Colbert has just pocketed it as a hedge against Obama actually winning higher taxes on the rich. If he had, that would be perfectly legal.
Because that was Colbert鈥檚 real point 鈥� that America鈥檚 campaign-donation laws are even more bizarre than you think. They don鈥檛 just allow groups unaccountable to the voters to gather and spend in elections unlimited amounts of cash. They also allow political entrepreneurs to take that cash and make it disappear, to be used for untraceable purposes.
Colbert showed how this all works on Monday night鈥檚 show. He had on Trevor Potter, former head of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and Colbert鈥檚 personal election lawyer. Mr. Potter showed him how to from the super PAC to an existing 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization, which then forwarded the money to a new secret 501(c)(4), where it essentially disappeared.
Colbert illustrated this by actually writing the check, passing it through an open-ended manila envelope (existing 501(c)(4)), then putting it in a locked wood box (new secret 501(c)(4)). He waited a beat and then reopened the locked box.
The check had disappeared.
鈥淪o what do I have to tell ... the IRS about what happened with the money?鈥� Colbert asked Potter.
鈥淣othing,鈥� said Potter.
Colbert smiled like he was a Grinch in the midst of stealing Christmas. 鈥淲ell, Trevor, thanks for nothing,鈥� he crowed.
As far as we can tell, this wasn鈥檛 just an act. Colbert鈥檚 super PAC actually filed a with the FEC on Tuesday, and if you scroll down you can see that it lists an outflow of $7.73 million as 鈥渙ther disbursements.鈥� That鈥檚 the money that the super PAC was sitting on, going ... somewhere. Of which we know not.
Maybe Colbert鈥檚 donors should demand their money back. He wouldn鈥檛 have to give it to them. But we bet Colbert鈥檚 evil archrival, Jon Stewart, could turn that into a funny running bit.
