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10 Things You Didn't Know About Stephen Colbert's Super PAC

By Jim Edwards

Updated on: June 30, 2011 / 6:05 PM EDT / MoneyWatch

The Federal Election Commission's decision to allow Stephen Colbert to form a "Colbert Super PAC" says some scary things about the new power of election advertising money under the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. Media companies do not have to report the money they spend administering or giving publicity to PACs, the FEC said.

Colbert asked the FEC if he could start a political action committee as part of a skit to illustrate the arcane election funding laws that allow companies and unions to give unlimited amounts of cash to campaign groups hoping to sway votes toward one candidate or another. The skit turned serious when the FEC responded formally with an advisory opinion, which says Comedy Central owner Viacom (VIA) would be covered by the "media exemption" to election law, meaning that it would not have to report its support of the Colbert PAC as in-kind donations.

Here's a list of 10 interesting things about the Colbert Super PAC:

The stated purpose of the PAC is "to determine the winners of the 2012 elections."
Colbert will solicit donations of less than $50 so he doesn't have to keep a record of it.
To make sure he did not fall afoul of the law before receiving the FEC's blessing, Colbert had to assure the agency that the $1 bills he collected from fans outside the FEC building when he filed his request in May were for him personally and not the PAC.
Under the FEC's opinion, Colbert Super PAC's official purpose will be: "The Committee will solicit and accept unlimited contributions from individuals, political committees, corporations, and labor organizations.
Banned from donating are: "foreign nationals, Federal contractors, national banks, or corporations organized by act of Congress."
Viacom -- Colbert's employer -- does not control the PAC, the FEC said. Control of the PAC appears to lie solely with Colbert.
The Colbert PAC "will not make monetary or in-kind contributions to any candidate, political committee, or political party. It also will not coordinate its expenditures with any candidate or political party." It can, of course, make and buy its own election ads urging support or opposition for one candidate or another.
Serious people opposed Colbert's request: "This would carve out a gaping loophole in campaign finance laws, allowing any company involved in media to foot, in secret and without limit, the electioneering expenses of political committees," Public Citizen's government affairs lobbyist Craig Holman said.
To explain why he wanted a PAC, Colbert cited "Give us your cash bitch," a racist campaign ad opposing Democratic Congressional candidate Janice Hahn. "This why want my own PAC," he said, "to make ads like this, only less responsible."
Here's Colbert's campaign finance law joke:

"Knock knock?" Colbert said.
"Who's there?" asked the crowd.
"Unlimited union and corporate campaign contributions," Colbert said.
"Unlimited union and corporate campaign contributions who?" the crowd replied, not quite in unison.
"That's the thing, I don't think I should have to tell you," Colbert replied.

In all seriousness, the decision does hand enormous power to media companies who want to intervene in election politics. They can now spend what they want supporting PACs without disclosing it. If Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Keith Olbermann or Rachel Maddow want to sway elections without telling you from now on, this is how they'll do it.

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Image by Wikimedia, CC.