Stephen Colbert Super PAC Update: Comedian Files Papers with FEC

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=0548D69B-9F01-4A73-B4E5-AC4C5F593F7C

Colbert at the FEC? Really.
By: Kenneth P. Vogel
May 13, 2011 04:02 PM EDT
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If nothing else, it could help the cause of campaign finance advocates by highlighting the ability of corporations to spend unlimited amounts to support or oppose candidates, and – as Lisa Gilbert of Public Citizen describes it – expose “the clear conflict of interest that Fox media has as they allow political figures to promote their PACs on a supposedly neutral media outlet.”

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The PAC idea, it says, has served as “a vehicle for discussing campaign-finance rules and new developments in politics, such as Citizens United and independent expenditure-only committees,” and explains that “Mr. Colbert has placed himself in positions where his personal political actions and experiences can serve as material for the show.”

If the six commissioners of the FEC take Colbert’s request seriously, and decides to grant him wide latitude in using “The Colbert Report” to promote his PAC – both very big ifs – it “could have a sweeping effect. That would be a troubling development,” said Paul Ryan, a lawyer at the Campaign Legal Center, a non-profit group that pushes for tighter restrictions on money in politics.

Likewise, said Gilbert, if the commission goes the other way, ruling that any airtime Colbert devotes to promoting the PAC should be treated, and disclosed, as a so-called in-kind contribution from Viacom, it could “have a real election law impact,” in part by restricting the freedom of a handful of high-profile Republicans who serve as paid Fox News pundits and are affiliated with PACs, including Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Karl Rove and Dick Morris.

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