[Lamplighter]

Christian Science Monitor
Peter Grier
1/18/12

Will Jon Stewart go to jail for running Stephen Colbert's super PAC?

As the head of a super political-action committee supporting Stephen Colbert,
Jon Stewart is not allowed to 'coordinate' with Colbert.
But the two are pushing the limits in the name of satire.

Jon Stewart does not want to go to jail. This is understandable –
the bagels in prison aren’t fresh, and Wi-Fi access is extremely limited.

So – as he explained on Tuesday night’s show – he is worried about his new position
as head of Stephen Colbert’s super political-action committee.
He’s happy with the money, of course, and the power, and so on.
He’s thinking of buying himself one of Elizabeth Taylor’s tiaras.
(We’re not making this up.) But he heard Mitt Romney say on “Morning Joe”
that he (Mitt) can’t coordinate with his own super PAC or he’ll go the “big house.”

“Which of your big houses do you go to? The beach house or the ski chalet?”
asked Mr. Stewart, before mugging it up in mock horror at finally getting Mr. Romney’s joke.
<snip>

But there is a loophole, or, as Colbert called it, a “loop-chasm.”
A candidate can talk to his associated super PAC via the media.
And the super PAC can listen, like everybody else.

“I can’t tell you [what to do]. But I can tell everyone through television,”
said Colbert on Stewart’s Comedy Central Show.
“And if you happen to be watching, I can’t prevent that.”

Stewart then played a clip of Newt Gingrich calling on his super PAC
to scrub ads attacking Mitt Romney for possible inaccuracies.
Stewart and Colbert then talked to elections lawyer Trevor Potter
– who is the attorney for both Colbert’s exploratory committee and the super PAC
– through the same phone. Stewart said he’d bought air time in South Carolina,
and so on, and Colbert just said he couldn’t coordinate,
but smiled or frowned, depending on which city the ad time was in.
Columbia, no. Charleston, yes!

Is this all legal, or are these comedians pushing the legal envelope
and in fact risking jail time?