Colbert super PAC rakes in $1 million

@CNNMoney January 31, 2012: 5:31 PM ET
Colbert super PAC reports $1 million in cash.

Colbert on the campaign trail.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Stephen Colbert's super PAC is working with some serious cash.

Americans For A Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow reported Tuesday that it has raised $1,023,121, according to a document filed with the Federal Election Commission.

An addendum to the disclosure contained language from Colbert that is not usually included in FEC reports.

"Yeah! How you like me now, F.E.C? I'm rolling seven digits deep! I got 99 problems but a non-connected independent-expenditure only committee ain't one!" Colbert said.

The primary disclosure form, which runs through Dec. 31, lists donations of $825,475, which means Colbert raised almost $200,000 in the month of January alone.

In a statement posted to the super PAC's website, Colbert said the money had been raised "in full accordance with the law."

"It's the way our founding fathers would have wanted it, if they had founded corporations instead of just a country," Colbert said.

Most donations to the super PAC were under $250, but disclosure forms list some interesting donors who chose to give more. (Campaign finance the Stephen Colbert way.)

A $500 donation from Gavin Newsom, the Lieutenant Governor of California, is listed.

"I applaud Stephen Colbert exposing the absurdity of our current political financing system. I'm proud to support Colbert's message with a donation. And I like his haircut," Newsom said in a statement.

Adding a touch of star power, an actor named Bradley Whitford gave $250. It could not be immediately confirmed that the West Wing star did in fact donate.

A Rolling Stones tribute band called the Sticky Fingers Band gave $400. The band bills itself as "the greatest rock and roll tribute band in the world" on its website.

Colbert has spent the better part of a year using his show on Comedy Central to take viewers on a tour of the opaque world of campaign finance law. (Where the money is: A campaign spending primer.)

Armed with the ability to accept unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, associations and individuals, Colbert's super PAC has set about doing what other super PACs do: spending unlimited sums to overtly advocate for or against political candidates.

Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow ran ads in advance of the Iowa straw poll touting the candidacy of "Rick Parry."

And while Colbert hit the campaign trail in South Carolina, the super PAC ran ads that referred to Mitt Romney as "Mitt the ripper."

"If Mitt Romney really believes corporations are people," the ad said, "then Mitt Romney is a serial killer."

In one episode, Colbert enlists his lawyer, Trevor Potter, to create a tax-exempt 501(c)(4) so that he can obtain secret donations in a "completely transparent" way.

"Can I take this (c)(4) money and donate it to my super PAC?" Colbert asked after signing paperwork that registered the shell corporation in Delaware. "You can," Potter said.

The camera then cuts to Colbert, whose face displayed a look of total shock. "Wait," Colbert said. "What is the difference between that and money laundering?"  To top of page

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