Stephen Colbert, the latest TV Actor to jump into the race for President, may face significant legal problems. Slate has picked this up as well.
The problems appear to be two-fold. First, the Federal Election Commission has declared it unlawful to have a corporation sponsor a political campaign. Colbert's sponsorship by Dorito's would seem to run afoul of this rule. Colbert has countered by saying that Dorito's only sponsors his show's coverage of his campaign. Colbert also elaborated, saying:
"As a candidate, I am under no obligation to promote the zesty, robust taste of Doritos brand tortilla chips, regardless of how great a snack they may be for lunchtime, munch time, anytime."
The second problem Colbert may face is potentially more difficult. While media outlets are permitted to show candidates as part of their election coverage, they may not promote any candidate. The FEC definition of "promotion" includes donations, as well the use of free services or goods (in-kind donations). It would seem that allowing Colbert to promote his campaign on his show would violate that rule.
There is no word yet on how the FEC will treat Mr. Colbert's campaign; we can only hope that our nation's greatest TV talk show candidate will get a fair shake.
Colbert/Craig '08!
1 comments:
I still can't figure out if I should support Colbert's campaign or not.
On one hand it could completely destroy any remaining thoughts that the American political system works as is.
On the other hand, that might be a good thing.
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