Stephen Colbert’s Ham Rove Memorial Fund Makes Generous Contribution to Campaign Legal Center

Last night, Stephen Colbert announced on the Colbert Report that the Ham Rove Memorial Fund had made a grant of more than $135,000 to the Campaign Legal Center. A condition of the grant requires that the Legal Center name its conference room The Ham Rove Memorial Conference Room. The staff at the Legal Center is already referring to the room by its new name and look forward to dedicating the conference room and bringing the space into full compliance with the condition as soon as the plaque arrives.

“We vow to do our best to ensure that groups like Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Colbert Super PAC SHH will not be able to get away with their anonymous shell game shenanigans in future election cycles,” said Legal Center President Trevor Potter. “We are also delighted that the Ham Rove Memorial Fund made a similar contribution to our friends at the Center for Responsive Politics for the invaluable service they provide in tracking money in our political system.”

The Ham Rove Memorial Fund was created by Mr. Colbert with money he raised though his Colbert Super PAC. The Colbert Report was awarded with a prestigious Peabody Award for the segments of the show related to the Super PAC and the nation’s completely dysfunctional campaign finance system in the wake of the Supreme Court’s controversial Citizens United decision and a series of failures by regulatory agencies, including the Federal Election Commission and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Through his private law practice, Legal Center President Trevor Potter was a frequent guest on the show serving as Mr. Colbert’s attorney and explaining the intricacies of campaign finance and tax law to the show’s national audience. Mr. Potter helped create the Colbert Super PAC, the related 501(c)(4) Colbert Super PAC SHH and ultimately the Ham Rove Memorial Fund where the hundreds of thousands of dollars from Colbert Super PAC had vanished last month without a trace, courtesy of loopholes in the IRS regulations.

To watch Mr. Colbert’s announcement of the grant on last night’s show, click here.