A staffer for Colbert's super PAC, which backs 'Rick Parry,' has joined Perry's team. | AP Photos Colbert loses treasurer to Perry

No joke: Presidential candidate Rick Perry and comedian Stephen Colbert, who last week barraged Iowa voters with advertisements urging voters to support “Rick Parry,” shared the same political committee treasurer – until they didn’t.

Salvatore Purpura, who has represented numerous political committees as treasurer over the years, told POLITICO that he resigned on Thursday as treasurer of Colbert’s super PAC, Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow.


Then, on Monday, Perry - not Parry - formally filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission listing Purpura has his campaign treasurer.

“Obviously, there was a potential conflict of interest,” Purpura said. “I told [Colbert lawyer] Trevor [Potter] on Thursday I would not be able to be treasurer anymore.”

Colbert, in an email to POLITICO, praised Purpura’s service.

“We’re not surprised. Sal is the best in the business. That’s why we went with him,” Colbert wrote. “We’re happy for Sal and we are even happier that Governor Parry has sent the clear signal of which super PAC he trusts to receive all that unlimited money waiting to pour in on his behalf. Loud and clear, sir. Unofficially, loud and clear.”

To date, Purpura remains listed as treasurer in FEC documents for both Perry’s presidential committee and Colbert’s super PAC, which Purpura attributed to a paperwork lag time. Shauna Polk, an official at Washington, D.C.-based law firm Caplin & Drysdale, has assumed treasurer duties for Colbert’s super PAC, Purpura said.

The Atlantic Wire originally reported that Purpura’s name appeared on both committees’ paperwork.

Purpura’s online LinkedIn resume indicates he’s served as treasurer or “director of treasury” for George W. Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign, John McCain 2008 presidential campaign, the U.S. Senate campaign of Carly Fiorina in California and the campaign of Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), among others.

Treasurers often do not have leadership and decision-making roles in political committees, more often serving in a financial capacities depending on the committee. For Perry, Purpura says he’ll work as “CFO – managing accounting.”

Colbert, who hosts the nightly Comedy Central show “The Colbert Report,” created his super PAC this year, and through it, has the ability to raise and spend unlimited sums of money on behalf of – but not in coordination with – political candidates.