He believes that citizens can make important legislative contributions in areas that are sometimes overlooked, like the complications couples from different European countries face getting a divorce in the European Union, or difficulties transferring education credentials across borders.
Legal and legislative challenges to contribution limits are already proliferating at the state level and federally.
Rob Schaaf, a Republican state senator, has proposed a legislative package of campaign contribution limits with lobbying and ethics reforms.
Almost until the drama's very end, GOP leaders continued to target the Obamacare employer contribution in legislative offers.
He also called for legislation prohibiting legislative leaders from using their political action committees to accept contributions from government contractors.
Nonprofits like the one cited in the Calderon case allow politicians to collect contributions from special interests without having to abide by the $4,100 limit on campaign contributions in legislative races.
"Tying campaign contributions to legislative or executive action has never been illegal in the United States unless there is proof that the public official extorts the money by threatening to give or withhold action based on the contributions," Mr. Tigar said.
In the final stage of the campaign, New Jersey's legislative races are drawing contributions at a record pace -- millions of dollars a week -- most of them aimed at giving Democrats control of the evenly divided State Senate.
It's bad enough that those in our executive and legislative branches can take contributions from people who have business before them to finance elections quarterbacked by spinmeisters and filled with phony attack ads.
A panel of five Democrats and five Republicans faulted Mr. DeLay for appearing to link legislative action to political contributions and for sending Federal Aviation Administration officials to search for Texas legislators who fled the state to avoid a contentious vote on redistricting.
