The apparent violations seem to be the result of miscommunication.

Christensen was a Republican state legislator when he challenged Democratic Congressman Jim Matheson. Christensen lost, and now is trying to reclaim his old seat in the Legislature.

In the week before the 2006 election, about two dozen legislators contributed to Christensen's campaign in an eleventh-hour attempt to overcome Matheson's lead. Fourteen drew the money out of their legislative campaign accounts.

Unless the rules governing such donations are scrupulously followed, the contributions can violate federal election laws because while state campaigns can accept corporate donations, federal campaigns cannot.

A spokesperson for the Federal Election Commission told me that there are scenarios where state campaign money can be used for federal campaign contributions. But it appears that nine of the 14 contributions did not meet the necessary criteria.

Kirk Jowers, director of the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics and a member of a Washington D.C. law firm that advises candidates on FEC law, said state campaign accounts must have enough federally permissible individual donations to cover the federal contribution. Christensen had Rep. Glenn Donnelson, R-North Ogden, call the FEC to make sure the legislators' contributions were done legally and Donnelson reported that the FEC representative assured him contributions from campaign accounts were acceptable. But Donnelson said there was no discussion about differentiating between individual and corporate contributions.

Christensen also had CBIZ, a respected accounting firm in Salt Lake City, go through the details of the donations with the legislators to make sure everything was done legally. CBIZ analyst Cory Chan said she obtained letters from the legislators affirming they had enough individual contributions in their campaign accounts to cover the amount of the donation they gave to Christensen.

My own review of the campaign accounts, however, shows otherwise.

Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, gave Christensen $800. But his campaign disclosure reports for 2004 and 2006 show almost all of his campaign money came from corporations, state PACs or other legislators' campaign accounts. Individual contributions came nowhere near the $800 Noel gave to Christensen.

The same is true for Reps. Brad Daw, R-Orem (who gave Christensen $625); Stephen Clark, R-Provo (who gave $625); Donnelson (who gave $1,000); Rep. Wayne Harper, R-West Jordan ($1,100); Rep. Brad Last, R-St. George ($850); Rep. Mike Morley, R-Spanish Fork ($1,000); Rep. Merlynn Newbold, R-South Jordan ($600); and Rep. Curt Oda, R-Clearfield (who donated $500, but had only $400 from individual contributions).

Misunderstandings also led to an inadvertent violation by Rep. Greg Hughes, whose 2006 report shows he reimbursed his wife Krista for a $300 contribution she made to Christensen. That, under FEC law, is illegal.

Hughes, whose campaign manager handles his financial disclosure reports, was not aware of that entry until I told him. He then learned that when she wrote a check for a $150-per-person Christensen fund-raising dinner the couple attended in 2006, she was told by an organizer of the event that she could be reimbursed by her husband's campaign account. Hughes said he will do what it takes to rectify that problem.

The FEC only investigates alleged violations when a formal complaint is filed. That has not occurred.