I hate the thought of anyone being tripped up by our anti-democratic campaign finance laws, but could it happen to a nicer guy than Geoffrey Fieger, the controversial former attorney for Jack Kevorkian and unsuccessful 1998 gubernatorial candidate?

The indictment claims that Fieger, 56, of Bloomfield Hills, and [law partner Vernon] Johnson, 45, of Birmingham, recruited 60 people, known as straw donors, to make contributions in the then-maximum allowable amount of $2,000 per donor to the Edwards campaign. The contributions actually came from Fieger’s firm, the indictment says.