POLITICO Quotes Trevor Potter on "Pay to Play" Issues for Federal Candidates

POLITICO quoted Trevor Potter concerning the "pay to play" implications of Chris Christie's announcement that he will not resign as New Jersey's governor if he runs for president in 2016. Many election law experts believe this decision will limit Christie's ability to raise funds due to strict federal campaign finance rules for sitting governors. For the complete article, please visit POLITICO's website.

Excerpt taken from the interview.

The rules do not completely block Christie from potentially taking Wall Street money for a presidential run. Executives at smaller hedge funds and private equity firms or banks that don't plan to do any state business could still contribute. But they would significantly hamper the governor, according to election law experts.

"The light I see in the law is that if there are investment firms out there not seeking business with the state, they are not prohibited from giving," said Trevor Potter, an attorney and former Federal Elections Commission Chairman who was general counsel for Sen. John McCain's presidential campaigns. "But my experience is most of these people don't want to foreclose the possibility of doing state business."