The Federal Bureau of Investigations is looking into a series of contributions by employees of the Canton, Ohio-based Suarez Corporation to Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel (R) and freshman Rep. Jim Renacci (R-OH), according to reports by the Toledo Blade and The New Republic. Mandel is the Republican challenger to Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) and, due to redistricting, Renacci is facing a member-versus-member re-election fight against Rep. Betty Sutton (D).

TNR explains:

Renacci’s biggest single source of support, however, has been Suarez Corporation Industries, a large direct-marketing company in North Canton that sells a motley mix of products (space heaters, collectible coins, jewelry, and more). Last year, The Toledo Blade noticed that many large contributions were being made to Renacci by Suarez’s non-executive employees. Seventeen employees, plus six spouses, had given to Renacci, Mandel, or both, with most giving at the maximum allowable level, for a total of $100,000 for each candidate. (Company founder Benjamin Suarez had himself given the maximum to both candidates.) This sort of pattern raises red flags: Federal law bars employers from reimbursing employees for giving to a certain candidate—a method employers could use to evade limits on their own giving.

While companies often encourage employees to “bundle” contributions to candidates who support their interests, it is illegal to coerce employees to donate or to reimburse them for their contributions. Many of the donors had no history of political giving and lived in modest homes. One of the Suarez employees, copywriter Michael Blubaugh, joined with his wife Donna to give $10,000 to Renacci and $10,000 to Mandel. She told TNR that she had been interviewed about the donations by the FBI and that the donations were all made freely, out of their savings. She did acknowledge that, though $10,000 of the money was donated in her name, her husband “made the decision,” not she.

The company has denied reimbursing employees and has refused to “respond to gossip, rumors, or innuendo concerning its operations.”

But if indeed it turns out these were improper contributions, the Mandel and Renacci campaigns may find themselves having to refund a combined $200,000.

Newly released FBI documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union, suggest that the bureau illegally spied on the religious practices of Muslim Americans, under the guise of community outreach. An FBI spokesman defended the information gathering as “within the scope of an authorized law enforcement activity, whether investigation or liaison, including activities designed to strengthen relationships in various communities.”

The ACLU explains:

The FBI’s targeting of American Muslim religious organizations for secret intelligence gathering raises grave constitutional concerns because it is an affront to religious liberty and equal protection of the law. The bureau’s use of outreach meetings to gather intelligence also undermines the trust and mutual understanding necessary to effective law enforcement. Additionally, the FBI’s retention of information gathered through “mosque outreach” in its intelligence files violates federal Privacy Act prohibitions against the maintenance of records about individuals’ First Amendment-protected activity.

But this would hardly be the first time the FBI spied on peaceful Americans.

Here are just a few recent examples:

Iraq War Opponents — A 2002 FBI memo showed the bureau investigated gatherings of the Thomas Merton Center for Peace & Justice, as the pacifist group leafleted against the Iraq War.

Environmentalists — The FBI improperly investigated two planned Greenpeace corporate protests, a three-year inquiry extending long after the protests were over.

Animal Rights Supporters — The bureau also improperly investigated People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

This intelligence, while not useful for public safety, was at least better than the virtual restaurant reviews gathered by the New York Police Department’s spying operation.

A 2010 Inspector General’s report lambasted the FBI for equating nonviolent protests with terrorism and for “false and misleading statements to the public and to Congress.”

Of course, these groups are in good company. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. himself was spied on regularly by J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI. The COINTELPRO investigations into whether the civil rights leader might be a Communist including tapped phone conversations, bugs at his house, and even a 1964 infamous poison-pen letter warning him he would be exposed as a fraud.

But nearly 50 years later, it seems perhaps the FBI should have learned from its mistakes.