"I Want You to Write 'FBI' in Big, Bold Letters."

Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown tells a story:

The revelation in the Matier and Ross column that the FBI sting operation made $20,ooo in phony contributions to Ed Lee's 2011 mayoral campaign hit close to home.

They did the same thing to me when I was Assembly speaker.

In my case, an undercover FBI agent approached one of my aides with a $2,000 contribution - all in crisp $100 bills.

The aide, Karen Sonoda, had no idea the guy was an FBI agent - he was posing as an economic development man. But she did know the law, and told him, "You can't make a contribution that way."

She walked him across the street to a bank and had him take out a cashier's check, and fill it out with his name and address.

When the operation was revealed a few months later and a couple of legislative staffers were convicted, she saw the undercover agent's fake name in the news coverage.

Mortified, she came to me and said, "I took a contribution from these people and I reported it under what was a fake name. I'll return the check and resign."

I was both stunned and angry - not at her, but at the FBI.

"First off, you are not resigning," I said. "But you are going to amend the filing report, and where it lists the source of the funds, I want you to write 'FBI' in big, bold letters."

And I kept the money.

More Willie Brown here.