When the State Election Enforcement Commission was probing how the state Democrats played fast and loose with election laws to direct money into Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s 2014 re-election campaign, donations prohibited by state law, it was a civil matter. The SEEC can issue fines and slap wrists.

Federal grand juries, on the other hand, present criminal indictments. When federal prosecutors obtain convictions on those indictments, people can go to prison.

Which is why the governor and officials at the Democratic State Central Committee may be wishing that they never came up with their plan to circumvent state campaign funding restrictions in the effort to win Malloy a second term.

The U.S. Department of Justice is presenting its case to a federal grand jury in New Haven. Hearst Connecticut Media reports that federal law enforcement officials have ordered state Democratic Party “insiders” to appear.

In the same report, citing sources, Hearst said the Justice Department has subpoenaed state contractors, prohibited from contributing to state campaigns, but whom the Democratic Party solicited to direct money into a federal campaign account. That account would normally fund federal races — people running for the U.S. Senate or House — but some of it ended up paying for Malloy fliers mailed to households in the closing days of the 2014 campaign.

In a rematch of their 2010 contest, Malloy defeated Republican businessman Tom Foley by about 26,000 votes.

At the very least, a federal probe, if it drags on, will not improve the prospects of Malloy winning an appointment in a future Hillary Clinton White House. A new president will not want to start a term with the appointment of an official tied to a scandal, no matter how hard that person worked for the campaign. Malloy has been quite ardent and visible on the national stage in making the case for Clinton and ripping Donald Trump.

Malloy keeps insisting the Democrats followed the rules, though his whistle past that graveyard is sounding a bit shaky.

Both the governor and Foley participated in Connecticut’s Citizens’ Election Program. They each received $6.5 million state grants to run their campaigns. The purpose is to keep special interest money out of the process and make elected officials beholden to no one but the citizens. As such, the candidates swear not to take any outside money.

Foley and Malloy were also subject to another state law that prohibits executives at companies that have state contracts or are eligible to bid on them from donating to a gubernatorial candidate. The Democrats, however, used the federal account to collect outside donations, including from state contractors.

The Democrats transferred more than $300,000 from the federal account for those Malloy mailings, even though governor is not a federal office.

The SEEC cried foul, reminding the governor he swore to not accept outsider cash if he received public campaign financing and could not, under any circumstances, take donations from those doing business with the state. The state elections enforcement agency sought email communications and bank records from the state Democratic Party as it tried to follow the money.

Party officials refused, arguing in state Superior Court that the federal rules prevailed. With a decision pending, the sides settled, with the Democrats agreeing to pay a $325,000 penalty and not again use the federal account to work around state restrictions.

But will the grand jury conclude the tactics violated federal clean-campaign laws? The fliers are covered in photos and commentary promoting Malloy, but in tiny print also give polling hours and a phone number, “For a ride to the polls.”

That, say the Democrats, makes them get-out-the-vote fliers permissible under federal law. A loophole.

Interestingly, Democrats had sought an expedited advisory decision from the Federal Elections Commission in making such use of the federal account. The party withdrew the request without getting a decision. Perhaps party leaders thought it better to opt for ignorance.

A scandal drove Gov. John G. Rowland from office in 2004 and sent him to a prison for a year because his administration steered state contracts to campaign supporters. Rowland will soon head back to prison to serve a 30-month sentence, this time for violating federal election law.

Rowland acted as a political advisor to a congressional candidate, but disguised it as unrelated consultant work, thus circumventing campaign-filing requirements. Maybe he, too, thought he had found a legal loophole. In 2014, a jury disagreed, handing down a conviction.

Malloy and his fellow Democrats should be nervous.

Paul Choiniere is the editorial page editor.