Montgomery, AL – The Alabama attorney general's staff says a complaint against Secretary of State Beth Chapman does not appear to raise any violations of the law.
Former attorney general candidate Mark Montiel had filed the complaint last week. He had questioned Chapman's fundraising after her election in 2006 and her campaign's payments to her family members.
Writing for Attorney General Troy King on Tuesday, Assistant Attorney General Brenda Smith said Montiel was not looking at the law correctly concerning campaign debts. She also wrote that state law does not prohibit a candidate from hiring family members to work in a campaign.
Chapman said she has always tried to follow the law, and the letter shows that.
Montiel said the matter is not over because he also wrote to the State Ethics Commission and the Montgomery County district attorney.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)