Officials at the Michigan Department of State are investigating a complaint that Lansing Mayor Tony Benavides received illegal campaign contributions in excess of $7,000.

The building in which the Benavides re-election campaign is located normally rents office suites for $1,200 a month. The complaint states the Benavides camp, which receives its office space for free, listed the value of the contribution at $100 a month - significantly lower than market value for the space.

"When we first get a complaint, we do an initial review to see if it is technically sound," said Ken Silfven, spokesman for the Secretary of State. "There are certain procedures that you have to follow. You have to provide some supporting evidence to the claim."

Letters have been sent from the state to Benavides and Lewis Doug Johns, who is listed in the complaint as donating the office space to the Benavides campaign.

Benavides is running against state Sen. Virg Bernero, D-Lansing, for mayor.

The Benavides campaign faced similar allegations in 2003, but they were dismissed.

John Moralez, Benavides' campaign manager, said they haven't received notification from the Secretary of State and will decide what to do once notified.

"We are going to address this in a professional manner," he said. "The same process took place two years ago and nothing happened."

Once Benavides and Johns receive notification, they have 15 days to respond to the Secretary of State, Silfven said. Their comments are forwarded to Rich Robinson, executive director of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, who filed the complaint. From there, everyone's comments go back to the Secretary of State for a final review.

"We have to have something to support an allegation," Silfven said. "For a variety of reasons, we could dismiss a complaint after our initial review. Just because we are forwarding it on for response, doesn't mean we are accepting the allegation as true. We are accepting the initial criteria."

Robinson said he was made aware of the alleged violation when a reporter called him and asked about the status of another complaint that was filed against Benavides. The Michigan Campaign Finance Network is a non-profit and non-partisan organization that works to investigate how politicians receive and distribute money, he added.

"I don't have a dog in this fight," Robinson said. "It was pretty simple to file the complaint. I looked at the Benavides campaign finance reports and you just can't do that."

Until the complaint commentary is submitted to the Secretary of State, the Benavides campaign and state officials will wait and see.

If Benavides is found to have violated the state's Campaign Finance Act, he could face a $1,000 fine and 90 days in jail, Silfven said.