State investigating campaign-finance complaints against Lucido

Michigan Secretary of State elections officials are investigating whether Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido violated the state Campaign Finance Act by using county resources for election activities.

The regulatory section of the Bureau of Elections with the Department of State provided a letter to inform Republican Lucido of its “examination” of allegations by Democratic activist Mark Brewer. The bureau falls under Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat.

“It is important to understand that the department is neither making this complaint nor accepting the allegations as true,” says the April 15 letter on Secretary of State letterhead.

Officials say Lucido has 15 days from the date of that letter to respond if he wishes.

Lucido has denounced the complaints as a “political attack” and countered by pointing out violations committed while Brewer was chairman of the state Democratic Party.

Any response by Lucido will be provided to Brewer, who will then be given a chance to rebut those claims, officials said.

After that, “the department will determine whether there may be reason to believe that a violation of the MCFA has occurred,” the letter states.

The state says it could reach a conciliation agreement with Lucido, conduct a hearing or refer the matter to the state Attorney General for enforcement.

Brewer, a lawyer who led the state party of 18 years, alleges in a complaint, which includes exhibits, that Lucido used a county employee to send an email newsletter to county employees that included a heading linked to his campaign web site, and emblazoned his campaign web site on tote bags distributed at a county-sponsored event. Brewer also provided an email in which a Prosecutor’s Office intern says she was resigning because she was performing campaign work for Lucido.

Brewer also filed two complaints with the county Ethics Board accusing the prosecutor of similarly violating the county Ethics Ordinance by using of a photo of himself in his county office in Mount Clemens on his campaign web site and allowing a former Sterling Heights City Council candidate to use two photos of he and Lucido in the prosecutor’s office for the candidate’s campaign.

The board approved advancing the complaints to the investigative stage, after which it will determine whether probable cause exists to conduct hearings on the allegations. Ultimately, if the board determined violations occurred, it could fine Lucido up to $500 per violation.

Lucido has denied any wrongdoing in connection with the activities alleged to the board.