Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer, left, and Governor Sam Brownback celebrate after winning re-election at a Kansas Republican Party gathering, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014, at the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Topeka. To the right of Brownback is his wife Mary Brownback.

Topeka ? The Kansas ethics commission has rejected a complaint filed by a top Democrat against Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s re-election campaign for paying lawyers more than $167,000, the governor’s spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Brownback spokeswoman Eileen Hawley said the Governmental Ethics Commission notified the campaign organization of the decision shortly after the commission ended its regular monthly meeting Wednesday. The commission emerged from a closed, 20-minute session without saying anything about the complaint filed last month by Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley.

The Topeka Democrat alleged that Brownback’s re-election campaign violated a state law against using campaign funds to cover personal expenses by paying defense lawyers last year amid a federal investigation of loans to the campaign by the governor’s running mate, Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer. Hensley said he was told the commission would consider his complaint Wednesday.

When the commission determines there is probable cause to believe state law has been violated, it typically announces the finding and sets a public hearing on a complaint.

“We are pleased the Ethics Commission rejected Senator Hensley’s meritless and unfounded complaint,” Hawley said in an emailed statement. “As we have said before, the campaign was conducted in compliance with all laws and regulations.”

Commission members and staff declined to comment. State law requires them to keep investigations and complaints confidential until the commission finds probable cause.

Hensley made his complaint public after filing it and said Wednesday he hadn’t been notified of any commission decision.

“I thought it was important that our own ethics commission have an opportunity to look into, especially, the use of campaign-fund money for paying legal fees,” Hensley said.

Last year, a federal grand jury investigated three loans from Colyer in 2013 and 2014 totaling $1.5 million to Brownback’s re-election. The first two loans, $500,000 each, were repaid within days, and the size of the loans and their timing were highly unusual for Kansas politics.

But in June, the U.S. attorney for Kansas announced no criminal charges would be filed.

Brownback’s campaign filed a finance report in January saying that it in 2015, it paid five law firms a total of $167,476.

Clay Barker, the Kansas Republican Party’s executive director and an attorney, said Hensley’s complaint was frivolous because Brownback’s campaign was in regular contact with the ethics commission.

“The governor’s campaign talked to ethics before they did any of this,” Barker said.

In January, Hensley also asked Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor, an elected Democrat, to launch a criminal investigation of Brownback’s campaign. A spokesman for Taylor’s office did not immediately reply to an email message asking for a comment about its response.

State law allows candidates to loan their campaigns an unlimited amount of money, and governor and lieutenant governor candidates run in teams. During the 2014 campaign, Colyer defended the loans as “good cash management, that’s all.”

Brownback’s critics have suggested the loans were used to inflate the governor’s fundraising numbers to make him look stronger in a tough contest against Democrat Paul Davis.

Colyer and others connected to Brownback or his campaign have not disclosed the source of the funds for the lieutenant governor’s loans. In a letter to Taylor last month, Hensley speculated that Colyer used the re-election campaign’s existing funds as collateral for personal loans and then used the proceeds to help the campaign.

Hensley asked the ethics commission for a legal opinion on whether such a move would be legal, and the commission declared Wednesday that it would be.

“As long as it’s reasonably associated with the campaign or the cost of holding office, it would be a legitimate purpose,” said commission attorney Brett Berry.

Hensley said he’ll push fellow legislators to pass a bill to outlaw such a move.