The State Board of Elections ordered state Rep. Mary McAllister to pay more than $15,000 in fines in 2007 because of campaign finance law violations, including payments to herself.
Records and testimony from elections regulators showed that most of the payments were in late November 2004.
During the hearing, McAllister said the problems were simple mistakes.
"I never did anything intentionally or knowingly wrong," she testified.
McAllister was one of the longest-serving Democrats in the state House and for years was a member and leader of key appropriations committees.
On the advice of her attorney, at one point during the hearing, she invoked her Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate herself.
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Lawmakers at that time could convert campaign money to personal uses, as long as they publicly disclosed it. Today, the practice is illegal.
Elections board members had the option of referring the case to prosecutors for a criminal probe. State and federal agents attended the hearing.
But board members said they did not think it rose to that level. Officials levied the fines because McAllister violated campaign laws, which the board oversees.
McAllister was later defeated at the ballot box.
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