This is the CM-Life photograph that caused an official complaint to be filed with the Secretary of State.

Mount Pleasant, Mich. (RightMichigan.com) -- A formal complaint alleging campaign finance violations by Central Michigan University professor Nancy White, a Democrat who is challenging state Rep. Bill Caul (R-Mount Pleasant), was filed earlier today with the Secretary of State's office.

White used her office space and other taxpayer-funded resources to make her campaign announcement in a recent edition of the Central Michigan Life student newspaper.

As a lawyer and someone who teaches students the law, White should have known the Michigan Campaign Finance Act prohibits the use of taxpayer "funds, personnel, office space, computer hardware or software, property, stationery, postage, vehicles, equipment, supplies, or other public resources" for partisan political purposes.

The proof?

Central Michigan Life ran a photo of White in her CMU office. The photo also showed a "Nancy White State Rep. Dist. #99 Western Midland County, Isabella County" political sign, which does not include the applicable paid for disclaimer as required by statute.

It also appears that the would-be politician used public resources -- software, paper, a printer and computer -- to produce the sign, which was rather simple and featured a two-color logo on a plain standard-size piece of paper.

Michigan's campaign finance law establishes clear guidelines for what can and cannot be done when operating a campaign, and the statue is explicit in prohibiting the use of taxpayer "funds, personnel, office space, computer hardware or software, property, stationery, postage, vehicles, equipment, supplies, or other public resources."

Besides being illegal, what White apparently did is highly unethical for someone whose specialization is "ethics in law."

The complaint asks the Secretary of State to not only fully and thoroughly investigate White's campaign, but to also establish administrative guidelines and rules clarifying what taxpayer resources, if any, White and other state employees can use in a campaign.

If charged by the SOS, White faces a misdemeanor punishable by a year in jail or a face of $1,000.