Minnesota's campaign finance regulators will consider a Republican complaint against DFL gubernatorial candidate Margaret Anderson Kelliher at a closed executive session on Jan. 12, according to a letter the board sent to the Republican Party.

The party asked the state campaign finance board to investigate whether Kelliher, who is the speaker of the Minnesota House, broke the law when her campaign bought access to a DFL database of voters via donations to the DFL.

The board's plan to look into the issue does not mean that Kelliher will be punished for the arrangement or that a decision will come quickly. Some campaign finance investigations take months. That could drag the conclusion out well past the parties' caucus night on Feb. 2, when they begin selecting delegates and take gubernatorial straw polls.

The GOP complaint against Kelliher arose after news reports that Kelliher gained access to a DFL database by using contributions her supporters had made directly to the party.

Kelliher's campaign benefited from seven contributions that totaled $7,500. No other candidate was accorded such an option.

Andy O'Leary, executive director of the DFL, had approved the arrangement in August.

When Rep. Tom Rukavina, also a DFL gubernatorial campaign, wanted the same deal in December, party officials said they realized they had erred, that the arrangement might have been illegal and offered to return the donations.

Kelliher's campaign has since paid the party for access to the database.

Minnesota law limits donors' contributions to gubernatorial campaigns in several ways and bars donors from earmarking contributions to a political party.

RACHEL E. STASSEN-BERGER