Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett says ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick legally used nearly $980,000 in campaign finance funds to pay his lawyers during a text messaging scandal.

Garrett said in a statement Friday that after reviewing previous Secretary of State rulings, the Lansing agency's April response to her request for a ruling and campaign finance law, she determined the payments qualified as "incidental office expenses."

She said campaign finance laws relating to allowable expenditures of campaign funds are "vague" but determined the expenses are proper.

The Secretary of State on Wednesday advised Garrett to send a letter to Kilpatrick asking him to seek an IRS ruling.