Republican Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann exits her bus after she was announced as the winner of the 2011 Iowa Straw Poll on Saturday, Aug. 13, 2011, at Hilton Coliseum in Ames. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

A former aide to Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann has filed an ethics complaint with the Iowa Senate, alleging that during her presidential campaign, Bachmann made improper payments to a state senator.

Peter Waldron says in the written complaint filed Jan. 28 that Bachmann for President tried to conceal paying Republican state Sen. Kent Sorenson $7,500 a month by running the money through a political action committee with ties to the congresswoman.

If true, the payments would violate a Senate ethics ban on paid employment with political campaigns.

In a statement released Monday, Sorenson called the claims “baseless” and “without evidence.”

Waldron has made a similar complaint to the Federal Election Commission. An attorney for Bachmann has denied the claims.