SAN DIEGO - A San Diego Unified School District administrator has filed a complaint, saying she was wrongfully demoted last month from her position as the district's Area 1 superintendent.

The complaint paints a picture of Dr. Brenda Campbell as a victim, caught in the middle of a political battle that is nothing short of "sinister."

"Big surprise… I did not receive any kind of word from any of my supervisors or anyone to say that this was coming or that there was even a problem," said Campbell.

Campbell was demoted on Sept. 4. Since then, she has sat at home collecting her full salary of $140,000 a year.

"The fact that they are continuing to pay her for doing nothing and they don't want to talk about the case, that's pretty good body language right there that they don't have much of a case against her," said Dan Gilleon, Campbell's attorney.

The complaint calls the reason for her demotion "downright absurd" and "clearly thrown together at the last minute" as retribution for "displeasing some teachers and in turn the teachers union."

Across town, San Diego Unified officials conducted the 2012 State of the District Address. They refused to comment on Campbell's demotion and new legal complaint, but they did address their biggest challenge: money.

"This year with hundreds of millions of dollars of accumulated cuts we are not going to have enough money to pay 1,500 of our teachers, counselors and nurses," said San Diego District Board President John Lee Evans.

Campbell finds that ironic as she threatens to sue the district for $4 million if they do not give her job back to her.  

"This is a setback and I feel I am not a part of helping to promote and support those efforts and I really want to get back in there," she said.

Campbell has been with the district for 38 years.

10News asked the district for comment and they said they cannot say anything about an active case.