Sheriff files ethics complaint against Iowa’s new lieutenant governor

The Scott County Sheriff says even though an Iowa Senate committee dismissed his ethics complaint against the state’s new lieutenant governor, he intends to pursue the case.

On December 16, Scott County Sheriff Scott County Sheriff Tim Lane filed an ethics complaint with the Iowa Senate Ethics Committee regarding Chris Cournoyer, former Iowa state senator from LeClair. In the complaint, the Republican is accused of harassing a citizen, disclosing confidential information, improperly using confidential information to achieve his own interests or the interests of another person, as well as improperly or illegally obtaining confidential information.

Senate Ethics Committee Chairman Tom Shipley said the Quad-City Times The committee recently dismissed Lane’s complaint because it was filed on the same day Cournoyer assumed the post of vice-governorleaving nothing for the committee to investigate.

“I’m not going to drop it, I’m not going to let it go,” Lane, also a Republican, said Tuesday.

In addition to the specific concerns he has about Cournoyer’s behavior, Lane said, he’s concerned that the sheriff’s ability to discipline employees could be jeopardized if State House politicians align with those employees and then implement punitive legislation.

Lane’s ethics complaint centers on Cournoyer’s alleged role in handling information related to the firing of Scott County Sergeant Josh Wall, who admitted to conducting an unauthorized investigation of Jennifer McAndrew, Lane’s wife. McAndrew oversees probation for the Iowa Department of Corrections.

Wall appealed his dismissal from the sheriff’s office, which led to a hearing earlier this year before the Scott County Public Service Commission. According to Lane, Wall testified that he believed McAndrew was violating the rights of a sex offender by monitoring the man’s activities after his probation expired.

Lane says Wall admitted that the 2023 investigation into McAndrew was unknown to others in the department and that he stored information related to it on a flash drive kept at his home.

Cournoyer is accused of disclosing information

According to Lane’s sworn complaint, Wall also testified that after completing his report, he gave a copy of his report along with the contents of his flash drive to Cournoyer, who is from Scott County, to forward to Attorney General Brenna Byrd’s office. , but did not give Cournoyer permission to share the information with anyone else.

In his complaint, Lane alleges that Civil Service Commission hearings found that Cournoyer accessed Wall’s investigative report, made copies of it and then distributed the information to others before passing it on to Byrd’s office.

The Scott County Civil Service Commission upheld Wall’s firing, which concluded that he did not follow proper procedures related to investigating, reporting or documenting any problems he had. The commission noted that Wall not only failed to report his activities to the sheriff, but also to the county attorney, the attorney general and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

During the 2024 legislative session, Cournoyer introduced Senate File 2014, later renamed Senate File 2277which provided that when a county sheriff intends to conduct a disciplinary or criminal investigation of an employee who is also an immediate family member, such investigation must be referred to the attorney general or the Iowa Department of Public Safety. The bill did not move forward after committee approval.

According to Lane’s complaint, he was contacted by an Iowa Capital Dispatch reporter during the legislative session and reported that Cournoyer said the bill was intended to address a problem at the Scott County Sheriff’s Office. Lane said he told the reporter he didn’t know what the problem might be and noted Cournoyer had not discussed the bill with him.

In May 2024, a letter signed by Cournoyer was published in the Quad-City Times. In his complaint, Lane claims Cournoyer’s letter served as an endorsement of Chris Lay, his opponent in the Republican primary for Scott County Sheriff. In her letter, Cournoyer said the citizens of Scott County “deserve someone who follows the law (and) who doesn’t think he or his family members are above it.”

Lane claims that Cournois was “actively involved” in Lay’s campaign and that Wall was the campaign’s manager and accountant.

A subpoena from the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy

In his complaint, Lane claims the investigation found his wife had broken no laws, despite Wall’s report calling for federal and state criminal charges against her. He requests an investigation to determine whether SF 2077 was presented as part of a conspiracy by Wall and Cournoyer to force the DCI to conduct its own investigation of McAndrew.

Although the bill’s wording refers to investigations of sheriffs’ office employees, not Department of Corrections employees like McAndrew, Lane says Cournoyer may have intended to expand the bill’s scope to include investigations of family members of county sheriffs regardless of their employer.

Lane said Tuesday that since the Senate Ethics Committee rejected his request for an investigation, he is considering filing a complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman, which has the authority to investigate the actions of certain officials.

He said he contacted the attorney general’s office, but was told Monday that because the office has no role in handling legislative ethics complaints, it was unclear what other options Lane might have to address the matter.

Lane noted that the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy has requested information related to the matter to determine whether Wall’s certification as a police officer is an issue that needs to be reviewed.

Gov. Kim Reynolds’ communications director, Jen Green, and her deputy communications director, Mason Mauro, did not return messages seeking comment Tuesday. Mauro said the Quad-City Times earlier this month that Lane’s complaint was without merit and “doesn’t even make sense.” He said Cournoyer “acted appropriately when the informant provided the information.”

The lawsuit seeks retribution

In March, Tara Chase, a former sex offender registry specialist for the Scott County Sheriff’s Office, sued the county for wrongful termination and alleged violations of Iowa’s whistleblower law.

In her lawsuit, Chase claims that in August 2022, she had a meeting with one of McAndrew’s clients, who was a sex offender. During their meeting, Chase alleges, she asked the man if he was still on probation or parole, and the man said he believed he had been released from parole in April 2022, but McAndrew still under surveillance.

Chase claims she then found McAndrew “continued to inappropriately control” the man, in part because he was wearing a global positioning bracelet on his ankle.

A year later, the lawsuit alleges, Chase accused Lane of improperly monitoring her e-mail and then received notice that the office’s internal affairs department was investigating her for forwarding work-related information to a personal e-mail account she had access to. from home In August 2023, she claims she was fired from the sheriff’s office, which she now says was in retaliation for complaints against Lane and his wife.

The county denies any wrongdoing and notes that Wall, a sergeant who was later fired over the undercover McAndrew investigation, was Chase’s direct supervisor.

The court hearing is scheduled for September 2025.

This article first appeared in Iowa Capital Dispatch.