On Dec. 16, Sheriff Tim Lane filed a sworn ethics complaint against Chris Cournoyer, a former Iowa state senator from LeClaire who is now lieutenant governor, with the Iowa Senate Ethics Committee. The complaint accuses Cournoyer of harassment of a citizen, disclosure of confidential information, improper use of confidential information to further her own interests or those of another person, and improperly or illegally obtaining confidential information. Both Lane and Cournoyer are members of the Republican Party.

Lane’s ethics complaint focuses on Cournoyer’s alleged role in handling information tied to the dismissal of Scott County Sgt. Josh Wall, who has admitted waging an unauthorized investigation into Jennifer McAndrew, Lane’s wife. McAndrew supervises probationers for the Iowa Department of Corrections.

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 was completed.

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

During the 2024 legislative session, Cournoyer introduced Senate File 2014, later renamed Senate File 2277, which provided that when a county sheriff intends to conduct a disciplinary or criminal investigation of an employee who is also an immediate family member, that investigation would have to be handed over to the attorney general or the Iowa Department of Public Safety. The bill failed to advance after being approved by a committee.

In May 2024, a letter signed by Cournoyer was published in the Quad-City Times. In his complaint, Lane alleges that Cournoyer’s letter served as an endorsement of Chris Laye, his opponent in the Republican primary race for Scott County sheriff.