The investigation, by a sergeant in the sheriff's office, concerned whether McAndrew continued monitoring a sex offender after the person was supposed to be discharged. No charges or disciplinary action have been brought against McAndrew, and Lane said the state attorney general and county attorney's offices and the Iowa Department of Corrections all "have determined no wrongdoing on part of Jennifer," Lane said.
Lane also contends that Cournoyer later improperly accessed and made copies of the sergeant's investigative report when Cournoyer was asked to pass the report, compiled in March, along to the Iowa Attorney General’s Office.
Cournoyer, through a spokesperson, denied Lane’s claims that the bill was related and said she acted properly when presented information from a whistleblower.
The Senate Ethics Committee declined to take up Lane’s complaint because it “was received after Lt. Gov Cournoyer had resigned the Senate seat thus there was nothing for the ethics committee to address,” Senate Ethics Committee Chair Tom Shipley, a senator from Adams County, wrote in email to the Quad-City Times Thursday.
Lane said Thursday he was exploring other avenues to express his concerns.
The bill Lane referenced in his complaint, Senate File 2014, later renumbered as Senate File 2277, was introduced by Cournoyer in January and passed committee but was not taken up by the full chamber.
The bill stipulated that a sheriff conducting a disciplinary or criminal investigation of a sheriff’s office employee who is an immediate family member of the sheriff shall have the investigation conducted by the attorney general or the state department of public safety.
Scott County Sheriff Tim Lane speaks during a 2022 roundtable hosted by U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, to discuss challenges with local law enforcement leaders in Davenport. Lane has filed an ethics complaint against former Sen. Chris Cournoyer, who is now Iowa's lieutenant governor.
NIKOS FRAZIER, QUAD-CITY TIMES
In his complaint, Lane asked the ethics committee to appoint a special counsel to determine whether the introduction of the bill "was part of a conspiracy” between Cournoyer and the sergeant investigating McAndrew “to force the DCI (Division of Criminal Investigation) to further the criminal investigation on Jennifer McAndrew, harass her, and put her job at risk.”
McAndrew, Lane's wife, works for the Iowa Department of Corrections, not the sheriff’s office.
In an interview, Lane acknowledged the bill’s language doesn’t appear to apply to McAndrew, but Lane said he got a call from an Iowa Capital Dispatch reporter when the bill passed subcommittee who said Cournoyer had said the bill was introduced to address a problem in the Scott County Sheriff’s Office.
Lane said he doesn’t have any relatives that work for the sheriff’s office, and that he believes Cournoyer intended to expand the bill's scope to be able to compel another agency to continue investigating his wife.
“The act of doing a criminal investigation on somebody starting with no citizen complaint and having no merit and what appears to be a conspiracy between a deputy sheriff and a senator to change the law in order to further the investigation — I believe that is something that is a serious ethical violation that needs to be looked into,” Lane said.
A spokesperson for the governor’s office wrote in an email to the Quad-City Times that claims in Lane’s complaint are false.
“The complaint, conveniently filed the day she was sworn in as lieutenant governor, doesn't even make sense,” the Governor’s Office Deputy Communications Director Mason Mauro wrote in an email. “Sheriff Lane insinuates that Lt. Governor Cournoyer introduced a bill in January because of what she allegedly learned in an investigation file on Sheriff Lane's wife three months later, in March.
“Lt. Gov. Cournoyer acted appropriately when provided information by a whistleblower, and Sheriff Lane's false allegation surrounding the investigation of his wife demonstrates the need for the very type of legislation that Lt. Gov. Cournoyer introduced."
Mauro did not respond to questions about why Cournoyer introduced the bill and what Cournoyer did with the investigative report.
Wall appealed Lane’s decision, but it was upheld by the Scott County Civil Service Commission. Wall could not be reached for comment.
Wall told the commission he believed McAndrew was violating the rights of a sex offender by monitoring him longer than she should have, and that he kept his investigation secret because he feared retaliation.
Wall investigated for months before compiling a report in March 2024 that Lane said recommended federal and state criminal charges and a civil rights lawsuit against McAndrew. Wall then gave the report and a flash drive to Cournoyer to take to the Iowa Attorney General, Lane wrote in his complaint.
The Scott County Civil Service Commission wrote in its decision upholding Wall’s firing that “though the investigation may have involved Sheriff Lane’s spouse, Sgt. Wall completely failed to bring his concerns to the attention of anyone. There is far from clear evidence any potential crime was committed here as first described to Sgt. Wall.”
In its decision, the commission wrote that it believed Wall had a “legitimate concern” when Wall first heard from the sex offender.
“But thereafter, Sgt. Wall did not follow any proper procedure or reporting or documentation so required. He failed to take proper steps to notify virtually anyone in the sheriff’s department, or the county attorney’s office, the Iowa Attorney General’s Office, or the Department of Criminal Investigations. If he truly believed a crime had been committed, (he) really told no one, at least for many months. Sgt. Wall did make a secret investigation and really did so as a sheriff’s deputy.”
Cournoyer supported Lane’s opponent in the Republican primary earlier this year, Chris Laye. Lane notes in his complaint that Cournoyer wrote a letter to the editor in the Quad-City Times in May 2024 that stated, “The citizens of Scott County deserve someone who enforces the law who doesn’t think he or his family members are above it.”
Lane wrote in his complaint that “this statement speaks publicly to the content of Wall’s criminal report. Senator Cournoyer was heavily involved in the Chris Laye for Sheriff campaign, and Sgt. Josh Wall was the campaign manager and accountant.”
Lane accuses Cournoyer of “harassment of a citizen, use of confidential information to further her own interests or the interests of another person, disclosing confidential information, and improperly or illegally obtaining confidential information.”
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Lane also contends that Cournoyer later improperly accessed and made copies of the sergeant's investigative report when Cournoyer was asked to pass the report, compiled in March, along to the Iowa Attorney General’s Office.
Cournoyer, through a spokesperson, denied Lane’s claims that the bill was related and said she acted properly when presented information from a whistleblower.
The Senate Ethics Committee declined to take up Lane’s complaint because it “was received after Lt. Gov Cournoyer had resigned the Senate seat thus there was nothing for the ethics committee to address,” Senate Ethics Committee Chair Tom Shipley, a senator from Adams County, wrote in email to the Quad-City Times Thursday.
Lane said Thursday he was exploring other avenues to express his concerns.
The bill Lane referenced in his complaint, Senate File 2014, later renumbered as Senate File 2277, was introduced by Cournoyer in January and passed committee but was not taken up by the full chamber.
The bill stipulated that a sheriff conducting a disciplinary or criminal investigation of a sheriff’s office employee who is an immediate family member of the sheriff shall have the investigation conducted by the attorney general or the state department of public safety.
Scott County Sheriff Tim Lane speaks during a 2022 roundtable hosted by U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, to discuss challenges with local law enforcement leaders in Davenport. Lane has filed an ethics complaint against former Sen. Chris Cournoyer, who is now Iowa's lieutenant governor.
NIKOS FRAZIER, QUAD-CITY TIMES
In his complaint, Lane asked the ethics committee to appoint a special counsel to determine whether the introduction of the bill "was part of a conspiracy” between Cournoyer and the sergeant investigating McAndrew “to force the DCI (Division of Criminal Investigation) to further the criminal investigation on Jennifer McAndrew, harass her, and put her job at risk.”
McAndrew, Lane's wife, works for the Iowa Department of Corrections, not the sheriff’s office.
In an interview, Lane acknowledged the bill’s language doesn’t appear to apply to McAndrew, but Lane said he got a call from an Iowa Capital Dispatch reporter when the bill passed subcommittee who said Cournoyer had said the bill was introduced to address a problem in the Scott County Sheriff’s Office.
Lane said he doesn’t have any relatives that work for the sheriff’s office, and that he believes Cournoyer intended to expand the bill's scope to be able to compel another agency to continue investigating his wife.
“The act of doing a criminal investigation on somebody starting with no citizen complaint and having no merit and what appears to be a conspiracy between a deputy sheriff and a senator to change the law in order to further the investigation — I believe that is something that is a serious ethical violation that needs to be looked into,” Lane said.
A spokesperson for the governor’s office wrote in an email to the Quad-City Times that claims in Lane’s complaint are false.
“The complaint, conveniently filed the day she was sworn in as lieutenant governor, doesn't even make sense,” the Governor’s Office Deputy Communications Director Mason Mauro wrote in an email. “Sheriff Lane insinuates that Lt. Governor Cournoyer introduced a bill in January because of what she allegedly learned in an investigation file on Sheriff Lane's wife three months later, in March.
“Lt. Gov. Cournoyer acted appropriately when provided information by a whistleblower, and Sheriff Lane's false allegation surrounding the investigation of his wife demonstrates the need for the very type of legislation that Lt. Gov. Cournoyer introduced."
Mauro did not respond to questions about why Cournoyer introduced the bill and what Cournoyer did with the investigative report.
Lane fired sergeant who secretly investigated his wife
Sgt. Josh Wall, a veteran employee of the Scott County Sheriff’s Office, began investigating McAndrew in 2023 without telling his superiors. He produced a report in March 2024 and gave it to Cournoyer to pass to the Iowa Attorney General’s Office. When Wall's supervisors found out about it, they investigated Wall and held a hearing. At the recommendation of a captain and lieutenant in the sheriff’s office that investigated Wall, Lane fired him, according to a decision written by the Scott County Civil Service Commission.Wall appealed Lane’s decision, but it was upheld by the Scott County Civil Service Commission. Wall could not be reached for comment.
Wall told the commission he believed McAndrew was violating the rights of a sex offender by monitoring him longer than she should have, and that he kept his investigation secret because he feared retaliation.
Wall investigated for months before compiling a report in March 2024 that Lane said recommended federal and state criminal charges and a civil rights lawsuit against McAndrew. Wall then gave the report and a flash drive to Cournoyer to take to the Iowa Attorney General, Lane wrote in his complaint.
The Scott County Civil Service Commission wrote in its decision upholding Wall’s firing that “though the investigation may have involved Sheriff Lane’s spouse, Sgt. Wall completely failed to bring his concerns to the attention of anyone. There is far from clear evidence any potential crime was committed here as first described to Sgt. Wall.”
In its decision, the commission wrote that it believed Wall had a “legitimate concern” when Wall first heard from the sex offender.
“But thereafter, Sgt. Wall did not follow any proper procedure or reporting or documentation so required. He failed to take proper steps to notify virtually anyone in the sheriff’s department, or the county attorney’s office, the Iowa Attorney General’s Office, or the Department of Criminal Investigations. If he truly believed a crime had been committed, (he) really told no one, at least for many months. Sgt. Wall did make a secret investigation and really did so as a sheriff’s deputy.”
Cournoyer supported Lane’s opponent in the Republican primary earlier this year, Chris Laye. Lane notes in his complaint that Cournoyer wrote a letter to the editor in the Quad-City Times in May 2024 that stated, “The citizens of Scott County deserve someone who enforces the law who doesn’t think he or his family members are above it.”
Lane wrote in his complaint that “this statement speaks publicly to the content of Wall’s criminal report. Senator Cournoyer was heavily involved in the Chris Laye for Sheriff campaign, and Sgt. Josh Wall was the campaign manager and accountant.”
Lane accuses Cournoyer of “harassment of a citizen, use of confidential information to further her own interests or the interests of another person, disclosing confidential information, and improperly or illegally obtaining confidential information.”
Scott County Sheriff Tim Lane files ethics complaint against Chris Cournoyer
Scott County Sheriff Tim Lane filed this week an ethics complaint and request for investigation into Chris Cournoyer, a former state senator from LeClaire who was sworn in as lieutenant governor on Monday.
