An ethics complaint against Lane County Commissioner David Loveall was dismissed Friday due to a lack of evidence.
In June, Springfield officials accused Loveall of sharing privileged information with his business partner at Masaka Properties, LLC in order to further the company's interests.
In addition to his role as an elected county commissioner, Loveall also serves on the board of the Springfield Economic Development Agency, or SEDA. At an earlier closed-door meeting, he learned that a city housing development was dead.
Before the agency's findings were announced publicly, Loveall's partner Bob Miller reached out to the city for funding that would be left over from the stalled project.
Loveall argued the project’s failure was widely known in the business community, and the inquiry was innocent. He said the complaint against him may have been politically motivated.
“Politics is one of those raw arenas where people can just manipulate the system to kind of get whatever tagline they want on somebody," Loveall told KLCC.
On Friday, the Oregon Government Ethics Commission voted to dismiss the complaint. Loveall and his business partner signed sworn statements that they did not discuss the housing project in advance.
Commission Chair Amber Hollister said they would need some outside evidence of a conversation to investigate further.
“It seems like sort of an ordinary investor in the community could infer from the very public failing of this project that there might be funding freed up,” said Hollister.
Loveall said the complaint process has cost him thousands in legal fees and hurt Springfield's business community. He will keep his post on the board of SEDA.
"I'm here to serve the people of Springfield," he said. "And if I make a mistake along the way, I'll be the first to admit it publicly."
