ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. — The Florida Commission on Ethics has dismissed a complaint filed against St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson.
The complaint was related to his involvement, according to investigators, in a so-called ghost election campaign in 2020.
Kenny Nail, the chair for the St. Lucie County Republican Party, filed the complaint in late January about two months after Pearson was appointed sheriff by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Nail has been a vocal critic of Pearson — holding news conferences that called for Pearson to step down as sheriff because he was part of a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation.
Read the full letter from the board dismissing the complaint:
Pearson, while a lieutenant, helped make and distribute campaign signs for a ghost candidate, who the FDLE said only ran with the intention of dropping out to help former Sheriff Ken Mascara win reelection in 2020.
Criminal charges were never filed, but Nail wanted the Commission on Ethics to have its say on the matter.
"What was your reaction when the Commission on Ethics dismissed your complaint," WPTV anchor Meghan McRoberts asked Nail on Friday.
"I was disgusted, and it made me very angry," Nail said. "To think ... that our legislators and our governor cares a lot about election integrity, but there was no integrity in what happened in 2020."
The board said they dismissed the complaint against Pearson because it said it was not a legally sufficient complaint within the board on ethics' jurisdiction.
A letter from the board goes on to say that "by dismissing this complaint, this Commission does not approve of the alleged conduct."
For the board to find an ethical violation, it said it would need to find that Pearson abused his public position to benefit himself and "it is not enough that a detriment to another is alleged."
WPTV contacted Pearson to see if he has a response to the complaint's dismissal, but we have not heard back from the sheriff.
