Former Governor Robert Bentley’s top aide has been cleared by the state from at least one ethics complaint.

On Thursday, the state Ethics Commission dismissed a case against Bentley’s former senior aide and alleged girlfriend, which accused Mason of establishing a “dark money” group. The organization, ACEGOV, was reported to be the source of part of Mason’s pay. She was not on the state payroll.

The complaint was originally filed by State Auditor Jim Zeigler in March of 2016 after the state’s former top law enforcement officer, Spencer Collier, accused Bentley of using state resources to cover up an affair.

A letter from Ethics Commission head Tom Albritton to Zeigler announced that the complaint had been dropped . Details were not given as to why, though reports claim that the Commission heard ten hours worth of hearings over the complaint on April 5th.

Zeigler now says that he is ” studying the situation to determine if other options are available.”
Here’s the full text of the letter Albritton sent to Zeigler:

The complaint which you filed against Rebekah Caldwell Mason has been investigated by Commission investigators Tony Goubil and Dustin Lansford. The results of that investigation were presented to the members of the Alabama Ethics Commission at their meeting held April 5, 2017. The Commission concluded, upon review of the evidence from the investigation, that there was not probable cause to believe that Rebekah Caldwell Mason committed a violation of the Alabama Ethics Act. Accordingly, your complaint has been dismissed. Should you provide any additional information that would warrant a reopening of this case, a new investigation would be conducted.

Thomas B. Albritton, Executive Director
State of Alabama Ethics Commission