The King County ombudsman has dismissed an ethics complaint against the chief of staff for County Councilman Dow

Constantine said the June 1 ruling confirmed that the complaint, filed by mining company Glacier Northwest against his Chief of Staff Sharon Nelson, was "politically motivated harassment."

"The County Ombudsman reviewed more than 1,000 pages of information and ruled the allegations to be completely unfounded," said Constantine. "These findings support what I have said all along - that this complaint is an unfair personal attack on my staff by Glacier Northwest and their agents."

For nine years, the multinational mining company has attempted to dramatically expand a gravel mining operation on Maury Island and construct a barge loading facility in an aquatic reserve area. King County and three environmental organizations - Preserve Our Islands, People for Puget Sound, and the Washington Environmental Council-recently argued in appellate court against construction of the dock.

The decision, signed by King County Ombudsman Amy Calderwood, rejects each and every allegation against Nelson. The October 5, 2005 complaint alleging ethical violations by Nelson was filed anonymously, but Glacier Northwest officials later told a Seattle Times reporter that the company prepared the complaint.

Nelson is a former community volunteer who resigned her position as president of Preserve Our Islands when she was hired by Constantine, a longtime critic of the gravel mine proposal, in December 2001.

The Glacier Northwest complaint specifically alleged that Nelson's work for the Constantine office had improperly benefited Preserve Our Islands, a claim the Ombudsman found to be unsupported by evidence. In her report, Calderwood states: "Notably, the complaint contains no actual evidence of such assumed connections, but rather relies on past connections, repetition and mischaracterizations to create an inference of wrongdoing."