A former Leon County Commissioner has been cleared after an ethics complaint against him.

As we first reported in October, Mary Ann Lindley filed the complaint against Akin Akinyemi.

A local bank sued Akinyemi and his architecture firm for failing to pay back a more than $40-thousand dollar loan.

In the complaint, Lindley claimed Akinyemi should've listed that loan in his public disclosure form.

However, the Ethics Commission found due to the language of the loan, it was not unreasonable for Akinyemi to believe he wasn't required to report it as a personal debt.

So the commission dismissed the complaint.

Lindley defeated Akinyemi in November's election.

Seated across from each other at the WFSU studios, County Commission incumbent Akin Akinyemi and Mary Ann Lindley put all their thoughts out there about Lindley's ethics complaint against Akinyemi.

"I brought forward my concerns about Commissioner Akinyemi's finanacial management, or mismanagement, over the years. I think that how accountable a person is in their personal financial life translates directly into how they handle county money," said Lindley.

"All of a sudden, because Ms. Lindley is lagging behind, she has not put forward credible anything that she wants to do. Teh only way she sees possibly having a chance in this race is to go negative."

Akinyemi said his $40,000 loan debt, now the subject of a lawsuit and Lindley's ethics complaint, is a business debt, not personal. He calls Lindley's ethics complaint "baseless."

Lindley says becasue Akinyemi co-signed that loan as an individual, he should have reported it on his financial disclosure form, but he didn't.

"I felt, I mean you can't overlook a $40,000 debt," she said.

But Akinyemi fired back during the interview, saying "It is so sad that someone is so hungry for power wants to try and bring a hardworking businessman down, someone who has worked hard for this community, just to get power."

Akinyemi hopes that the ethics commission looks over the complaint quickly and dismisses it.