The Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust has dismissed a complaint against former Homestead Mayor Lynda Bell, which alleged she misled voters by saying she had the police chief's endorsement.

The ethics commission dismissed the complaint, saying that it lacked ``legal sufficiency.''

At the same time, the commission announced Tuesday that it would proceed with a case against Patricia Forbes, a member of The South Bay Community Council 15, who is accused of misreporting her income on financial disclosure forms in 2007 and 2008.

The commission ``found probable cause that Forbes violated the Conflict of Interest and Code of Ethics Ordinance,'' meaning there is enough evidence to move ahead with the case.

County law stipulates that Forbes had to disclose her income because she was elected in 2004 and again in 2008 to South Bay Community Council 15.

Forbes did not return three calls for comment as of 4 p.m. Friday.

She is married to South Dade activist Ken Forbes, whom the Ethics Commission had accused in May of misreporting his income on financial disclosure forms.

He serves on the Naranja Lakes Community Redevelopment Board.

According to Rhonda Victor Sibilia, community outreach coordinator, Ken Forbes told the Ethics Commission on Tuesday that he ``intends to file a motion in preparation for his defense.''

This time, investigators allege Patricia Forbes, a data input specialist for the Miami-Dade County School Board, did not report on her 2007 financial disclosure form that she had received $4,200 from a nonprofit named CIVIC in 2006.

Her district salary in 2006 was $37,578, according to John Schuster, a spokesman for the school district.

The money from CIVIC was deposited into a personal bank account, where Forbes made mortgage and car payments and cash withdrawals at a Seminole casino, investigators said.

Investigators further allege that Forbes did not report on the 2008 disclosure form that she had received $2,240 from CIVIC in 2007.

Her school district income in 2007 was $38,778, Schuster said.

CIVIC was administratively dissolved in 2008, investigators said.

In the case of Bell, a complaint was filed by Frank May, the chairman of a political action committee that had paid for television ads and mailers attacking Bell for raising taxes for two consecutive years while giving a pay raise to City Manager Mike Shehadeh.

Shehadeh has been at the city's helm since February 2008.

May accused Bell of violating state law by sending out a mailer saying that Police Chief Al Rolle had endorsed her.

May said that he spoke with Rolle and the chief said he had not endorsed Bell, therefore the mailer was false and misleading.

Rolle did not return three calls to confirm May's accusation -- one made on Thursday and two on Friday.

Bell did not return two calls made to her cellphone as of 4 p.m. Friday.

Victoria Frigo, an attorney with the ethics commission, said the complaint was ``not legally sufficient'' because Bell had not signed the Voluntary Fair Campaign Practices pledge.

``Only signatories to the pledge, who freely waive First Amendment rights to free speech, are bound by the jurisdiction of the Ethics Commission for violations under this particular ordinance,'' Frigo said.

May said he accepted the commission's decision.

He told The Miami Herald that he had filed a separate complaint on the same issue against Bell with the Florida Elections Commission.

In a Nov. 12 letter, Simone Marstiller, the commission's executive director, told Bell that she could enter into a consent order with the commission and pay a fine or she can decline and staff will investigate the allegations in the complaint.