Gov. DeWine? Please, no

It was an absolute love fest back in 2012 between Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and then-Sheriff Kyle Overmyer during a joint news conference about a five-year drug investigation."This is a classic example of how to do it," DeWine said. "This was a wonderful, cooperative effort."But the two were cooperating in other ways. Even as the AG spoke, Overmyer was in the throes of his own personal drug addiction. DeWine either didn't notice, or he looked away. Either way, that failure alone should disqualify him from being a legitimate candidate in next year's gubernatorial race.His complete record in Sandusky County — whitewashing three different grand juries looking the other way protecting bad cops at the expense of families — should be enough to force him out of office, for good.As the two sat together at that August 2012 news conference, slobbering praise on each other, Overmyer had already crossed the line. He was a drug addicted crimefighter who doctor-shopped for multiple opiate prescriptions from multiple doctors.Inmate No. A692183, former Sandusky County Sheriff Kyle Overmyer, now resides at the Allen State Correctional Facility in Lima. He was sentenced in December 2016 to four years in prison. It took more than four years, however, for the sheriff to finally be brought to justice, and it was no thanks to Mike DeWine, no matter how many times he claims otherwise. It was, in fact, despite DeWine's continuing efforts to protect him that Overmyer was convicted on multiple drug and theft charges last year and sent to a state prison.In 2012, they bragged together at that news conference about arresting "mid-level" cocaine dealers, both knowing full well the irony of the situation, knowing full well their own shortcomings but effectively hiding those from the public.Overmyer was fired up, warning drug dealers to beware."Don't come here because we won't tolerate it — all of us will team up again together, and, guess what, we're going to get rid of you and we're not going to stand for it," the now disgraced sheriff said.That was a boatload of spittle.DeWine, an over-achiever and multi-tasker, used the press conference to self-promote. More importantly, he used it to distract attention away from the first of the three local grand juries he would whitewash to protect Overmyer and other bad cops.That same day DeWine announced he would present "evidence" to a grand jury about the sexual exploitation of a mentally ill inmate in the Sandusky County jail, who was denied her medications and kept naked in a cell for hours by two guards.DeWine was doing what he does best: Showboating his way out of a tight spot, with a blind eye to justice. His first grand jury determined it was no crime the gaurds sexually exploited the woman, taunted her, or ordered her to masturbate for their own sexual gratification.One guard allegedly told the second guard that mentally ill inmates in the jail made for easy targets, because if they reported the abuse "nobody believes them.""We do not like what happened at all, but it did not rise to the level of criminal conduct," a grand jury report DeWine's team prepared states. "The officers in our opinion deserved discipline but not discharge from employment."The grand jury also determined it was no crime that Overmyer used county funds to pay off the guards, giving them job references and $5,000 each in exchange for agreeing not to fight their terminations, or make and disparaging remarks about the sheriff.What do you think those guards might have said about the sheriff back then, if they had not taken the payoffs?The following year, in 2013, DeWine whitewashed another grand jury, the one that heard "evidence" in the death of Jacob Limberios. It was no crime, that grand jury determined, that deputies — under Overmyer's command — destroyed evidence, mishandled witnesses and failed to ask for an autopsy.DeWine prepared another grand jury report, the same as he did before."It's a dog and pony show...If there really is no intention in pursuing wrongdoing in this, why even convene a grand jury?" Jacob's father, Mike Limberios, asked after the finding was revealed.Jacob Limberios was killed by a single gunshot wound to the head, and investigators failed to investigate or address the question whether drugs were found in the York Township home where he died.DeWine, announcing the no-bill after the Limberios grand jury hearings ended. In 2014, DeWine whitewashed yet another grand jury, which determined it was no crime that Craig Burdine died immediately after guards dragged him inside the Sandusky County Jail, beaten, handcuffed, shackled and unconscious, and electroshocked him with a Taser repeatedly."I'm worried (Craig's father) is going to get that 'Sorry, Dad' letter from DeWine," Mike Limberios said at the start of those grand jury hearings. "He's going to get that from (another dog and pony) show."And that's what happened.DeWine presented new evidence during a grand jury proceeding in 2014 that he claimed proved Sandusky County Jail inmate Craig Burdine died from an enlarged heart, not from suffocation as famed forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden had determined. DeWine wants to be the state's next governor, and he's expected to announce his candidacy soon. The primary election, during which voters in both parties will pick their nominees for governor, doesn't happen until early next year.But the state and the GOP would be well-served if Republican voters tell DeWine, right now, "Thanks, but no thanks. Please just go away."Sandusky County Sheriff Kyle Overmyer speaks during an August 2012 news conference with Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine in Fremont. Jacob Limberios