Mike DeWine Fails To Suspend Senior Advisor After DUI

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has known William Schenck for decades.   Which may explain why DeWine has chosen not to suspend or fire Schenck from his job at the AG’s office after his December 2nd DUI arrest.

Schenk worked with DeWine in the Greene County Prosecutors Office.   They worked in private practice together at the firm DeWine, Schenck and Rose.   When DeWine served in the senate, DeWine’s state office.   In the Senate, DeWine nominated Schenk for job at the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

So, when DeWine came into the Attorney General’s office, he of course brought Schenck with him as his Senior Advisor.  And DeWine entrusted Schenck to assist with some his highest-profile cases, like the rape in Steubenville and the Limberios case in Sandusky County.

Which begs the question:  if DeWine has been friends with Schenck for over 35 years, then he certainly must have known about Schenck’s drinking.   Right?

If you watch the dash cam video of Schenck’s arrest (below from the DDN), it’s clear this wasn’t simply the case of a guy who had a few too many beers.   Schenck could barely stand up, he was only partially able to answer the officer’s questions, he had visibly wet his pants, and he was unable to perform even the simplest field sobriety test.

This doesn’t appear to be simply the case of a guy who made a bad decision one Saturday night.   This looks like a guy with a serious drinking problem.

DeWine says he’s not going to put Schenck on leave or make any decision about disciplining him until after the court proceedings.   Schenck has entered a not guilty plea and promised to seek treatment.

So we have to ask:  Did DeWine know about Schenck’s drinking problem when he assigned him to work on some of the most important cases handled by the Attorney General’s office?