As is now commonly known, Sheriff Mitchell hung a manslaughter charge around the neck of an innocent man in a failed and obvious attempt to save Russell Perdock’s chief deputy job. Because I’m running against him for sheriff, he allowed a false allegation of sexual assault to hang around my neck in an obvious attempt to save his own job.

The most powerful position in local government is the sheriff. A smart sheriff takes steps to treat all matters in a timely, fair and honest way and ensures his actions are as transparent as possible to avoid the appearance of wrong-doing. This is not the case with Sheriff Mitchell, who is using his power to gain political advantage in his re-election campaign.

This is politics at its worst – the dirtiest kind of election campaign tactics. I felt I must bring this to your attention for the sake of truth and to defend the good name of my family.

It’s very clear that since April 6, Sheriff Mitchell had declarations from witnesses exonerating me from the Jan. 7 charges. In fact he has, in hand, a report from his independent investigator completely exonerating me from all of Mrs. Rully's allegations. This entire matter could have been concluded months ago by simply talking to the two witnesses on scene. It is not unusual for peace officers to become targets of false complaints during arrest situations; it is unusual for an investigation to take so long.

After much pressure by me and my attorney to reveal the truth, I received a May 20 email from Lake County Sheriff’s Captain Cecil Brown who writes, “I can tell you though that the independent investigator has determined that the allegations Mrs. Rully made regarding the day of her arrest cannot be sustained.” I am cleared, but still no word directly from Sheriff Mitchell. Why no word and why so long? This was just another political tactic, pure and simple. Sadly, something we’ve come to expect from Sheriff Mitchell.

As we all know, justice delayed is justice denied. It’s bad enough that Sheriff Mitchell has decided to visit his abuse of power and control on me, a competitor for sheriff, but he has a long history of making unscrupulous, self-serving decisions. The good citizens of Lake County have paid heavily for his decisions, and his next target may you, a family member or a dear friend.

This has to stop and is why I am running for sheriff. Knowing what Sheriff Mitchell and his inner circle are capable of makes it hard, but I will not back down and hope I can count on your vote to make the changes needed in the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

Frank Rivero is a candidate for Lake County sheriff this year. He lives in Middletown.