SOUTHWEST OHIO Prosecutor says aide ruined his career

An attorney has suggested that Hamilton County officials appoint a mediator.
CINCINNATI (AP) -- Hamilton County Prosecutor Michael Allen filed a court claim Monday demanding that an assistant prosecutor pay damages for what he said was an attempt to destroy his career with allegations of sexual harassment.
Allen said his sexual relationship with Rebecca Collins was consensual, and that she deliberately timed her August lawsuit to ruin his career. He asked for at least $5 million in damages.
After Collins filed her lawsuit, Allen resigned as a delegate to the Republican National Convention, stepped down as regional chairman of President Bush's re-election campaign, resigned as a University of Cincinnati trustee and withdrew as a re-election candidate for prosecutor in the Nov. 2 election.
Allen has said he plans to finish his current term, which ends in January.
Allen alleged that Collins' lawsuit, which demanded at least $3 million in damages, was an attempt to extort money.
Quotable
"The deadline for responding to her outrageous demand was on a date when Collins knew Allen would be in New York preparing for the Republican National Convention," according to documents Allen's lawyers filed Monday in U.S. District Court. Allen asked that the court dismiss her lawsuit.
Randolph Freking, Collins' lawyer, said the prosecutor should reconsider his claims because Allen was the boss, and had sex with his employee.
"This would be like Bill Clinton blaming his problems on Monica Lewinsky," Freking said.
Allen's public admission that he had a consensual sexual relationship with Collins violated the prosecutor's own office policy forbidding such relationships between employees, Freking said.
Freking said he has suggested that Hamilton County officials appoint a mediator so that both sides can try to negotiate a settlement of the dispute. The county hasn't responded to the request, Freking said.