Suit asks court to remove prosecutor

The prosecutor has said the affair was consensual.
CINCINNATI (AP) -- Hamilton County Prosecutor Michael Allen should be removed from office because a sexual affair he had with an employee is willful neglect of duty and misconduct in office, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday by a taxpayer.
Carrie Davis, 43, of suburban Groesbeck, asked a common pleas court judge to remove Allen because the affair violated his office policy forbidding personal relationships between supervisors and subordinates.
Allen held a news conference last week to say he had an affair that ended a year ago with a female lawyer in his office. Allen did not identify her, but the woman -- assistant prosecutor Rebecca Collins, 33 -- sued a day later, alleging Allen had sexually harassed her for about four years.
Charge in suit
Davis alleged that Allen neglected his duty by failing to notify county commissioners of an Aug. 12 internal complaint by Collins, who said Allen had harassed her. His actions have potentially exposed taxpayers to financial liabilities because Collins has sued Allen and the board of county commissioners for unspecified money damages, the lawsuit said.
Davis asked the judge to appoint an interim prosecutor and order the county board of elections to conduct a special election to fill the position. Davis noted that Allen is running unopposed in the Nov. 2 election for a second term.
Allen and his lawyer, Michael Hawkins, did not return telephone messages left at their offices Tuesday. Allen has said the affair was consensual and Collins falsely accused him of sexual harassment.
Resigned campaign position
Allen, 48, a former county Republican Party chairman, resigned Friday as southwest Ohio regional chairman of President Bush's re-election campaign. Allen, a delegate to the Republican National Convention, went to his office Monday instead of attending the GOP convention in New York.
He has said he won't resign as prosecutor, a job he has held since January 1999.
On Thursday, Allen requested a state investigation of Collins' complaint against him. Carl Stich Jr., a top assistant prosecutor to Allen, sent a letter asking Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro to determine whether the alleged harassment violated any office policy or law that applies to the prosecutor's office.
"Because the allegations are directly against the prosecuting attorney, we believe that the involvement of your office is essential to assuring that the integrity of the investigation is beyond reproach," Stich wrote to Petro. "Only a full, fair and truly independent inquiry can remove this matter from the political arena. I can assure you that your office will have the full cooperation of all assistants and staff."
County hired lawyer
County commissioners hired an outside lawyer Monday to investigate Allen's actions. Commissioners also rejected a request by Allen's office that they hire a lawyer at taxpayer expense to defend him.
"If this was someone who worked for us, we would fire that person," said county Commissioner Phil Heimlich, a Republican like Allen.
Allen is elected independently of county commissioners to his $110,000-a-year job and answers to the voters.
Allen's wife, Lisa Allen, a Hamilton County Municipal Court judge, said she learned of her husband's affair in February 2001 when an anonymous package was left on her car containing a tape of a romantic telephone message Michael Allen had left for his girlfriend.
"I had no idea who this woman was, but it was pretty obvious that Mike was romantically involved with her," Lisa Allen said Tuesday in interviews with news organizations.
Lisa Allen said she and her husband went into counseling, but that her husband confessed months later that he was still seeing Collins. Lisa Allen said she kicked her husband out of the house for more than a year before they reconciled.