By Patrick Crowley
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Fourth Congressional District candidate Geoff Davis, under fire for alleged campaign contributions improprieties, wants attention turned toward the fund-raising of a GOP opponent.

Davis, a Hebron business consultant, denies allegations from a consumer watchdog group that he participated in a money-laundering scheme to funnel illegal contributions into his primary campaign.

Davis calls the complaint filed Thursday by Washington-based Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group, "bogus." And he says scrutiny should be given to contributions received by Erlanger lawyer Kevin Murphy, an opponent in Kentucky's May 18 primary.

Davis said two of Murphy's contributors - Thomas Griffin and Rick Elrod - are under federal criminal indictment for alleged environmental law violations in Georgia. Both work for Northern Kentucky-based Griffin Industries, an animal rendering and recycling company that is a client of Murphy's law firm.

The two gave a total of $4,500, Murphy's campaign records show.

"Kevin Murphy should not accept campaign contributions from clients who are under criminal indictment," Davis said in a statement. "I call on Kevin Murphy to fully refund those contributions."

Murphy, who has urged Davis "to take some responsibility" over his fund-raising, said he has no intention of returning the contributions and praised the Griffin family for its history of business and charitable ventures in Northern Kentucky.

"People are innocent until proven guilty," Murphy said of Griffin and Elrod. "I'm not involved in representing them. (Davis) is trying to take everybody's eye off the ball."

Davis also accused Murphy of "shopping" the story about his alleged campaign violations to reporters in Greater Cincinnati and Washington.

"This is nothing but a smear campaign and a desperate move by a desperate campaign," Davis said.

Davis did not name the reporters. Murphy denied the charge.

"It is not me being accused of taking illegal money," Murphy said. "This is another means of (Davis) trying to deflect attention from the fact he took illegal money."

The row started Thursday when Public Citizen filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission in Washington, the agency that oversees campaign fund-raising in congressional elections.

The organization alleged Republican donor and Cincinnati businessman Quentin Nesbitt improperly funneled $15,000 through political-action committees (PACs) operated by conservative groups and Republican Congressmen.

The complaint states that Nesbitt gave Davis the legal campaign contribution limit of $4,000 earlier this year and gave an additional $15,000 to six political-action committees.

Five of the PACs contributed a total of $15,000 to Davis. All but one of the contributions went to Davis within nine days of Nesbitt's contributions to the political-action committees. Coordinating contributions through PACs is a violation of federal election finance laws.

"Every appearance is that these groups are working closely in tandem with each other and Mr. Nesbitt to evade the contribution limits," Public Citizen's Craig Holman said in a statement.

Two of the PACs - Family First of Cincinnati and the Campaign for Working Families - have denied any wrongdoing. Representatives of the other PACs have not returned phone calls to comment.

Nesbitt has not returned phone calls to comment.

Nesbitt is the founder of Data Processing Sciences in Cincinnati. He contributed money to Davis in the 2002 election, when Davis lost to Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Ken Lucas of Boone County. Lucas is retiring and not seeking re-election this year.

Nesbitt is also a frequent contributor to other political campaigns and PACs. According to federal election records, he has contributed $64,650 since 1998 to, among others, Cincinnati-area Republican Congressmen Steve Chabot, Rob Portman and John Boehner as well as Ohio's two U.S. Senators, Republicans Mike DeWine and George Voinovich.

Murphy, Davis and a third Republican, Union chiropractor Dr. Kelly King, are running in the May 18 primary. The winner faces Augusta Democrat Nick Clooney in the fall.

E-mail pcrowley@enquirer.com