By Carl Weiser
Enquirer Washington Bureau

ELECTION 2004

Convention coverage • Ohio GOP's woe • Davis gets NY minute • GOP touts moderates • Gay activists won't push floor fight • Laura Bush's star is rising • Ohioans get special treatment • Notes from New York • Convention blog watch • Convention photo gallery More election news • Election special section

NEW YORK - As the Ohio delegation to the Republican National Convention gathered for breakfast Monday, the most high-profile delegate may have been the one who was missing.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen was supposed to be here as a delegate and chairman of the Bush re-election campaign in Republican-rich Southwest Ohio.

But his absence as a result of a sex scandal has forced the Ohio GOP - already facing campaign finance scandals, intra-party feuding and an unpopular governor - to grapple with another embarrassment at a time when they need every Republican vote to win the most important state in the presidential election.

"Well, it isn't going to help," said Sen. George Voinovich.

But he added quickly that he couldn't gauge what the effect might be.

"A few people will use that as a way to discredit the Republican Party as a whole because he's been such a prominent face in Hamilton County politics," said Eileen Ford Simon, 76, a delegate from Montgomery. But she said any ripples would be small.

Voters "are not going to pin the sins of some precinct committeeman, ward leader, county prosecutor, county commissioner or somebody else on the president of the United States," state GOP Chairman Bob Bennett said. "They're just more intelligent than that."

Said Carlos Todd, Butler County GOP chairman: "The fallacies of mankind enter into all walks of life, be it politics or the presidency, and that's something that has to be reckoned with. That's why we go to church on Sunday."

And the Ohio GOP has seen plenty of fallacies lately.

State House Speaker Larry Householder, a delegate, is facing a federal investigation related to campaign fund-raising; two aides to state Treasurer Joe Deters pleaded guilty to ethics laws violations related to contributions; and Secretary of State Ken Blackwell and Householder speak only through their lawyers, Blackwell said.

Rebecca Collins, an assistant prosecutor who works in Allen's office, sued him last week. Allen, a married father of two, said the relationship was consensual. He has refused to resign as prosecutor, though he did quit as Bush re-election regional chairman.

The Bush campaign has not yet replaced Allen, said Jo Ann Davidson, who runs the Bush campaign for Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Indiana.

Among Allen's duties were running a weekly conference call with the eight county party chairmen beneath him. He would report back to Ohio Gov. Bob Taft, who chairs the Bush campaign in Ohio, and Davidson on the campaign's progress.

"They're our eyes and ears out there," Davidson said of the nine regional chairmen. She said a replacement probably would be named by the end of the week.

The campaign can continue to run without one.

"It doesn't mean anything," Brown County Bush Chairman Willis Herdman said of Allen's resignation. He said Allen's job usually involved encouraging county chairmen and helping them set quotas for voter registrations or phone calls.

Almost no one seemed to think it would affect Bush's chances in Ohio.

"It matters if it demoralizes your organization," Sen. Mike DeWine said. "I'm seeing just the opposite of that."

"That's a sideshow. No one's going to really care about it in terms of presidential politics," Deters said.

The Hamilton County prosecutor's office, which he once held, is an office that "sets the tone for the county," Deters said. "But I'm also very well aware you can be accused of stuff and be innocent."

No Ohio Republicans here called on Allen to resign. Most expressed sadness, especially for his wife and two children. Some, like Taft, said they hadn't even thought about the issue. Many declined to comment.

But some have criticized Allen and one, a Northern Kentucky delegate, called for resignation.

Kay Ayres, 65, the Highland County GOP chair, said she had great respect for Allen. Asked about whether she still did, she said: "I guess I'd have to respect him a little bit less."

Boone County Commissioner Cathy Flaig said Allen should resign.

"He's already admitted he did something wrong," Flaig said. "Once he admitted it, he should have resigned."

E-mail cweiser@gannett.com