By Cindi Andrews
and Dan Horn
Enquirer staff writers

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Democrats expect to have a candidate for Hamilton County prosecutor within 10 days. They just don't know who it will be.

"We think there is a once-in-a-political-lifetime opportunity here," Hamilton County Democratic Party Chairman Tim Burke said Thursday.

That's because the current prosecutor, Republican Mike Allen, 48, has been accused in a federal lawsuit of coercing an assistant prosecutor into a 31/2-year sexual relationship.

Allen admits having an affair with 33-year-old Rebecca Collins that started when she was an intern, but he insists the relationship was consensual.

The state Attorney General's Office announced Wednesday that it will investigate whether there was any violation of office policies or the law - either in Allen's conduct with Collins or in his office's response to the allegations.

Allen is unopposed on the ballot in his re-election bid.

The scandal - erupting barely two months before Election Day - has put election officials and the political parties in uncharted territory.

Could someone run against Allen? Could he resign but be re-elected in November? Could Republicans replace him on the ballot?

The answers, according to Board of Elections Director John Williams: Yes, yes and no.

Many Democratic lawyers have been mentioned as candidates - including Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken, Councilmen John Cranley and David Pepper, and former judge Ann Marie Tracey. So far, most are either saying "no" or "no comment."

There is evidence that some voters would like to remove Allen from the office, which prosecutes thousands of criminal suspects a year and represents the Hamilton County officials in legal matters.

In a SurveyUSA poll of 500 Hamilton County residents conducted Tuesday, those surveyed split among three options - whether Allen should resign, take a leave of absence or remain in office. Just 3 percent were unsure.

The recorded telephone survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

One resident - Carrie Davis of Groesbeck - is so intent upon removing Allen from office that she has filed a citizen's lawsuit asking the Common Pleas Court to do just that.

At a hearing Thursday, Judge Thomas Crush described the lawsuit as "an exercise in futility."

Even if he found reason to remove Allen from office, Crush said, it would make little difference because his decision would not take Allen's name off the Nov. 2 ballot.

But Davis said she believes it's important for the judge to rule on Allen's fitness for office before the election. Her lawsuit argues that Allen should be removed if there is evidence he had sex with an employee during office hours. She said that alone is enough to oust Allen.

Allen's lawyer, Michael Hawkins, said Allen has broken no law and violated no office rules.

"I think this is a travesty," Hawkins said. "Everyone is judging Mike. Everyone is taking what this woman is saying as gospel."

Davis said an order to remove Allen would send a message to the community and could encourage viable write-in candidates to enter the race.

Crush set a hearing for Sept. 17, effectively delaying any decision until after the Sept. 13 deadline for filing as a write-in candidate.

A write-in candidacy is the only avenue still open for the prosecutor's job. It requires little more than an $80 filing fee and a law license.

It's a tough way to go, however, because voters have to actually write the candidate's name and office on the ballot. Still, Democrats say they intend to make a serious stab at winning the office that has long been a center of Republican power.

"There could be a real opportunity for change," Pepper said. "If you had a decently known name you could do it."

Allen's name would remain on the ballot even if he were to resign from office, Williams said. The only way Allen's name would come off the ballot is if he withdrew from the race, which he could do right up to the election.

Allen says he will not resign, but Republicans could run a write-in candidate as insurance. Otherwise, if Allen were to withdraw, Republicans would be left without a candidate for prosecutor.

Republicans aren't talking - publicly, at least - but the Democrats' nominating committee met this week to start tossing around names:

• Luken has said he won't run for re-election as mayor, and he declined to comment on whether he'd be interested in the prosecutor's race. His license to practice law has lapsed, however.

• Pepper said he is not interested because he is focused on running for mayor next year.

• Cranley said, "It's a great job, but right now I have no intentions of running. ... I would hope that whoever runs from the Democrats would be focused on crime and drug dealers."

• Fanon Rucker, a lawyer at Santen & Hughes, almost ran for prosecutor in the March primary. He said he's not sure if he wants to start a campaign at this late date.

• Dwane Mallory, an assistant city solicitor from a well known Democratic family, had no comment.

• Sharon Zealey, former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, could not be reached for comment.

• Eric Kearney, editor and publisher of the Cincinnati Herald, and his wife, fellow lawyer Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney,also could not be reached for comment.

• Tracey, who's now a Xavier University professor, said she's happy in her new profession.

• Former Mayor David Mann, likewise, said he has no plans to leave his private law practice.

"You can run a pretty creative campaign, but you can't do it on nothing," said Gene Beaupre, Xavier professor of political science.

E-mail candrews@enquirer.com and dhorn@enquirer.com