By Cindi Andrews
Enquirer staff writer

Local defense attorney Kenneth Lawson - one of Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen's most persistent critics - is considering running for the office.

"People are trying to drag me into this, so I'm considering it," Lawson said Saturday afternoon. "I am seriously considering it."

Lawson would be the second Republican to enter the prosecutor's race as a write-in candidate. Attorney James Rueger was the first - and so far only - candidate to file as a write-in against Allen.

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The incumbent had been running unopposed, but his admission last month to a 31/2-year affair with an assistant prosecutor has caused political havoc.

While it's too late for the county Republican Party to replace Allen on the Nov. 2 ballot, any Hamilton County resident with a law license can file to run as a write-in until 4 p.m. Monday.

The Democratic Party's executive committee heard Saturday from three Democrats interested in the job: Cincinnati Councilman John Cranley and attorneys Fanon Rucker and Jody Luebbers. The committee held off on making an endorsement, however, because members wanted to see first if the Republican Party fields an endorsed write-in candidate.

Rucker said late Saturday that he will run, regardless of the party's decision. The 32-year-old, who almost ran against Allen in the spring, is a part-time prosecutor for Woodlawn and Lincoln Heights and formerly served as an assistant prosecutor in Cincinnati.

County GOP Chairman Mike Barrett could not be reached for comment Saturday, but another Republican leader - state Rep. Bill Seitz of Green Township - said the party isn't planning to run a write-in.

Seitz said he hadn't heard that Lawson is thinking about running, but said Lawson has the criminal experience the prosecutor's job requires. The two worked together at Taft Stettinius & Hollister - a large downtown law firm - before Lawson started his own practice.

With Monday's filing deadline looming, the possibility of his candidacy came up Saturday during Lawson's weekly talk show on The Buzz, WDBZ 1230-AM radio.

Cincinnati Councilman Christopher Smitherman was on the program to talk about stock options, but instead he asked Lawson whether he would consider running for prosecutor. Listeners began calling to urge Lawson to do so.

"They know me as a person who fights for justice," Lawson said. "They are unhappy with the way Mike Allen runs the prosecutor's office. And they want a candidate with the name recognition to mount a serious write-in campaign."

Lawson has handled many high-profile criminal and civil rights cases and often has been at odds with the prosecutor's office during Allen's five-year tenure.

On Friday, he filed suit against Cincinnati police and firefighters on behalf of the family of Nathaniel Jones, who died during a confrontation last year.

This past March, he accused Allen of pursuing the case against Stephen Hill - a black TV reporter accused of molesting children - more aggressively than he pursued sex charges against Catholic priests.

County Democratic Party Chairman Tim Burke said Lawson's candidacy could be an "interesting tactic" by Republicans to siphon off votes that might otherwise go to a Democratic write-in.

"If the Republicans can succeed in dividing the African-American vote, it will serve to give them a far better opportunity to re-elect the county prosecutor whom they refuse to disavow," Burke said.

Lawson briefly considered running for judge in 1999.

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E-mail candrews@enquirer.com