MORE COVERAGE State Treasurer Joe Deters. Enquirer/STEVEN M. HERPPICH

• Time in Columbus tarnished Deters • Advocate likes to bring the big guys down • Blackwell says election has all his attention • Democrat candidates harp on danger of 'one-party rule' • Attorney general looking into Allen affair • Prosecutor quitting as UC trustee • EDITORIAL: One-party system not healthy • Borgman editorial cartoon • Special section: Mike Allen coverage

Among the printable: Whistleblower. Watchdog. Whacko.

Davis - whose most recent lawsuit is an attempt to force embattled Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen out of office - prefers to be called an advocate.

Some call her efforts successful: She has changed the way the county hires employees and hands out child support. She laid the groundwork for the county's lawsuit against the Bengals and the National Football League.

On Friday, she returns to a Hamilton County courtroom again to again ask a judge to force Allen to resign his office.

Davis said she loves to defeat "the big boys." And she believes she has had a hand in Allen's announcement Monday that he would not run for re-election for the politically powerful office recently scandalized after Allen announced he had an extramarital affair with a lawyer in his office.

"My suit was merely a symbol of the public's voice," she said. "The public has spoken."

But Davis wants Allen out of office immediately.

"If he's not good enough to run for another four-year-term, he's not good enough to serve for another four months," she said.

Davis has made a habit out of tackling opponents whose fame dwarfs her 5-foot, 2-inch frame.

Since 1994, the 43-year-old mother of four has been initiating a series of Davis vs. Goliath legal contests.

"If somebody's doing something wrong, and it has relevance to my community, I'm going to do something about it," she said. "I don't care who they are." In a rare public appearance, Davis went to court Sept. 3 to ask that Allen be removed from office for "gross misconduct."

Not an attorney - Davis has neither a law degree nor a college diploma - she filed a taxpayer's suit. That case will be heard Friday.

As part of a back-up plan, Davis formally asked Gov. Bob Taft on Saturday to sign on to her legal action. His signature would expedite the Hamilton County case, allow for the prosecutor's immediate suspension from office and possibly get county taxpayers off the hook for Allen's legal bills.

CARRIE DAVIS TIMELINE

A timeline of Carrie Davis' greatest cases: • Hiring practices (1994): Davis filed a federal complaint after surveying job applicants for positions in the county's Department of Human Services and finding hiring irregularities. Result: Federal government ordered corrective action, reducing nepotism by requiring county employees to be hired along federal and state guidelines. • Welfare reform (2001): Conducted financial audits to see if Ohio was complying with the governor's executive order to return $15 million to state's families. Result: Found statewide instances of non-compliance, requiring thousands of cases to be re-examined and money returned to families. • Bengals/National Football League (2002): Initiated litigation to correct what she claimed is abuse of the team's and league's monopoly to coerce stadium deals. Result: Case in federal court. • Child support (June 2003): Attorneys filed suit after Davis' legal and financial research indicated state of Ohio has illegally taken as much as $100 million from state's poorest working families through the child support program. Result: Case pending in federal court. • Domestic violence study (December 2003): Conducted statewide domestic violence study, which was submitted to Ohio Supreme Court advisory panel. Study identified courts' failure to provide for families' needs. Result: Findings under consideration. • Discrimination in education (April 2004): Filed complaint with Ohio Department of Education alleging that Northwest Local School District in Hamilton County discriminated against disabled students. Result: State-ordered corrective action plan is being implemented and monitored. • Mike Allen removal I (Aug. 31, 2004). Filed legal action seeking removal of Hamilton County prosecutor from office. Result: Allen announced Monday he will not seek re-election. But he will not resign. So, Davis plans to ask at a Friday hearing in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court that he be required to resign. • Gender discrimination (Sept. 9, 2004): Filed complaint with Clermont County Domestic Relations Court about gender discrimination against fathers in child support proceedings. Result: Talks continue with court administrator. • Mike Allen removal II (Sept. 11, 2004). Asked Gov. Bob Taft to sign her Aug. 31 legal action - and started petition drive in case governor fails to act - to expedite Allen's removal proceeding and to allow his immediate suspension from office, possibly getting county taxpayers off the hook for the prosecutor's legal bills. Result: Davis plans to forge ahead until Allen resigns.

WHO IS CARRIE DAVIS?

Age: 43 Born: Sept. 25, 1960, in Cincinnati. Grew up in Mount Healthy. Residence: Groesbeck. Marital status: Divorced. Children: Peggy, 23; Emily, 21; Jimmy 14; Jacob 12. Grandchild: Brayden, 2 months. Education: Ohio high school G.E.D.; attended College of Mount St. Joseph. Title: Founder and president of Child Advocacy for Rights and Equity, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of disadvantaged children. Web site: www.careforfamilies.org Served on: Ohio Child Support Guidelines Council; Ohio Child Support Reform Group. Work experience: School bus driver; medical technician at Christ Hospital oncology ward; drugstore clerk; owner of miniature golf course. Hobby: "I used to garden. But not anymore. I am eaten up by this desire to help people. It's my life." --- E-mail cradel@enquirer.com

In case the governor doesn't sign on, Davis started a petition drive via her Web site (www.careforfamilies.org) . She needs the signatures of 37,000 registered voters to accomplish what Taft's signature would do.

Lawyers made angry

Allen has joined a growing list of local officials who have felt Davis' by-the-lawbook wrath.

Frequently victorious, she has raised the ire of her better-educated opponents.

"Lawyers don't like to be shown up by people who can steer the legal system," said Bob Newman, a local attorney who has worked with Davis. "Carrie has been able to do the steering on some pretty good sails," he added.

As she sat on a leather sofa in the living room of her modest brick home in Groesbeck recently with her fuels - a liter of Pepsi, a portable phone, a pack of generic cigarettes and a stack of files - at the ready, she looks at a newspaper photograph of her in action. The picture shows her holding documents, wearing a dress and appearing in court.

"There I am," she said, "sweating like a pig. About to have an anxiety attack. Looking like hell."

Reflecting on her many opponents in court and out, she added:

"They think I'm just a little fat housewife."

Little do they know.

"She is extremely bright - smarter than most lawyers - and very compassionate," Newman said.

"She uses whatever legal tools are out there to hold public officials accountable," said Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune."And, she's beholden to no one."

Newman and Portune have had cases brought to their attention by Davis' research. She conducted complex financial audits and found working-class mothers throughout Ohio were not receiving their rightful share of child support payments.

This led to a ground-breaking case Newman continues to shepherd through the federal courts.

Before Portune filed the still-evolving suit alleging that the Bengals and the NFL used their monopoly to force the county to build a new football stadium, Davis did the research. Then she went to court.

"It ticked me off when (former county commissioner and stadium tax architect Bob) Bedinghaus got a job with the Bengals after he was voted out of office," Davis said.

"That was so flagrant, it stunk. It told me something was wrong with the Bengals' stadium deal."

While launching her court action against the team and the league, Davis took part in a conference call with a Hamilton County judge. When his honor discovered she was not a lawyer, he asked:

"Lady, who do you think you are?"

Talking down makes her mad

That wasn't the first time - or the last - someone who should know better treated Davis in a condescending manner.

In 1993, she applied for a job with a Hamilton County department. She did not get the job. Someone with courthouse connections did.

Davis found such hiring practices were not uncommon. In 1994, she took her concerns to Commissioner John Dowlin.

She said he told her: "Honey, we have a whole staff of attorneys. I think they know a little bit more about the law than you do."

Dowlin did not respond to a request for comment.

The commissioner's words backfired twice.

Davis submitted her findings in a federal complaint. Federal officials forced the county to change its hiring practices.

Ten years later, Davis would go to court to remove Allen, the county's top law enforcement officer.

"I felt sad about that one," Davis said. "His children and the child of his mistress have suffered enough.

"But, I want him removed. That's the only way to send a message to him and everybody else who has a mistress on the side and who is running for office."

Besides filing her suit in person, Davis said she wrote it as well. Her opponents doubt the latter action.

"I'm sure some lawyer assisted her in drafting it," said Allen's attorney Michael Hawkins.

"I wish!" Davis declared. "I can't afford to pay the attorney fees.

"I wrote it late at night, all by myself, in my living room."

Working the phone

Davis does a lot of work in that room. She conducts most of her business by phone from there.

She has a disability, which keeps her close to home and limits her employment opportunities.

Davis has been disabled since 2000. Her income went from six figures, as the owner of a Putt-Putt miniature golf course in Colerain Township, to $800 in monthly disability payments.

She keeps busy running Child Advocacy for Rights and Equity. The non-profit, Hamilton County-based organization is dedicated to helping disadvantaged children. As founder and president, she helps individuals with health-care and educational problems. Requests for assistance come from needy people across the country.

"Let me show you something," Davis said. She walked across the room and trudged up the steps to the second floor.

Kneeling on the floor in what was once a back bedroom, she pointed to boxes of files. They represented 1,000 individual cases.

"I'm not making a living doing this," she said.

That might be because she doesn't charge for her work. Two years ago, she secured $3,000 in overdue child support from Hamilton County for Allene Wilson.

"Carrie's a life-saver," said Wilson, who's disabled and living in Covington. "She helped me get out of debt and pay my hospital bills. I still love her to this day."

Davis feels driven to do such work.

"I may not be officially employed," she said. "Or getting rich."