Topeka ? The district attorney filed petitions to oust Shawnee Treasurer Rita Cline from office Monday, alleging she improperly used public money to finance a senior-care franchise.

But Cline called the allegations a personal vendetta by Dist. Atty. Robert Hecht.

“It’s an absolute lie, and he knows it,” Cline said of Hecht. “Ain’t nobody stole any money, except perhaps him. I know I ain’t stole any money.”

Hecht’s office filed three petitions Monday in Shawnee County District Court, seeking Cline’s suspension from office while the ouster is being heard, her removal from office permanently, and the return of $10,000 Cline took from her office’s Motor Vehicle Fund to pay her attorney, Don Hoffman.

The petitions accuse Cline and Kate Carty, former manager of the treasurer’s Motor Vehicles Office at the White Lakes Mall in south Topeka, of conspiring to defraud the county for personal gain. Hecht said the pair used the $21,915 Cline authorized to buy out Carty’s employment contract to finance a senior-care business the pair started in Springfield, Mo.

Cline said she was considering filing a civil lawsuit asking for damages for harassment.

“I truly wish and had hoped that you and I could work together as two professionals paid by the county taxpayers,” Cline said in a statement.

Cline denies the allegations and says Hecht is seeking retribution for her opposition to homosexual-rights ordinances Hecht’s daughter introduced last year in the Topeka City Council.