The committee founder was vague about its mission initially, but he has made it clear lately that its goal will be to investigate Castor's handling of the Al-Arian case when she was president of the University of South Florida.

So far, the committee known as the American Democracy Project has limited itself to sending out news releases. Its founder, lawyer Bernie Friedman of Broward County, said it has raised almost $300,000 and may buy advertising to deliver its message.

Its accusations are based on documents Friedman requested from USF under public records law. At this point, they have revealed nothing new.

The documents on which Friedman based his initial attack became public - and were covered extensively by The Tampa Tribune - in 1996.

Friedman contends that Castor had FBI information in 1996 that should have led her to fire Al-Arian as a USF computer engineering professor.

Friedman also contends that Castor, a former state education commissioner from Tampa, has lied during her campaign by saying she lacked enough information from the FBI or other law enforcement to justify firing Al-Arian.

``The undisputed truth is that Betty Castor lied,'' Friedman said in a prepared statement Monday. ``Castor reviewed compelling FBI evidence in 1996 that should have been used to shut down the Islamic Jihad Terrorist Organization on her campus.''

Friedman was referring to affidavits the FBI used in 1995 to obtain search warrants in the case.

One affidavit noted a previous search had turned up a letter in which Al-Arian solicited money for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Another said he had arranged visas for two terrorist leaders, hiring them at his university-affiliated think tank.

The affidavits were kept secret until the Tribune successfully sued to unseal them, and wrote about them, in April 1996. William Reece Smith, the prominent attorney Castor had hired then to review the matter, sent her copies of the affidavits that month.

They were among ``six or seven boxes'' of records Friedman said he received recently from USF.

Smith said the affidavits contained only allegations, not proven facts or criminal charges.

Friedman said firing Al-Arian shouldn't have required a criminal conviction.

``We're not talking about Betty Castor conducting a criminal investigation,'' he said. ``We're talking about an employee/employer relationship and misuse of office. She never made an attempt to go figure out what she could do to fire him.''

Castor has said she repeatedly requested information in the case from the FBI and federal prosecutors but was rebuffed. Al Robinson, then the FBI's Tampa special agent, has confirmed that.

The USF faculty union contract and academic tenure both protected Al-Arian, Castor maintains. She suspended him with pay for two years on grounds of campus safety, but she acknowledges USF never questioned him about the news reports that revealed his Islamic Jihad connections.

Castor's successor as university president, Judy Genshaft, eventually fired Al-Arian after he was indicted in connection with the terrorism accusations in 2003.

Federal authorities have said they weren't able to obtain the evidence that led to the indictment of Al-Arian until the Patriot Act, passed in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, allowed information sharing between the FBI and the CIA.

Castor didn't respond directly Monday to Friedman's charges.

``We are not going to respond to negative personal attacks from Peter Deutsch's front group,'' spokesman Matt Burgess said. ``The FBI did not provide any information that would have allowed her'' to fire Al-Arian.

Deutsch, a Pembroke Pines congressman, has said he won't use Al-Arian against Castor, but the committee is free to do so.

Deutsch and Friedman deny the committee is linked to the campaign, knowing any coordination between the two would be illegal. Friedman is a longtime Deutsch ally, and the committee hired political operative Ryan Hampton after he abruptly quit as Deutsch's campaign spokesman in April.

Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761.