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Congressional candidate Randy Graf has fired his campaign manager after revelations the top aide was convicted in 1996 for having sexual relationships with two teenage girls.

The campaign manager, Steve Aiken, who is also a conservative talk-radio host, says he was wrongfully convicted of "corruption of minors." He served 2 1/2 months in jail in Pennsylvania.

Aiken has been one of Graf's most passionate supporters, but Graf said Friday, "It became very apparent that we needed to terminate the relationship."

Aiken, 48, a former police officer, lobbyist and minister, says the surfacing of his conviction is not news to those who know him. He says he's talked openly about his conviction on his radio show and discussed his past with Graf when he signed on to the campaign.

"Randy didn't ask for a lot of details," he said. "Randy took me at my word. It certainly had the potential of being a liability."

But Graf says Aiken's story wasn't consistent with the facts.

Graf said Aiken "down-played the whole incident and said he had been convicted of what was similar to providing alcohol to a minor."

"As this story came out this morning, and with obviously more details than in the past, we began doing more research into it," Graf said. "Looking at the newspaper articles, it was obviously more serious than I believed before."

Aiken said the girls were trying to get back at him after they were expelled from a nonprofit youth program he and his wife had set up in suburban Pennsylvania. He said one of the girls later apologized, but was afraid she would be arrested if she admitted she lied.

He said the conviction story is being circulated by people who don't want Graf, a hawk on illegal immigration, to win the Republican nomination.

"This just feeds into the hand and becomes blood in the water for the sharks who disagree with my message," he said.

Graf, a former state legislator, is running against four other Republicans in the highly competitive District 8 race.

Aiken, host of "Straight from the Hip" on 690 AM, has been married for 26 years. He moved to Tucson in 2001 after working as a spokesman for Traditional Values Coalition, a religious lobbying group that focuses on issues such as abortion and marriage.