SAN ANTONIO -- Long known among San Antonians as a man who could spin many a story, public relations guru T.J. Connolly said this week the campaign contributions he made to a political campaign were done without ill intent and that he certainly didn't know they were illegal.

Connolly, a local public relations executive in the business for 25 years, said this week the multiple indictments he's faced for illegal campaign contributions are part of a vendetta against him by Bexar County District Attorney Susan Reed, who he is suing along with Bexar County Sheriff Roland Tafolla and two deputies for an incident relating to his arrest in May of this year.

"You can only take so much," he said. "I mean, it's indictment after indictment, then she throws in a false arrest, and she thinks she can intimidate me or it's going to beat me down. I mean, I wish she would just tell me.

"Susan, if you're watching," he said during his interview with KSAT 12 News. "Tell me, what do you want? Where do you want me to go? Do you want me to go to Canada, to Mexico? Tell me what you want me to do, because it's now at the point of absurdity."

Connolly is accused of funneling illegal campaign contributions to Blanche Atkinson, a member of the Bexar Metropolitan Water District board, and his Connolly and Company offices were raided by the Texas Rangers and district attorney's investigators in August 2007. Connolly was indicted on 10 separate charges in January of this year and has been indicted three different times in 2008 on various charges stemming from the district attorney's investigation.

Connolly, then the spokesman for BexarMet, is accused of giving five employees $250 each, which was later contributed to Atkinson, according to the indictment. The campaign contributions were also centered on the time Connolly received a significant pay increase for his employment by BexarMet. Connolly is also alleged to have received and funneled money into the campaign of another candidate for the BexarMet board.

"Did it happen? Absolutely. Did T.J. Connolly do it? Absolutely," he said. "Did my employees know it was potentially wrong? Did I know it was potentially wrong? No."

Connolly said if he was trying to funnel illegal campaign contributions, he would have taken steps to hide his transactions.

"Checks are traceable," he said. "If I wanted to get around the system, and I knew it was illegal, I would have given people cash."

In late October, Connolly filed a civil lawsuit seeking $1 million in damages from Reed, Tafolla and two deputies who arrested the public relations executive at his company offices in May 2008, an arrest that Connolly claims was a false arrest and false imprisonment.

"For three hours, (I) was handcuffed behind my back, in a suit and tie," he said. "I mean, I was sitting there, they were in the parking lot of the Magistrate's office. They didn't know what to do with me."

Reed responded this week to Connolly's lawsuit by saying he was "laying the groundwork for an insanity defense."

Connolly said the arrest was a form of intimidation against him by Reed. He said his arrest was unjust and unfair while alleging Reed operates under multiple sets of rules.

"She has the power to create bogus warrants," he said. "Again, I'm not in that group that can buy stolen airline tickets or carry loaded guns on planes. I'm not in that Susan Reed group. I'm in the group over here."

Connolly referred to an incident in which Reed, along with others including courthouse and county employees, purchased airline tickets stolen and illegally distributed by a group including a former Southwest Airlines employee and her husband -- a former Bexar County Courthouse bailiff -- in 2005, according to multiple stories in the San Antonio Express-News. He also referred to a June 2008 incident in which Reed was perceived to have given preferential treatment to a companion of her son, who was charged with unlawfully carrying a weapon inside the San Antonio International Airport, according to a story in the Express-News.

Reed has not been charged with any crime in relation to either incident, but she did seek a special prosecutor to handle the case after acknowledging how her actions could have been perceived by the public, according to the article.

During Connolly's time as PR man for BexarMet, he repeatedly accused Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff -- a man Connolly called a friend -- of attempting to move control of BexarMet to the San Antonio Water System's control, according to a January 2008 story in the Express-News. In that article, Wolff was quoted in regards to Connolly's January indictment, "T.J.'s always lived on the edge of a cliff ... he might have gone over the edge, but you never really know. The whole thing needs to play itself out."

Connolly said his attacks on Wolff were unwarranted and considers the dissolution of their friendship "a personal loss."

"I took a friendship and destroyed it," he said to KSAT 12 News. "Nelson didn't do a thing. I certainly went over the edge time and again in the way I attacked Nelson and made him a target."

Connolly said he wished he had never taken the position with BexarMet, and that he had apologized to Wolff for his previous comments. He said he has considered the possibility of going to jail should his case go to trial, but he remains steadfast he did nothing illegal.

"I'm not due any sympathy," he said. "Susan Reed didn't write the checks. I did."

Reed has confirmed and is expected to conduct an interview with KSAT 12 News next week to address the Connolly case, said KSAT 12 News reporter Steve Spriester.