Everything about George Allen U S Politician totally explained
George Felix Allen (born
March 8,
1952) is a former
Republican United States Senator from the
Commonwealth of
Virginia, and the son of former
NFL head coach
George Allen. Allen served Virginia in the state legislature, as Governor, and in both bodies of the
U.S. Congress. Allen lost his
2006 bid for re-election to
Democrat Jim Webb. Allen presently serves on the
Reagan Ranch Board of Governors of
Young America's Foundation where he's a Reagan Ranch Presidential Scholar.
Family and early years
Allen's father,
George Herbert Allen, was a legendary
NFL coach who was inducted into the
Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2002. During the 2006 senatorial campaign it was revealed that Allen's mother, Henrietta
Lumbroso, was born to
Sephardic Jewish parents in
Tunisia. He has a younger sister, Jennifer, an author and correspondent for
NFL Network, and two brothers, including
Bruce Allen, currently general manager of the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Allen was born in
Whittier, California. He and his family lived there until
1957. They moved to the suburbs of Chicago after George Sr. got a job with the
Chicago Bears. Then, the family moved back to Southern California (
Palos Verdes) in
1966 after Allen's father was named head coach of the
Los Angeles Rams.
Education
Allen graduated in 1970 from
Palos Verdes High School, where he was a member of the
falconry club and the
car club. He was also
quarterback of the varsity
football team.
Allen attended the
University of California, Los Angeles, for a year before transferring to the
University of Virginia, in 1971, where he received a
B.A. degree with distinction in history in 1974. He was class president in his senior year at UVA.
After graduating, Allen completed a
Juris Doctor degree from the
University of Virginia School of Law in 1977. In
1976 he was the chairman of the "Young Virginians for
Ronald Reagan". Allen was a supporter of
Richard Nixon and the
Vietnam War, although he didn't serve in that conflict, taking a
student deferment instead.
Personal
Allen married Anne Patrice Rubel in June 1979. They divorced in 1983. In
1986 Allen married Susan Brown. The couple have three
children: Tyler, Forrest and Brooke. The Allens are residents of
Mount Vernon,
Virginia.
Allen is a member of the
Presbyterian Church. He is fond of using
football metaphors, a tendency that has been remarked upon by
journalists and
commentators. Allen has been
chewing tobacco since he was introduced to it in high school by his father's football players. The seat he held was the same one held by
Thomas Jefferson. He was a delegate from 1982 to 1991, representing a district in
Albemarle County. In his Charlottesville law office, Allen had a
noose hanging from a
ficus tree, a decoration critics have charged was racially insensitive, but that Allen has explained as a symbol of his tough stance on law-and-order issues and as "really more of a
lasso."
Allen's career in the House was short-lived. In the 1990s round of redistricting, Allen's district, which stretched from the fringes of the
Washington suburbs to
Charlottesville and included much of the
Shenandoah Valley, was eliminated even though Virginia gained a congressional seat as a result of the
1990 Census. This was because of the
Justice Department's mandate to create a black-majority district in accordance with the
Voting Rights Act.
The 7th, which had been the home district of the Byrd family dynasty, was split among three neighboring districts. While his home in
Earlysville was placed in the 5th District of
Lewis F. Payne, Jr., most of his district was placed in the 10th District of
Frank Wolf. Allen moved to
Mount Vernon and prepared to challenge Wolf in a primary. However, he bowed out of the primary a short time later; state Republican leaders had let it be known that he couldn't expect any support for his planned run for governor in 1993 if he made such a challenge.
Governor
In November 1993, Allen was elected the 67th
Governor of Virginia, serving from 1994 to 1998. His opponent in the 1993 election, Attorney General
Mary Sue Terry, had an early 29-point lead in public opinion polls and a million-dollar fundraising advantage. However, Allen struck a hot button with voters across party and racial lines with his campaign proposal to abolish parole for violent felons. This response to a surge of crime in the state connected with voters, in contrast to Terry's proposal to increase
gun control as a remedy. Allen overcame the deficit and won with 58.3% of the vote, the largest margin (+17.4 points) since
Albertis S. Harrison Jr. defeated
H. Clyde Pearson with a margin of +27.7 points in 1961.
Allen couldn't run for re-election because Virginia's constitution doesn't allow a governor to succeed himself;
as of 2007 Virginia is the only state that has such a provision.
Law partner
In February 1998, Allen became a Richmond-based partner at the law firm McGuire Woods Battle & Boothe (now McGuireWoods LLP), as head of its business expansion and relocation team. At the time, Allen said "I think it's healthy to get out of government. If you stay in too long, you lose track of reality and the real world." According to a disclosure form Allen filed on
May 12,
2000, he was paid $450,000 by the firm between January 1999 and April 2000.
Board member
While out of office, Allen became a director at two Virginia high-tech companies and advised a third, all government contractors that he'd assisted while governor.
Xybernaut
In mid-1998, Allen joined the board of
Xybernaut, a
company selling mobile, flip-screen
computers. The firm never made a profit — it posted 33 consecutive quarterly losses after it went public in 1996. In September 1999, Allen and the rest of the company's board dismissed the company's accounting firm,
PricewaterhouseCoopers, which had issued a report with a "going concern" paragraph that questioned the company’s financial health.
Allen made almost no money from the stock, according to his communications director, John Reid.
United States Senate
Allen was elected to the Senate in November 2000, defeating the
Democratic incumbent,
Chuck Robb. George Allen was the only Republican to unseat a Democratic incumbent that year. Allen was a member of the
Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, the
Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, the
Foreign Relations Committee and the
Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Allen was appointed in the last
Congress to serve as the
chairman of the High Tech Task Force. Allen was elected as a member of the Senate Republican leadership as Chairman of the
National Republican Senatorial Committee in 2002, and oversaw a net gain of four seats for the Republicans in the
2004 Senate elections. His successor as NRSC chair was Senator
Elizabeth Dole. Dole was chairman of the
NRSC in 2006, when Allen was defeated for re-election by
Jim Webb.
Below are some bills that Allen introduced or authored in the Senate
Introduced Constitutional Amendment to balance the budget
Introduced Line Item Veto
Introduced Paycheck Penalty Legislation, which withholds salaries from Congress until a budget is passed by beginning of the fiscal year
Introduced National Innovation Act, which promotes growth of American science and engineering by grants, scholarships and training
Introduced "Long-Term Care Act", which would allow people to use their 401(k) accounts to pay for long term care insurance
Introduced "Flexibility for Champion Schools Act", which would allow states with higher education standards to lower their standards to match federal standards
Co-authored the Internet Tax Nondiscrimination Act, which extends the ban on various Internet taxes until 2007
While serving in the Senate, Allen played a minor role as a Confederate officer in the 2003 film Gods and Generals, a movie that included many cameos of politicians such as Senator Robert Byrd and former Senator Phil Gramm (External Link
). His role included singing "The Bonnie Blue Flag" (Video) with this refrain: » Hurray! Hurrah!
For Southern Rights, Hurrah! » Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag
That bears a Single Star!
2006 re-election campaign
Allen's term in the Senate expired in January 2007. He sought re-election in 2006. Allen won the Republican nomination on August 11, 2006, and faced two opponents in the general election: the Democratic Party nominee, former Secretary of the Navy James H. Webb, and Gail Parker, a retired Air Force officer and retired civilian Pentagon budget analyst who ran on the Independent Green Party ballot line.
While the Virginia State Board of Elections still withheld its certification of the election results as of nightfall on November 8, Allen appeared in the initial count to fall short of winning re-election. Webb held a lead of approximately a third of a percent — 8,805 votes — for most of November 8; by the afternoon, he'd named a transition team to plan the staffing of his Senate office.
On November 9, 2006, Senator Allen held a press conference in Alexandria, announcing he'd conceded the race to challenger James Webb, and wouldn't seek a recount, even though he was legally entitled to do so, and even though recounts in Virginia typically overturn as many as a few hundred votes
Ownership of Barr Labs stock
It was reported on August 8 2006, that Allen owned stock in Barr Pharmaceuticals, maker of the Plan B "morning after pill". The Webb campaign criticized Allen for holding stock in a company that makes a product that many of his supporters oppose. Allen responded by saying that he holds the stock because Barr has created jobs in Virginia, and by pointing to his consistently pro-life voting record. Allen is described as an "abortion opponent"; as governor, he pushed successfully for parental notification of teenagers' abortions, and in the Senate, he opposed the approval of Plan B for over-the-counter sales, though he still favors its legality. Allen opposes the use of public funding for elective abortions, although he supports the legality of abortions in cases of incest, rape, or when the woman's life is endangered.
Macaca controversy
On August 11 2006, at a campaign stop in Breaks, Virginia, near the Kentucky border, Allen twice used the word macaca to refer to S.R. Sidarth, who was filming the event as a "tracker" for the opposing Webb campaign. Sidarth is an Indian American, born and raised in Fairfax County, Virginia. Macaca is a slur meaning "monkey" in francophone African nations, which led to speculation that Allen may have heard the epithet from his mother, a Francophone who grew up in French-colonial Tunisia. Allen apologized and later said that he didn't know the meaning of the word. In 2008, The Washington Post speculated that, were it not for this single utterance, Allen would have been a strong candidate for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination.
Allegations of Allen's use of racial slur in college
On September 24, 2006, Salon.com Washington correspondent Michael Scherer reported that the magazine had interviewed nineteen of his teammates and that "[t]hree former college football teammates of Sen. George Allen say that the Virginia Republican repeatedly used the racial epithet 'nigger' and demonstrated racist attitudes toward blacks during the early 1970s." One of Allen's classmates who made such a claim is University of Virginia political science professor Larry Sabato. Sabato later admitted his information was second hand. (External Link) However, seven teammates have stated they don't recall any racist behavior on Allen's part. Four of these have made
statements that were released by the Allen campaign.
Allen dismissed the claims as "ludicrously false."
Mother's religious and ethnic background
On August 25, 2006, the Jewish periodical The Forward reported that in all likelihood, Allen's mother Etty Allen, née Henrietta Lumbroso, was Jewish. At a debate on September 18, 2006, WUSA-TV reporter Peggy Fox noted to Allen, "It has been reported that your grandfather Felix, whom you were given your middle name for, was Jewish." Fox went on to ask, "Could you please tell us whether your forebearers include Jews, and if so, at which point Jewish identity might have ended?" Allen's indignant response, criticizing Fox for "making aspersions", attracted the attention of the national press, prompting speculation that he wanted to conceal any Jewish ancestry. The next day, Allen issued a statement confirming his mother's Jewish ancestry. Allen said his mother feared retribution against her family if her religious and ethnic background became public, and had originally asked Allen to keep that information private.
Confederate flag affinity
Allen has a long history of interest in the Confederate flag, in spite of his never having lived in the South until his transfer from UCLA to the University of Virginia as a sophomore in college.
Allegedly, Allen has displayed the Confederate flag, in some way, from 1967 to 2000. The state holiday in favor of Martin Luther King Jr. was initially attached to Lee-Jackson day, a day honoring Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. There was much controversy in Virginia about combining the days. Governor Jim Gilmore proposed splitting the days into a Lee-Jackson Day and a Martin Luther King day.
In 1995, 1996, and 1997, Allen proclaimed April as Confederate History and Heritage Month and called the Civil War "a four-year struggle for independence and sovereign rights." The proclamation didn't mention slavery, and his successor, Republican Governor James Gilmore, changed the proclamation and wrote a version that denounced slavery.
Allen's sister's memoir
In 2000, Allen's younger sister Jennifer Allen Richard wrote in her memoir (Random House Publishing, 2000) that Allen attacked his younger siblings during his childhood. The memoir claims that Allen held her by her feet over Niagara Falls, struck her boyfriend in the head with a pool cue, threw his brother Bruce through a glass sliding door, tackled his brother Gregory, breaking his collarbone, and dragged Jennifer upstairs by her hair. In the book, she wrote, "George hoped someday to become a dentist…George said he saw dentistry as a perfect profession — getting paid to make people suffer." With regards to the pool cue incident, she claimed it was a joke and that "Allen was simply testing her boyfriend's reflexes." With regards to the dentist quote, Jennifer claims that the book was a "novelization of the past" and written from the perspective of a young girl "surrounded by older brothers and a larger-than-life father." She claims to have a great relationship with her brother and noted that Allen stepped in for their father to walk her down the aisle at her wedding.
2008 Presidential election
Prior to his loss to Webb in the November 2006 senatorial election, Allen had traveled a number of times to Iowa (the first state with a presidential caucus) and New Hampshire (the first state with a presidential primary). He had been widely assumed to be preparing a run for president.
In a survey by of 175 Washington insiders by National Journal's "The Hotline", released in April 2005, Allen was the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for the 2008 presidential election. In an insider survey by National Journal a year later, in May 2006, Allen had dropped to second place, and John McCain held a 3-to-1 lead over Allen.
After the November 2006 election, it was widely assumed that Allen was no longer a viable candidate for the Republican nomination, principally because of the damage caused by the incidents that caused his double-digit lead in the polls to turn to a narrow defeat that contributed to the Republicans' loss of control of the Senate.
On December 10, 2006, Allen gave an interview in which he stated that he wouldn't seek the 2008 nomination.
Current activities
In March 2007, Allen became a Reagan Scholar with Young America's Foundation.
In October 2007, the campaign of GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson announced that Allen was one of three national co-chairs for the campaign. That month, Allen declined to speculate on his political future. Commenting on the 2009 governor's race in Virginia, Allen not only said that he'd made no decisions but that "Susan and I've listened to a lot of people encouraging us to do that." On January 10, 2008, Allen stated that he won't run for Governor in 2009. Some have seen this as speculation that he'll seek a rematch against Jim Webb in 2012.
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