George Allen (American politician)

George Allen
Junior Senator, Virginia
In office January 2001–Present
Preceded by	Charles Robb
Succeeded by	Incumbent (2007)
Personal details
Nationality	american
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	(1) Anne Patrice Rubel, divorced; (2) Susan Brown

George Felix Allen (born March 8, 1952 in Whittier, California) is a Republican U.S. Senator from Virginia. He is running for re-election in 2006 and has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the Republican nomination for President in 2008.

Early years

His father George Herbert Allen was a legendary NFL coach who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2002. His mother, Henrietta Lumbroso, was a Jewish immigrant of Tunisian/Italian/French background. The family lived in Southern California until 1957, when they moved to the suburbs of Chicago after George Sr. got a job with the Chicago Bears. The family moved back to Southern California (Palos Verdes) in 1966 after Allen's father was named head coach of the Los Angeles Rams.[1]

Education

Allen graduated 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. He was once suspended for painting graffiti on school walls. (Whether the graffitti was racist or not is disputed.) Classmates and a school administrator told The New Republic magazine that the graffitti was racist and was intended to fuel racial animosity toward a rival school.[2]

Allen received a B.A. degree with distinction in history and then a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law. Allen, a supporter of Nixon and the Vietnam war, was graduating class president at UVA. In 1976, while a university student, Allen was selected as Chairman of Young Virginians for Reagan.

Government career

He was graduating class president at UVA (1974). He has been a Virginia delegate (1982-1991), congressman (1991-1993), governor (1994-1998), and senator (2001-Present).

His first race for delegate was in 1979, two years after he graduated from law school. He lost that race but won two years later and was a Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1982 to 1991, representing a district in Albemarle County. On November 5, 1991, he won a special election to fill the seat in the U.S. House of Representatives for Virginia's 7th District, Incumbent congressman D. French Slaughter, Jr. had resigned due to a series of strokes.

Allen's career in the House was short-lived, however. 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 came because the Justice Department required Virginia to draw a majority-black district in order to comply with the Voting Rights Act. His district was split between three neighboring districts. While his home in Earlysville (a suburb of Charlottesville) was placed in the 5th District of Louis 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, but Virginia Republican figures made it known that he would have no future in the party by waging such a challenge. Allen was therefore forced to leave the House in 1993.

Governor

In 1993 Allen was elected the 67th Governor of Virginia, serving from 1994 to 1998. As governor, he was recognized for educational reforms such as the implementation of rigorous academic standards and accountability. His tenure also included the overhaul of the juvenile justice system, moves toward the elimination of state welfare programs and the abolition of parole. Virginia, especially Northern Virginia, boomed during this time period, particularly in the technology area.

As governor Allen had a stormy relationship with African-American voters in Virginia, many of whom criticized his policies and his embrace of the Confederate flag, which the NAACP condemned as a symbol of racism and hate. As a lawyer, Allen also had a noose hanging from a ficus tree in his office, a decoration critics have charged was racially insensitive, but which Allen has explained as a symbol of his tough stance on law-and-order issues.

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." [3] The proclamation did not mention slavery and was subsequently repudiated by Allen's Republican successor, Governor James Gilmore.

Allen could not run for re-election because Virginia's constitution does not allow a governor to succeed himself; as of 2006 Virginia is the only state that has such a provision. [4]

United States Senate

Allen was elected to the Senate in 2000, defeating the Democratic incumbent, Chuck Robb, son-in-law of the late President Lyndon B. Johnson. Allen is 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 unanimously 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 is Senator Elizabeth Dole.

In June of 2005, Allen co-sponsored a resolution that had the Senate formally apologize for never passing federal legislation despite the lynching of nearly 5,000 people between 1882 and 1968. While spearheading this apology, Allen stood in the Senate and said, "I rise today to offer a formal and heartfelt apology to all the victims of lynching in our history, and for the failure of the United States Senate to take action when action was most needed."

More recently, Allen joined calls for the Senate to consider an apology for slavery. However, in late May of 2006 he began to back away from a slavery apology proposal, explaining that "[s]o far, we haven't seen much of a coalition of support for it". [5]

2006 re-election campaign

Main article: Virginia U.S. Senate election, 2006

Allen's current term in the Senate expires in January 2007. He is seeking re-election in 2006.

Recent polls show Allen's approval rating at 53%. By comparison, fellow Republican Virginia senator John Warner has an approval rating of 57% in the same poll. [6] Many analysts believe that Allen is favored to win re-election though he will likely face a tougher contest than originally expected.

Former Secretary of the Navy James H. Webb, a supporter of Allen in 2000 [7], is the Democratic nominee. Gail Parker, a retired USAF officer and retired civilian Pentagon budget analyst, is also on the ballot as the Independent Greens party candidate.

A late July 2006 Rasmussen poll showed Allen leading Webb, with the support of 50% of likely voters supporting and 39% supporting Webb.[8]. Also, a Survey USA poll showed a larger lead for Allen, with 56% supporting Allen and 37% supporting Webb.

He won the Republican nomination on August 11, 2006.

2008 Presidential bid

In a survey of 175 Washington insiders conducted by National Journal's "The Hotline" and released April 29, 2005, Allen was the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for the 2008 Presidential election. [9]

In a subsequent insider survey by National Journal in May of 2006 [10], Allen had dropped to second place, and John McCain held a 3-1 lead over Allen.

Allen has traveled frequently to Iowa (the first state with a presidential caucus) and New Hampshire (the first state with a presidential primary) and is widely assumed to be preparing a run for president. While in Iowa, Allen said that he wished he had been born in Iowa.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has accused Allen of changing his positions on key issues to appeal to the Republican Party's conservative base, in preparation for the primaries in 2008. [11] For example, although he had previously supported federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, he modified his stance on August 7, 2005 to confine the funding to research that did not destroy embryos. [12]

Personal

Allen's mother immigrated from French Tunisia, and was "Italian, French and a little Spanish" and according to Allen, was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II.^[13] According to Allen's sister Jennifer, their mother "prided herself for being un-American. ... She was ashamed that she had given up her French citizenship to become a citizen of a country she deemed infantile."

Allen's father was of Dutch-Irish and Scottish descent.

Allen was formerly married to Anne Patrice Rubel until their divorce in 1983. Allen married Susan Brown in 1986 and the couple now have three children: Tyler, Forrest, and Brooke. Sen. and Mrs. Allen are residents of Mount Vernon, Virginia.

Allen is a member of the Presbyterian Church. He is fond of using football metaphors, a tendency which has been remarked upon by journalists and commentators. [14] [15] Allen has been chewing tobacco since he was introduced to it by his father's football players in high school.

Controversies

Charges by Allen's sister Jennifer

Allen's younger sister Jennifer Allen alleges in her memoir Fifth Quarter: The Scrimmage of a Football Coach's Daughter that Allen sadistically attacked his younger siblings during his childhood. She 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."

Confederate sympathies

Allen has a long history of interest in the Confederacy although he never lived in the South until he transferred from UCLA to the University of Virginia as a sophomore in college.

The May 8, 2006 [16] and the May 15, 2006 [17]issues of The New Republic reported extensively on Allen's long association with the Confederate flag. The magazine reported that "[a]ccording to his colleagues, classmates, and published reports, Allen has either displayed the [Confederate] flag--on himself, his car, inside his home--or expressed his enthusiastic approval of the emblem from approximately 1967 to 2000." Allen wore a Confederate flag pin for his high school senior class photo. In high school, college, and law school, Allen adorned his vehicle with a Confederate flag. In college he displayed a Confederate flag in his room. He displayed a Confederate flag in his family's living room until 1992. In 1993, Allen's first statewide TV campaign ad for governor included a Confederate flag. In 2000, when a voter told Allen, "Long live the Confederate flag!" Allen replied, "You got it!"

Allen has confirmed that the pin in his high school yearbook was a Confederate flag. Allen has said "it is possible" that he had a Confederate flag on his car in high school. He has not responded to the allegations that he displayed the flag on his pickup truck and in his room in college and law school. In 1993, he confirmed that he had long displayed the Confederate flag in his living room. Greg Stevens, the political consultant who made the 1993 TV ad, confirmed that the ad included a Confederate flag.

Stock in Barr Laboratories Inc.

It was revealed on August 8th 2006 that the Senator, who opposes abortion rights, owned stock in Barr Laboratories Inc., the only American maker of the "morning after" Plan B pill, an emergency contraceptive that is supposed to prevent pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of intercourse.[18]

"Macaca Controversy" (Sidarth incident)

On Monday, August 14th, 2006, Allen's Democratic senatorial opponent, James H. Webb, accused Allen of making derogatory comments to a Webb volunteer, an Indian American who was videotaping the Allen campaign. On Friday, August 11th, 20-year-old S.R. Sidarth, who is of Indian ancestry but was born and raised in Fairfax County, Virginia, was filming an Allen campaign stop in Breaks, Virginia. In the midst of a campaign speech, Allen paused and singled out the college student:

"This fellow here over here with the yellow shirt, Macaca, or whatever his name is. He's with my opponent. He's following us around everywhere. And it's just great. We're going to places all over Virginia, and he's having it on film and its great to have you here and you show it to your opponent because he's never been there and probably will never come."

He continued, "Let's give a welcome to Macaca, here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia." Immediately following this exchange, Allen discussed the "war on terror."

The term 'macaque,' if spelled as such, refers to a type of monkey, which could be termed very offensive. The term could also be the racial slur "macaca" or "mukakkah," a French and Belgian slur for dark skinned peoples of North Africa. Allen's mother immigrated from French Tunisia and is of French descent. Allen's campaign maintains that the word was used in reference to Sidarth's apparent mohawk.

Sidarth's video of the incident is currently being hosted on YouTube.[19]

See also

• Virginia U.S. Senate election, 2006

External links

• Official site
• Campaign site
• George Allen for President
• Politics1 - P2008: George Allen
• 2004 campaign finance data
• Sen. George Allen - 2008 Presidential Wire
• George Allen - 2008 Republican Rankings
• George Allen on the Issues
• "The Political Environment Isn't George Allen's Friend" -The Rothenberg Political Report
• Voting record maintained by the Washington Post

Footnotes

1. ^ - See Road to the White House, C-SPAN, Address to the Greenville County, South Carolina, Republican Party Dinner rtsp://video.c-span.org/project/rwh/rwh071005.rm