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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 [[University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA]] to the [[University of Virginia]] as a sophomore in college.<ref name="RaceProblem">{{cite news | url=http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20060508&s=lizza050806 | title=GEORGE ALLEN'S RACE PROBLEM | publisher=The New Republic | date=May 08, 2006}}</ref>
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 [[University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA]] to the [[University of Virginia]] as a sophomore in college.<ref name="RaceProblem">{{cite news | url=http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20060508&s=lizza050806 | title=GEORGE ALLEN'S RACE PROBLEM | publisher=The New Republic | date=May 08, 2006}}</ref>


The May 8, 2006<ref name="RaceProblem" /> and the May 15, 2006<ref name="FlagFetish" /> issues of the ''[[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&nbsp;&ndash; on himself, his car, inside his home&nbsp;&ndash; 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. Allen has stated that the flag was a part of a collection of flags. In 1993, Allen's first statewide TV campaign ad for governor included a Confederate flag. Greg Stevens, the political consultant who made the 1993 TV ad, confirmed that the ad included a Confederate flag.
The May 8, 2006<ref name="RaceProblem" /> and the May 15, 2006<ref name="FlagFetish" /> issues of the [[Left-wing politics|left-of-center magazine]]<ref name=SBFK>Stephenson, Bresler, Friedrich, & Karlesky, ''American Government,'' New York: Harper & Row, 1988, ISBN 0-06-040947-9, pp. 171.</ref> ''[[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&nbsp;&ndash; on himself, his car, inside his home&nbsp;&ndash; 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. Allen has stated that the flag was a part of a collection of flags. In 1993, Allen's first statewide TV campaign ad for governor included a Confederate flag. Greg Stevens, the political consultant who made the 1993 TV ad, confirmed that the ad included a Confederate flag.


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.<ref name="RaceProblem" />
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.<ref name="RaceProblem" />
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Allen called Shelton's recollections "absolutely false," "pure fabrication" and "nonsense." Two Louisa County sheriff's deputies who were on the force in the early 1970s said in interviews with the ''Daily Press'' that they recall no complaints about severed animal heads. Retired Lt. Robert Rigsby said he was in charge of investigations in the early '70s, and any such report would have gone through him. "I think that's a myth," Rigsby said. Another veteran officer, Deputy William Seay, also could recall no such incident. Local authorities have stated that they do not know if records from so long ago would be preserved. A search of Louisa County's weekly newspaper, ''The Central Virginian'', for the years 1972 through 1974 yielded no account of a severed animal head being discovered in a mailbox during the months that traditionally constitute deer season, October through January. The leader of the Louisa County chapter of the [[NAACP]], Stewart Cooke, also said in a telephone interview that he had not heard of such an incident.<ref name="dailypressdeer"/>
Allen called Shelton's recollections "absolutely false," "pure fabrication" and "nonsense." Two Louisa County sheriff's deputies who were on the force in the early 1970s said in interviews with the ''Daily Press'' that they recall no complaints about severed animal heads. Retired Lt. Robert Rigsby said he was in charge of investigations in the early '70s, and any such report would have gone through him. "I think that's a myth," Rigsby said. Another veteran officer, Deputy William Seay, also could recall no such incident. Local authorities have stated that they do not know if records from so long ago would be preserved. A search of Louisa County's weekly newspaper, ''The Central Virginian'', for the years 1972 through 1974 yielded no account of a severed animal head being discovered in a mailbox during the months that traditionally constitute deer season, October through January. The leader of the Louisa County chapter of the [[NAACP]], Stewart Cooke, also said in a telephone interview that he had not heard of such an incident.<ref name="dailypressdeer"/>



==References==
==References==

Revision as of 21:19, 6 November 2006

George Allen
Junior Senator, Virginia
In office
2001–Present
Preceded byCharles Robb
Succeeded byIncumbent (2007)
Personal details
Nationalityamerican
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)(1) Anne Patrice Rubel Allen, divorced; (2) Susan Brown Allen

George Felix Allen (born March 8, 1952) is a Republican United States Senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia. The son of former NFL head coach George Allen, he was born in Whittier, California. Allen is running for re-election in 2006 and has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2008 Presidential election. However, various controversies about his racial views have to a large extent removed him from consideration for the 2008 Presidential race.[1]

Family and early years

Allen's father, George Herbert Allen, of Dutch-Irish and Scottish descent, was a legendary NFL coach who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2002.[2]

Allen's mother, Henrietta Lumbroso, comes from a prominent Sephardic Jewish family from Tunisia [3]. Like many other North African Jews, the Lumbroso family had become gallicized to a significant degree during the period of French rule in the region. [4] According to Allen, Henrietta's father had been imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II.[5] Both of Allen's maternal grandparents were Jewish."[6]

He has a younger sister, Jennifer, and two brothers. According to Jennifer Allen, 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." George Allen, on the other hand, has long been enamored with the rural culture of the U.S., particularly that of the South.[7]

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.[8]

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. He was once suspended for painting graffiti on school walls along with other students.[7]

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. In February 1973, while attending the University, he appeared in court in a case in Albemarle County, Virgina. In 1974, that county issued a summons or warrant for his appearance. Legal records for the case and the summons/warrant are no longer available; it is unclear what the case or cases involved.[9] [10] [11]

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 did not serve in that conflict, taking a student deferment instead.[12]

Personal

Allen married Anne Patrice Rubel in June 1979, and he divorced her in 1983. The divorce records are sealed.[13] Allen remarried, to Susan Brown, in June 1986. 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 which has been remarked upon by journalists and commentators.[14][15] Allen has been chewing tobacco since he was introduced to it in high school by his father's football players.[7]

Career

Virginia state delegate

After earning his law degree, Allen served as clerk for a federal judge and then opened a law office in Charlottesville. Allen's first race for the Virginia House of Delegates was in 1979, two years after he graduated from law school. He lost, but won two years later in 1981. In Allen's first race for Virginia delegate, he placed third in a field of four candidates. Allen states that he lost because he wasn't himself and was listening to the advice of his campaign manager who suggested he wear wingtips instead of his usual cowboy boots. He ran again in 1982 with the cowboy boots and won the election.[16] 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 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 and as "really more of a lasso."[7]

U.S. House of Representatives

On November 5, 1991, Allen 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 opponent was Slaughter's cousin, Kay Slaughter. During the campaign, the National Republican Congressional Committee ran a TV ad on Allen's behalf featuring Slaughter's image superimposed over a photograph of an anti-war rally with a banner reading, "Victory to Iraq." Allen won with 63 percent of the vote.[17]

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.

Allen's district was split between 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, but instead chose to leave the House in January 1993.

Governor

In November 1993, Allen was elected the 67th Governor of Virginia, serving from 1994 to 1998. His opponent, Attorney General Mary Sue Terry, had an early 29 point lead[18] and a million dollar fundraising advantage.[19] 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.[20] 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. [21][22]

Minority groups, especially African-Americans, in Virginia criticized Allen for his policies and his embrace of the Confederate flag, which the NAACP condemned as a symbol of racism and hate. Allen also opposed a state holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr..[23] The state holiday in favor of Martin Luther King Jr. was initially attached to Lee-Jackson day, a day honoring Robert 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.[24]

In 1994, Allen endorsed Oliver North for U.S. Senate. 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."[25] The proclamation did not mention slavery, and his successor, Republican Governor James Gilmore, changed the proclamation and wrote a version that denounced slavery.[26]

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.[27]

Law partner

In February 1998, Allen became a Richmond-based partner at the law firm McGuire Woods Battle & Booth (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."[28] 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.[29]

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 had assisted while governor.[30]

Xybernaut

In mid-1998, Allen joined the board of Xybernaut,[31] 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.[32] 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.[33]

Allen made almost no money from the stock, according to his communications director, John Reid. [29] According to the Associated Press, Allen steered compensation from his board service, other than stock options, to his law firm.[30] In 1998 and 1999, McGuire Woods billed $315,925 to Xybernaut for legal work. Allen remained on the Xybernaut board until December 2000. He was granted 110,000 options of company stock while on the board: 50,000 upon joining in 1998, 10,000 in 1999, and 50,000 in October 2000, shortly before he resigned.[34]. The options were worth $1.5 million at their peak.[29] Allen listed them on his disclosure forms for 2002 and 2003,[34] but never exercised them.[29]

In 2001 the company asked Allen for assistance. Allen then asked the Army to resolve a lingering issue between Xybernaut and the Army. The Army responded but did not resolve the issue in Xybernaut's favor, and Allen did not provide any assistance.[30]

In July 2005, Xybernaut filed for bankruptcy reorganization, after an internal investigation reported that the firm’s CEO and his brother, the COO, had committed a variety of misdeeds.[35] McGuire Woods and its employees were, as of July 21, 2006, the top contributor to Allen's 2006 Senatorial campaign.[36]

Allen has refused repeated requests to discuss his involvement with the company.[29]

Commonwealth Biotechnologies

Allen joined Commonwealth's board of directors about two months after leaving the governor's office in January 1998. "I learned a lot on their board and enjoyed working with 'em, and they seem to be doing all right, I guess," Allen said in October 2006.

Commonwealth granted Allen options on 15,000 shares of company stock at $7.50 a share in May 1999, company chief executive Robert Harris said. Commonwealth usually gives departing directors just 90 days to exercise stock options, but Allen's were extended until as late as May 2009; the CEO said that was because he was entering public service. According to the Associated Press, Allen steered other compensation from his board service to his law firm, McGuire Woods.

Commonwealth's stock has had a history of wild fluctuations. It hit $9 to $10 a share the month after Allen left the board. As of late 2006, Allen had not cashed in any options; the stock as of that date was well under $5 per share, making the options valueless for the moment. Commonwealth reported its first full year of profitability in 2005.[30]

Com-Net Ericsson

Allen became a member of the advisory board of Com-Net Ericsson in February 2000. The advisory board's responsibility was to meet at least twice a year and provide advice and service. Allen terminated his service on the board before the end of 2000. He was paid approximately $300,000 for his services.[37] Com-Net Ericsson became part of Tyco after Allen left the advisory board, and then got a new management team.[30]

United States Senate

Allen was elected to the Senate in November 2000, defeating the Democratic incumbent, Chuck Robb, son-in-law of the late President Lyndon B. Johnson. George Allen was the only Republican to unseat a Democrat incumbent that year.[38] 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 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.

Below are some bills that Allen introduced or authored in the Senate[39]

  • Introduced Constitutional Amendment to balance the budget[40]
  • Introduced Line Item Veto[41]
  • Introduced Paycheck Penalty Legislation, which withholds salaries from Congress until a budget is passed by beginning of the fiscal year[42]
  • Introduced National Innovation Act, which promotes growth of American science and engineering by grants, scholarships and training[43]
  • Introduced "Long-Term Care Act" which would allow people to use their 401(k) accounts to pay for long term care insurance[44]
  • Introduced "Flexibility for Champion Schools Act" which would allow states with higher education standards to lower their standards to match federal standards[45]
  • Co-authored the Internet Tax Nondiscrimination Act, which extends the ban on various Internet taxes until 2007 Allen played a minor role as a Confederate officer in the 2003 film Gods and Generals, a movie which included many cameos of politicians such as Senator Robert Byrd and former Senator Phil Gramm [7]. His role included singing "Southern Rights Hoorah!" (Video) In June of 2005, Allen was a co-sponsor of a resolution that had the Senate formally apologize for never passing federal legislation against lynching despite nearly 5,000 deaths from this between 1882 and 1968. Discussing the resolution, Allen said in the Senate: "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."[46] Allen has joined calls for the Senate to consider an apology for slavery. However, in late May of 2006 he began to back away from the proposal, saying that "[s]o far, we haven't seen much of a coalition of support for it".[47]

    2006 re-election campaign

    Main article: Virginia United States Senate election, 2006

    Allen's current term in the Senate expires in January 2007. He is seeking re-election in 2006. Polls released in May of 2006 showed Allen's approval rating at 53%. By comparison, fellow Republican Virginia senator John Warner has an approval rating of 57% in the same poll.[48]

    Allen won the Republican nomination on August 11, 2006 and faces two opponents in the November 7 general election. The Democratic Party's nominee is former Secretary of the Navy James H. Webb, who supported Allen in 2000.[49] The Independent Green Party candidate is Gail Parker, a retired Air Force officer and retired civilian Pentagon budget analyst.

    As of October 29, a Real Clear Politics analysis shows three of four national putting Allen behind Webb, with a poll average of a 2.2% spread.[50]

    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.[51]

    In a subsequent insider survey by National Journal in May of 2006, Allen had dropped to second place, and John McCain held a 3-1 lead over Allen.[52]

    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.[53]

    Controversies

    Allen's sister's memoir

    In 2000, Allen's younger sister Jennifer Allen Richard wrote in her memoir Fifth Quarter: The Scrimmage of a Football Coach's Daughter (Random House Publishing, 2000) that Allen attacked his younger siblings during his childhood.[54] The memoir claims that Allen held her by her feet over Niagara Falls,[55] struck her boyfriend in the head with a pool cue,[56] threw his brother Bruce through a glass sliding door, tackled his brother Gregory, breaking his collarbone,[57] 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."[57]

    In May 2006, Richard qualified some of the claims made in the book.[58] 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.[59]

    Barr Labs controversy

    It was reported on August 8, 2006 that Allen owned stock in Barr Pharmaceuticals, the only American 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.[60] 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.[61] While Allen is generally considered to be pro-life, his answers to a Project Vote Smart questionnaire indicate that he supports legalized abortion for victims of rape or incest, and in situations where the mother's life is endangered. Allen opposes the use of public funding for elective abortions.[62]

    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.[7]

    The May 8, 2006[7] and the May 15, 2006[26] issues of the left-of-center magazine[63] 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. Allen has stated that the flag was a part of a collection of flags. In 1993, Allen's first statewide TV campaign ad for governor included a Confederate flag. Greg Stevens, the political consultant who made the 1993 TV ad, confirmed that the ad included a Confederate flag.

    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.[7]

    Council of Conservative Citizens

    The Nation reported in 2006 that Allen, as Governor, initiated contact with the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC), one of the largest white supremacist groups.[64] The CCC descended from the segregationist White Citizens' Councils of the Jim Crow–era South.[65] At a 1996 Conservative Political Action Conference attended by Governor Allen and CCC leaders, Allen suggested that the group join together for a photograph.[64] The Nation obtained and published the resulting snapshot, which the CCC had printed in the summer 1996 edition of its Citizens Informer newsletter. The CCC is designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League, though the CCC disputes these claims.[66]

    The Southern Poverty Law Center designated the CCC a hate group in 1998, two years after the event. The Council of Conservative Citizens did not have a chapter in Virginia at the time. The Nation asserts that Allen should have known who they were, but their racist roots didn’t arise until 1998.[67] The Southern Poverty Law Center published a list of politicians who have met with the CCC since 2000, and George Allen’s name is not on that list.[68]

    Macaca controversy

    Main article: Virginia United States Senate election, 2006 - Macaca controversy

    On Friday, 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 of Indian ancestry, but was born and raised in Fairfax County, Virginia. Macaca is considered a racial slur 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.

    Mother's religious and ethnic background

    In the wake of the Macaca controversy, the Jewish periodical The Forward reported that in all likelihood, Allen's mother Etty Allen, neé Henrietta Lumbroso, was Jewish "from the august Sephardic Jewish Lumbroso family,"[4] and that therefore by the Jewish legal rule of matrilineal descent, Allen himself would be considered Jewish. Although no mention is made of her mother's religion in Allen's sister's book, she does mention that the Catholic Church, before marrying the couple, required Allen's parents to agree that any children would be raised Catholic, and as a result they decided to be married by a justice of the peace in the home of a Jewish friend.[4]

    At a debate on September 18, 2006, WUSA-TV reporter Peggy Fox asked Allen "It has been reported that your grandfather Felix, whom you were given your middle name for, was Jewish. Could you please tell us whether your forebears include Jews and, if so, at which point Jewish identity might have ended?"[69] Allen answered: "Why is that relevant—my religion, Jim's religion or the religious beliefs of anyone out there?"[70] Allen also said that Fox was "making aspersions about people because of their religious beliefs;"[71]

    Previously, Allen defended himself against charges of racism related to the "macaca" incident by noting that his mother's father "was incarcerated by the Nazis in World War II," implying that that was an incident of racism from which he had learned it was wrong, an assertion he repeated again after the debate.[70]

    The next day – September 19, 2006 – Allen issued a statement to The Forward confirming his mother's Jewish ancestry. The statement read:

    I was raised as a Christian and my mother was raised as a Christian. And I embrace and take great pride in every aspect of my diverse heritage, including my Lumbroso family line’s Jewish heritage, which I learned about from a recent magazine article and my mother confirmed.[72]

    According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Allen "said in an interview that he was aware of his heritage when asked about it" by Fox at the September 18 debate. In an apparent attempt to distance himself from Judaism, Allen added, "I still had a ham sandwich for lunch. And my mother made great pork chops," a reference to the kosher restriction against eating pork.[73] The Washington Post reported that Allen's mother feared retribution against her family if her religious and ethnic background became public, and had originally asked Allen to keep that information private.[74]

    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."[75] However, seven teammates have stated they do not recall any racist behavior on Allen's part. Four of these have made statements that were released by the Allen campaign.[76]

    Dr. Ken Shelton, a radiologist in Hendersonville, North Carolina who played tight end for the University of Virginia football team when Allen was quarterback, said, "Allen said he came to Virginia because he wanted to play football in a place where 'blacks knew their place.'" Shelton also said that Allen "used the N-word on a regular basis back then."[75]

    Two other sources reportedly confirmed the claims, including a third teammate contacted separately who "said he too remembers Allen using the word 'nigger,' though he said he could not recall a specific conversation in which Allen used the term" but that his "impression of [Allen] was that he was a racist".[75] Shelton also said Allen "gave him the nickname 'Wizard,' because he shared a last name with Robert Shelton, who served in the 1960s as the imperial wizard of the United Klans of America, a group affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan".[75] Several other teammates recalled the "Wizard" nickname differently, saying that Shelton earned it for his ability to catch seemingly uncatchable passes. Joe Gieck, 35-year trainer for the University of Virginia football team, recalled that "Ken Shelton got the ‘Wizard’ nickname for his pass catching ability and before George Allen came to the University of Virginia."[citation needed]

    Allen dismissed the claims as "ludicrously false,"[77] citing rebuttals by four other teammates. Critics contended that those teammates may have been biased and in any case did not directly rebut the accusations.[78] Virginia-based pundit Larry Sabato, an Allen classmate at the University of Virginia, weighed in on the controversy on the September 25 edition of Hardball, saying: "the fact is, [Allen] did use the n-word, whether he's denying it now or not. He did use it."[79][80][81] Sabato did not comment on how he knew Allen in college.

    On October 19, the Roanoke Times published a letter to the editor from a former teammate of Allen's, Michael McGugan, saying that Shelton and Allen didn't know each other as well as Shelton asserts. He also stated that Shelton's allegations regarding the N-word were not to be believed because McGugan never heard Allen use the word; McGugan claimed that Allen told others not to use it as well.[82]

    On September 27, 2006 the New York Times reported on Ellen G. Hawkins' claim of overhearing Allen using the word, saying "she heard Mr. Allen use the slur repeatedly at a party on election night in 1976."[83] Allen’s campaign manager, Dick Wadhams, called the account "another false accusation". The Times also reported that an anthropology professor, Christopher Taylor, said that as a graduate student at the University of Virginia he heard Allen use the epithet.[83]

    On September 28, 2006, MSNBC reported that another person had come forward to accuse Allen of using racial epithets in his past.

    Pat Waring, 75, of Chesterton, Maryland, first brought her story to MSNBC when she contacted us in a direct phone call. Waring says that she heard Allen repeatedly use the N-word to describe blacks at a rugby game in the late 70s. "I heard to my left, the 'n' word, and I heard it again, and I looked around and heard it again," she said. "And there was this fellow sitting on the ground. He was putting on red rugby shoes, it is seared in my brain, believe me. And he was kind of showing off I guess, but he was telling a story about something or other and in the story was a lot of 'n' words. So, I got out of the bleacher and I went over and I said 'young man, I am the coach's wife and if you don't mind, would you please not use that word.' And he in essence told me to buzz off."[84]

    MSNBC provided further details, including witnesses to Waring's retelling the Allen story throughout the years and long before the 2006 controversy. MSNBC also stated, "Neal Brendel, who played rugby with George Allen and remembers sitting at some games with Waring, says he does not remember the alleged Allen/Waring incident. Furthermore, Brendel says, 'I don't recall ever hearing Allen use the 'n' word on or off the field, nor do I recall him ever talking about anybody unfairly.'"[84] MSNBC did not place Brendel at the specific game in which the Waring incident occurred.

    On September 29, it was reported by Salon that another of Allen's teammates had decided to go on the record with his recollections. Edward Sabornie, a professor at North Carolina State University, had commented under condition of anonymity in a previous article about Allen's use of the slur. In that article, he was described as a "white teammate" and commented that using racial epithets "was so common with George when he was among his white friends. [It was] the terminology he used."[85]

    Sabornie had previously wished to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution from the Allen campaign, but said he decided to let his name be known because he was upset at Allen's response to the allegations. Sabornie commented, "What George said on Monday really kind of inflamed me -- that it was 'ludicrously false' that he ever used the N-word…I don't know how George can look himself in the mirror after saying that." Sabornie is registered as an independent voter and says that he has shown support for Allen in the past, including writing Allen a congratulatory letter after he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000. Sabornie had been in Allen's class and played football with him. He also recalled Allen as having referred to blacks as "roaches" and Latinos as "wetbacks."[85]

    Mailbox allegations

    Shelton also recounted to Salon an episode thirty years ago in which he, Allen and a third friend shot a deer while hunting.[75] Shelton said Allen cut the deer's head off, asked directions to the home of the nearest black person, and shoved the head into that person's oversized mailbox. George Beam, a former roommate of the now deceased third friend and former teammate of Allen's, came forward to confirm that he was told the mailbox story around the time of the alleged incident. Beam, a nuclear engineering company manager who lives outside Lynchburg, said that he remembered Lanahan describing the hunting trip with Allen and Shelton. Beam said that Lanahan had said, "George and Kenny and I went hunting, and we decided at some time to cut off this deer head and stick it in a mailbox." Beam said he does not remember Lanahan saying that the incident was racially motivated. He also said Lanahan did not specify who had the idea to put the deer head in the mailbox.[86]

    A third witness, Edward Sabornie, a professor at North Carolina State University who was in Allen's class and played football with him, has also recalled hearing about the incident. Although unable to recall who told him about it, Sabornie commented that, "Because I was a hunter, and my teammates knew I hunted, I heard the story…I just remember that they cut off the doe head and stuffed it in a mailbox. I don't remember anyone saying that George went looking specifically for black families." According to Sabornie, he had not spoke to Shelton for around thirty years until the day the article describing Shelton's allegations came out.[85]

    Allen called Shelton's recollections "absolutely false," "pure fabrication" and "nonsense." Two Louisa County sheriff's deputies who were on the force in the early 1970s said in interviews with the Daily Press that they recall no complaints about severed animal heads. Retired Lt. Robert Rigsby said he was in charge of investigations in the early '70s, and any such report would have gone through him. "I think that's a myth," Rigsby said. Another veteran officer, Deputy William Seay, also could recall no such incident. Local authorities have stated that they do not know if records from so long ago would be preserved. A search of Louisa County's weekly newspaper, The Central Virginian, for the years 1972 through 1974 yielded no account of a severed animal head being discovered in a mailbox during the months that traditionally constitute deer season, October through January. The leader of the Louisa County chapter of the NAACP, Stewart Cooke, also said in a telephone interview that he had not heard of such an incident.[86]

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    See also

    Official
    Voting and donation records
    Media
    Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
    from Virginia's 7th congressional district
    1991–1993     		Succeeded by
    Preceded by Governor of Virginia
    1994–1998     		Succeeded by
    Preceded by U.S. senator (Class 1) from Virginia
    2001–present     		Incumbent
    • Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=George_Allen_(American_politician)&oldid=86128232"