Claude Alexander Allen Jr. (born October 11, 1960) is an American attorney who was appointed to be Assistant to the President of the United States for Domestic Policy by George W. Bush.[1]
Allen was appointed as Assistant to the President in January 2005. Allen then resigned February 9, 2006, stating he wanted to spend more time with his family. On March 10, 2006, news broke that Allen had been repeatedly stealing from retail stores Target and Hecht's by engaging in return fraud. Allen was cited by police for shoplifting on January 2, 2006, which triggered an investigation that resulted in Allen's arrest on felony counts of theft on March 9, 2006.[2][3] On August 4, 2006, as part of a plea bargain, Allen pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of theft.[4]
Early life
Allen, a native of Philadelphia, grew up in a two-bedroom apartment in a working-class section of northwest Washington, D.C. He attended Archbishop Carroll High School, a Roman Catholic school. His mother worked part-time at a Catholic school; his father worked for a plumbing supply business. In a television interview, Allen said "Probably the vast majority of the kids who grew up in our neighborhood were either strung out on drugs or in jail or dead." Claude attended Jesse O. Sanderson High School in Raleigh, North Carolina from 1975 to 1978 where he participated in student government and ran track.[citation needed]
Allen grew up in a Democratic household, but he took a job after college as press secretary for Bill Cobey, a Republican Congressional candidate in North Carolina. He switched parties, saying later, in an interview, "I realized after the fact that I agree more with the Republican Party platform, that it talked about independence, that it talked about individual responsibility, individual rights, it talked about the ability to guarantee opportunities, not outcomes."[citation needed]
Allen subsequently began working for Republican Senator Jesse Helms, of North Carolina;[8] he was Helms' campaign spokesman in 1984. From 1985 to 1987, Allen was a staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.[citation needed]
Legal career
Allen returned to school in 1987. He graduated from Duke University School of Law with a J.D. in 1990.[8] He also received a Master of Laws Degree from Duke University School of Law.
From 1990 to 1991, Allen was a law clerk for David B. Sentelle, a judge on the U. S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, famous for his role in the Whitewater investigation. Allen met and became a protege of Clarence Thomas, who was a judge on that court at the time Allen was clerking there.[8]
Allen was then appointed to the position of Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy in January 2005 where he was responsible for providing advice on all non-economic policy issues including education, health care, labor, housing, veterans, HIV/AIDS, and other domestic issues.[11][12] While Head of the Domestic Policy Council, Allen jointly oversaw the White House Task Force that coordinated response to Hurricane Katrina along with the Homeland Security Council.[13]
Policy positions
Allen has said of condom use, "It's like telling your child, 'Don't use the car,' but then leaving the keys in the Lamborghini and saying, 'But if you do, buckle up.'"[14]
Allen is anti-abortion. Journalist Doug Ireland wrote that when serving as Health and Human Services Commissioner in Virginia, Allen opposed certain legislation because it included taxpayer funding for abortions.[15]
According to NNDB.com, "In 1984, as a press aide to Jesse Helms, Allen told the Greensboro News and Record: 'We could expound on and undertake a campaign against Jim Hunt's connections with the homosexuals, the labor union connection, the radical feminist connection, the socialist connection.'
Subsequent reports claim that Allen's precise words had actually been: 'We could go back and do the same thing with the queers[...]' [Allen then] he called the reporter back and apologized for his choice of words."[16]
Arrest and plea
Allen was apprehended by GermantownTarget store loss prevention manager Pete Schomburg on January 2, 2006. According to the charging document, Allen "admitted to Agent Schomburg that he was committing fraudulent returns".[17] He was not formally charged until March after a review of security video and credit card activity showed similar behavior dating back to 2005. Police said he took items from the shelf and then 'returned them' for more than $5,000 to his credit card through about 25 similar transactions at other stores.[18][19][20][21] He pleaded guilty to theft in August.[4]
In September 2011, the D.C. Court of Appeals suspended his license to practice law in D.C. for one year, after his license to practice law was suspended for 30 days in Virginia and Pennsylvania. The opinion gave much discussion as to whether the act was one of moral turpitude, concluding that it was not.[22]
Reactions to resignation and arrest
On February 10, 2006, the day following Allen's resignation, The Washington Times reported that "According to a military source, Allen resigned to protest the White House's refusal to lean on the Pentagon about the issue [of allowing military chaplains to be more explicit about their faith]."[23] However, Allen denied these reports, stating that he had resigned to spend more time with his family.[24]
After the arrest, Mallon Snyder, Allen's attorney, said he would prove the felony theft scheme allegations are "a series of misunderstandings."[25]
President George W. Bush said on March 11, 2006, "If the allegations are true, Claude Allen did not tell my Chief of Staff and legal counsel the truth, and that's deeply disappointing. If the allegations are true, something went wrong in Claude Allen's life, and that is really sad. When I heard the story last night I was shocked. And my first reaction was one of disappointment, deep disappointment that—if it's true—that we were not fully informed. But it was also one—shortly thereafter, I felt really sad for the Allen family."[26]
The weekend of March 11–12, 2006, Allen's church, Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland, voiced support for their congregant. Senior Pastor Joshua Harris said that the church's pastors had remained in close contact with Allen since news of his arrest broke that Friday, March 10. Harris said, "Our role is not to provide legal counsel. Our concern is for his soul. Our desire—and Claude shares this—is for him to walk with humility and integrity."[27]
On March 11, 2006, Trey Ellis wrote an opinion on The Huffington Post called "When Black Republicans Go Bad". The piece suggested that Allen, along with other prominent black Republicans, "stake out ultra-right-wing positions to prove their bona fides to their white superiors."[28]
Personal life
Allen, a longtime evangelical Christian, is married to Jannese Mitchell Allen, and is the father of four children; including Claude Allen III, Lila-Cjoan Allen and Christian Isaiah Allen.[29][30] The Allens are active members of the Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg.[31]
His son Claude Allen III pleaded guilty to murder on September 3, 2014, but was declared not legally responsible and was committed to a psychiatric institution.[32][33]
