HomeContact Us

Child abuse lawyers southern california

What's New

Info Menu

Alaska accident lawyer
Codi mortgages
Woolrich pants
Online life and health insurance quote
Laser hair removal indianapolis
Compare insurance rates
Dentist oakland cosmetic
Portland vocational schools
Orlando lasik
Automobile donation
Tax attorney irs
Debt consolidation program
Hotel at gateway center
Compare home equity loans
Manhattan laser eye surgeon
Miami medical malpractice lawyers
Delta express airlines
Set drums
Coupon circuit city
Ohio truck accident lawyer
Auto accident attorneys new york
Refinancing mortgage in oregon
Maryland home loan rates

Child abuse lawyers southern california

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 is 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 fourth 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 did not 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 political commentators. Allen has been chewing tobacco since he was introduced to it in high school by his father's football players.

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 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 1981 with the cowboy boots and won the election. 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."

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. Allen won with 63 percent of the vote.

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 could not 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. 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 could not run for re-election because Virginia's constitution does not 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 had 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. According to the Associated Press, Allen steered compensation from his board service, other than stock options, to his law firm. He was granted options worth $1.5 million at their peak. Allen listed them on his disclosure forms for 2002 and 2003, but never exercised them.

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. Allen steered other compensation from his board service to his law firm, McGuire Woods. 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.

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.

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