Former White House adviser arrested

[ProSense]

Friday, March 10, 2006 · Last updated 5:17 p.m. PT

Former White House adviser arrested

By STEPHEN MANNING
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- A former domestic policy adviser to President Bush has been charged with theft for allegedly receiving phony refunds at department stores.

Claude Alexander Allen, 45, was arrested Thursday by Montgomery County police for allegedly claiming refunds for more than $5,000 worth of merchandise he did not buy, according to county and federal authorities.

Allen was the No. 2 official in the Health and Human Services Department when Bush nominated him in April 2003 to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va. Bush nominated to the court again a year later, but Allen never received a Senate vote.

During his confirmation hearing, Allen was questioned about his use of the word "queer" when he was a press aide to Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., in 1984. Allen said he didn't intend it as a slur against gay people.

In early 2005, Bush hired Allen as a domestic policy adviser. He resigned abruptly on Feb. 9, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family.

more...

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1151AP_Ex_Bush_Aide.html

Original report here in the "All the reports add up to a Bush administration in crisis" thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2449493&mesg_id=2449493

Claude A. Allen -- White House
Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy

Most recently, Claude A. Allen was the Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services. He also served as the Secretary of Health and Human Resources for the State of Virginia and served in the Virginia Attorney General's Office from 1995 to 1998. He was an Associate at Baker & Botts in Washington, D.C. from 1991 to 1995 and served as a professional staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1985 to 1987. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina and Duke University Law School.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/results/leadership/bio_10.html

UPDATE: Allen had the highest salary of any employee in the White House, tied with Karl Rove, Andrew Card, and Stephen Hadley, among others. He was earning $161,000 a year.


http://thinkprogress.org/2006/03/10/claude-allen/

From thinkprogress.org:

Statement Of Senator Patrick Leahy
On The Nomination Of Claude Allen
Executive Business Meeting Of The Judiciary Committee
July 8, 2004

WASHINGTON (Thursday, July 8) – The Senate Judiciary Committee delayed a vote Thursday on the controversial nomination of Claude Allen to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Despite objections from Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the Democratic ranking member of the panel, and other Democratic members, Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said the committee would reconvene Friday to take a vote. Leahy’s remarks on the Allen nomination from the panel’s meeting this morning follows.

http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200407/070804a.html

'Conservative Values' Guide Court Appointee

By Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 5, 2003; Page B01

RICHMOND -- Claude A. Allen, nominated by President Bush last week to the nation's most conservative federal appeals court, was just out of college when he began to immerse himself in conservative policy and rough-and-tumble politics as the campaign pitchman for then-U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.).


http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A13850-2003May4¬Found=true

March 10, 2006
Gaithersburg Man Arrested for Theft Scheme

Detectives from the Montgomery County Police Retail Theft Unit arrested a man yesterday for a continuing retail theft scheme.
Claude Alexander Allen, age 45, of the 7200 block of Cliff Pine Drive in Gaithersburg, was charged with theft scheme over $500 and theft over $500. He was released on his own recognizance.

more...

http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/apps/policenews/press/DisplayInfo.cfm?ItemID=2378

[Jade Fox]

1. You can't make this stuff up, can you?

Claiming refunds for merchandise he didn't buy. Geezus.

[savemefromdumbya]

2. The GOP is riddled with corruption

[MadMaddie]

3. What a criminal borne of the White house...you don't say?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Ah, yes; another paragon of Republican virtue and integrity

who almost made it to the Federal bench.

And I sure wish these jackoffs would come up with a less transparently lame excuse for their abrupt resignations than wanting to spend more time with their families. Something straightforward and honest like, "I wanted to spend more time shredding documents and conferring with my attorney;" or "I wanted to spend more time drinking heavily and looking at Internet porn while I wait for the indictments to come down."

[stevedeshazer]

5. $5,000 is chimp change for a Bush insider

It's ironic to see a Bushie busted for petty swindling when they have already looted the entire US Treasury!

[Hissyspit]

9. Yeah, you're right. He didn't get the 'memo:' "If you're going to steal,

steal big!"

[Hissyspit]

6. They'll put him on the board of Halliburton ASAP

This makes his resume look golden to them.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

7. Ex-White House adviser BY ONE DAY

Headline makes it sound like he has not worked there for a while.

More liberal media bias.

[markam]

15. Actually 1 month and 1 day

Resigned February 9. However, he was actually arrested on January 2. I would be very curious to find out when the Bush White House found out about the arrest and how long they tried to make the arrest go away before they told him to spend more time with his family

[Imalittleteapot]

8. Bush domestic policy:

steal all you can until you get caught. Allen was perfect for the job.

[BootinUp]

10. criminal scum.

Its one big fuckin organized crime family. :argh:

[ProSense]

11. OP updated to add photo and brief bio n/t

[Bumblebee]

12. We will therefore find out next month that Norton was stealing

from Wal-Mart :)

[sandnsea]

13. This is just a joke

And we worry about boucing a check or paying our phone bill 2 days late. Sheesh.

[ProSense]

14. OP updated: Bush nominated him for the courts? n/t

[Jim Lane]

22. Yes, and read what the RW said about the nomination

According to National Review Online, "the radical Left's criticisms of Allen" weren't actually based on the grounds stated, but arose because of "his traditional values, belief in family, and ideals of personal conservatism". http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/gray200407070947.asp

One of Allen's Senators, George Allen (no relation) of Virginia, called him "an outstanding person". http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,101474,00.html So I guess this is the sort of judicial nominee we could expect should Allen become President.

[DS1]

16. Clinton got a blowjob

:yoiks:

[Catherine Vincent]

17. That's the guy?

There's a video clip out there of this guy, Bush and Rove strolling across the WH lawn. At the time, some of us were wondering who the new black guy was.

[rodeodance]

18. sad, real sad

[ProSense]

19. Photo and more...

President Bush's walk with Karl Rove, center, from the White House to the Marine One helicopter was viewed as Bush's show of support for his deputy chief of staff. Accompanying them was domestic policy assistant Claude Allen. Rove accompanied the president on a trip to Indianapolis.

Photo Credit: By Chip Somodevilla -- Getty Images

RW nut job:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Allen

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1067350986917

[fujiyama]

28. What is he looking it in that pic?

Is he closeted? The way he's staring at Bush's ass in that pic.

This admin seems to have run the gamut in the crimes they've commited - from the pettiest (the equivalent of shoplifting) to the greatest (war crimes).

Stagerring.

[aden_nak]

20. Damn you, Bill Clinton's Penis! I know you're behind this.

[msgadget]

26. ROFL!

:rofl: I'm sure we'll be hearing that in some form soon. :rofl:

(Frist and Zell Miller...I can't stop laughing!)

[Pacifist Patriot]

21. "spend more time with the family" Is anyone keeping track...

of the number of Shrub "advisees" who leave with this reason?

[radio4progressives]

23. This is actually quite weird. His Salary was $161,000 a year and he steals

from department stores on bogus refunds? I don't get that.. something isn't ringing quite true .. sometimes a cigar is just a cigar but does this report seem logical to anyone? And i don't recall hearing it being reported on CNN or MSNBC ... did they miss this story?

i mean isn't this a story???

[ProSense]

24. Here

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11770707/

And the Guardian -- embarrassing

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5677661,00.html

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

25. Again putting to death the old canard of the GOP...

"He's too rich to steal"

No such thing.

[Donailin]

27. why was he the highest paid advisor?

wonder who has the dirt on him and who does he have dirt on?

[Turn CO Blue]

29. If he is a klepto, he was doing it for the thrill

and if he is just a grifter (con man) he was doing it for the thrill. Either way, he would need the rush and take bigger risks each time.

Or maybe he just needed an infusion of funds...who knows what kind of seedy nightlife these "former" White House advisors have? That kind of life of vice and excess can get expensive, you know!

[ProSense]

30. There has got to be more to this story. n/t