March 14, 2006

COULD BE ONE HECK OF A SECOND ACT:

For Bush's Ex-Aide, Quick Fall After Long Climb (IAN URBINA and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK, 3/14/06, NY Times)

Claude A. Allen often said his religious upbringing took him from a two-room apartment in a poor neighborhood of Washington to a post at the White House.

"Probably the vast majority of the kids who grew up in our neighborhood were either strung out on drugs or in jail or dead," Mr. Allen, one of the nation's most prominent African-American Republicans, said in a televised interview. But Mr. Allen said his salvation was the Roman Catholic education "that taught me discipline, taught me hard work, that taught me values that were carried throughout life."

Last week, that life and discipline appeared to have frayed when Mr. Allen, the president's former domestic policy adviser, was arrested in suburban Maryland and charged with stealing thousands of dollars in merchandise from Target and other stores in a scheme to fake returns.

People close to him said they were stunned at the charges. Friends described him as the "goody-two-shoes" of his family who never drank at fraternity parties and went out for ice cream instead. His identical twin, Floyd, a former football player at the Virginia Military Institute, never matched his brother's achievements.

"It's just the darnedest thing," Renee Allen, their stepmother, said from her retirement home in Atlanta. "I actually started to call Floyd to ask him what happened, but then I saw it wasn't him."


The psychology of shoplifting is deuced peculiar but hopefully the guy can get some help and get his life back on track. He needs Chuck Colson like ya read about.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 14, 2006 12:02 AM
Comments

Unloop.

Posted by: oj at March 14, 2006 11:50 AM

Unreal, the guy should be punished because he committed a crime. Thankfully he wasn't confirmed as a judge.

With that said, I hope he gets some help. It appears that he has some serious psychological problems.

Posted by: pchuck at March 14, 2006 12:06 PM

book him at the ryder institute for the payment challenged

Posted by: toe at March 14, 2006 1:34 PM

"He said only one side of the story had been heard, said one former colleague who asked not to be identified because the conversation was private"

Hmm "one side of the story".. If the only evidence is the surveilance tape, maybe it's his identical twin brother Floyd. Or maybe an Eric/Julia type thing.

Posted by: h-man at March 14, 2006 2:21 PM

His identical twin, Floyd, a former football player at the Virginia Military Institute, never matched his brother's achievements.

Hey, thanks a lot.

Is that at all relevant ?
Couldn't Urbina & Kirkpatrick have simply written "Claude A. Allen has been the most successful member of his family" ?

Posted by: Floyd, a former football player & bigtime Loser at March 14, 2006 3:05 PM

More on the evil twin theory, with pictures.

Posted by: PapayaSF at March 14, 2006 4:10 PM

PapayaSF

According to your link Claude Allen was heading up the White House Katrina task force before the flooding started. If that is the case why was Brown the scapegoat? I think we should blame that on Floyd also.

Posted by: h-man at March 14, 2006 4:59 PM

Bullfeathers.

Shoplifters who steal impulsively need counselling. This is a scam which required considerable reflection, preparation, and multiple lies in its execution.

This guy should be sentenced as any other common thief.

Posted by: Lou Gots at March 14, 2006 5:16 PM

Sure, Chuck Colson did his time and then made himself into an exemplary public citizen.

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