NYT: Former Aide's Arrest Surprises Friends and Colleagues

[kskiska]

WASHINGTON, March 11 — The arrest on theft charges of Claude A. Allen, who until recently was President Bush's top adviser on domestic policy, was an apparent fall from power that surprised and mystified his friends and former colleagues.

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Ava Rashford, a neighbor and fellow member of the Covenant Life Church, said: "There are no secrets in our church, and I've known this family for years. Our church emphasizes openness about problems in our marriages or families, and if there was a problem, we would know. There wasn't with this family."

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He described himself as a market-oriented conservative. His children were schooled at home. He advocated sexual abstinence before marriage and supported abstinence education programs.

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"Just when today's welfare state was being created," Mr. Allen wrote, "my mother and father were instilling in my brother and me the principles of self-government and self-worth, not what Uncle Sam could do for us."

more…
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/politics/12allen.html