In early 1999, a recently-elected New Jersey state senator made her way to a high profile meeting with then-governor George W. Bush, cementing a deal for future support between both candidates. Sen. Diane Allen (R-NJ-07) met with Bush in a meeting that Time magazine covered then. To her credit, she was meeting with the presidential contender partly to defend a woman's right to choose, but the former newscaster turned politician left [the] meeting convinced that Bush would not make the fight against abortion a feature of his campaign. From this point on, Allen became an avid and important ally of Bush and his family.
Recently, Democratic state senate candidate Richard Dennison has received some criticism from politicsnj for attempting to connect Allen with Bush, but I think that evidence shows Dennison is right about Allen being a pro-Bush Republican. After the 1999 meeting, there were numerous times when Allen interacted with Bush and his allies, from Allen hiring Brian Donahue, a Bush-Cheney state campaign manager, for her own failed 2002 U.S. senate campaign to her appearance at a 2004 Republican convention for Pres. Bush. From the latter, she made a rather odd statement about the Bush twins and their father, claiming,
"You want reality. And the Bush girls certainly give you reality," she said, and chuckled, "just like their daddy."
And A 2002 Republican senate challenger described Allen thusly Diane Allen's television experience showed last night a deliberate, methodical message, which was "I'm behind President Bush all the way."
In sum, she attended his conventions, sought Bush out before he became the Republican presidential nominee, hired one of his state campaign managers, hired the same fundraising and event company as Bush, and even stated before that she would vote in favor of authorizing the invasion of Iraq. It must have been quite a surprise to the president, then, when one of his biggest supporters in N.J. was not amongst the guests at the 30 May fundraiser. Bush probably even has one of his idiotic nicknames that he gives to close friends and the press reserved for Allie, but she reneged from making a public showing with a politician whom she sought out in 1999 and has maintained a close relationship with ever since. In fact, there is probably no other politician in the state that has had such a close relationship with the president and his neoconservative coterie, yet she left her political partner alone on the dance floor, so to speak. |
