Diane Allen

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Diane Allen
Member of the New Jersey Senate
from the 7th district
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 1998
Preceded by Jack Casey
Member of the New Jersey General Assembly
from the 7th district
In office
January 1996 – January 1998
Preceded by Steven Petrillo
Succeeded by Herb Conaway
Personal details
Born (1948-03-08) March 8, 1948
Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
Political party Republican
Alma mater Bucknell University
Website Government website

Diane B. Allen (born March 8, 1948 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American Republican Party legislator, who has been serving in the New Jersey State Senate since 1998, where she represents the 7th Legislative District. She served as the Deputy Republican Conference Leader from 2002 to 2003 and as the Majority Whip from 1998 to 2001. She has been the Deputy Minority Leader in the N.J. Senate since 2004. She was a member of the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature, the New Jersey General Assembly, from 1996 to 1998.[1]

Biography

Allen grew up in Moorestown Township, New Jersey and first ran for elective office in the 1970s when she ran for the Board of Education of the Moorestown Township Public Schools.[2]

In the 1995 general election, Allen and Republican running mate Carmine DeSopo were elected, defeating Democratic incumbent Steven M. Petrillo and his running mate, newcomer Joseph P. Dugan.[3] The $1.1 million spent in the 1995 Assembly race made it the first in New Jersey to cross the $1 million spending mark, as reported in the results of a study conducted by the Center for the Analysis of Public Issues of Princeton, New Jersey that analyzed campaign finance reports from candidates for all 80 Assembly seats.[4][5]

Incumbent Democrat Jack Casey did not run for re-election in 1997, and in the Senate race that year Allen defeated the Democratic nominee Robert P. Broderick[6]

Allen was elected President of the National Order of Women legislators in November 2013. The Organization represents the near 1800 female state legislators in America.

Senator Allen has served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1996, 2000, as well as in 2004 and 2012. She has served on the Martin Luther King Commission since 1998 and the New Jersey Human Relations Council from 2003 to 2007. She has been the Senate's Deputy Minority Leader since 2006, and serves in the Senate on the Education Committee, the Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee, as well as the Veterns and military aff[1]

She was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for the United States Senate in 2002. Six people ran, with Allen a close second to millionaire businessman Doug Forrester who won the party's nomination.[7] Forrester won the primary with 44.6% of the vote, Allen came in second with 36.9%, ahead of third-place finisher John J. Matheussen who garnered 18.6% of the vote[8]

Allen was a television anchor and reporter for KYW-TV from 1976 to 1978, and again from 1982 to 1988[9] and at WCAU-TV from 1989 to 1994, both in Philadelphia.[10] She also worked at WLS-TV in Chicago from 1979 to 1982.

Allen received a B.A. from Bucknell University in Philosophy. She is the President of VidComm, Inc.[1] She is currently a resident of Edgewater Park Township.[11]

In 2007, Allen won re-election. She was unopposed in the Republican primary and defeated Democratic challenger Rich Dennison of Florence in the November general election.[12][13][14]

Allen was considered a potential candidate for the New Jersey's 3rd congressional district seat being vacated by fellow Republican Jim Saxton in the 2008 election.[15] However, she announced on November 29, 2007, that she would not run for the seat, citing factionalism in the Burlington County Republican Party in her statement.[16]

On November 9, 2009, Allen announced that she has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer.[17] Allen had been informed in November 2009 that she had oral cancer. Though doctors had initially thought that treatment would require removal of her tongue and that she would be unable to speak normally, the surgery performed in 2010 did not greatly impair her speech, and she has since undergone radiation and laser treatments.[18]

The Broadcas–t Pioneers of Philadelphia inducted Allen into their Hall of Fame in 2005.

District 7

Each of the forty districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the New Jersey Senate and two members in the New Jersey General Assembly. The other representatives from the 7th Legislative District for the 2012–2013 Legislative Session are:[19]

Election history

New Jersey State Senate elections, 2011[20]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Diane Allen (incumbent) 27,011 57.0%
Democratic Gail Cook 20,370 43.0%
Republican hold

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Senator Allen's legislative web page, New Jersey Legislature. Retrieved February 23, 2008.
  2. ↑ "Back from surgery for oral cancer, Diane Allen still has a lot to say". Inside Jersey. Retrieved March 1, 2011. "Allen grew up in Moorestown, a Burlington County town that was established as a Quaker enclave in the 1600s. Born to an engineer father and homemaker mother, Allen remembers stuffing envelopes as a kid for Republican candidates. Her foray into politics came in the early 1970s, when she ran for the Moorestown school board." 
  3. ↑ NJ Assembly 07 - History, OurCampaigns.com. Retrieved June 22, 2010.
  4. ↑ Pristin, Terry. "New Jersey Daily Briefing;$1 Million Campaign Costs", The New York Times, March 13, 1996. Retrieved June 22, 2010.
  5. ↑ Staff. "Assembly Campaign Spending rises, especially in South Jersey. The Most Expensive Race Cost $1.5 million. A watchdog group says '93 Reforms didn't do the job.", The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 14, 1996. Accessed June 22, 2010. "The District 7 race in Burlington and Camden Counties, eventually won by the Republican ticket of Diane Allen and Carmine DeSopo, was the most expensive in the state, totaling $1.5 million, according to Upmeyer's analysis of campaign finance reports."
  6. ↑ Petersen, Melody. "The 1997 Elections: The Legislature; After Intense Fight, Republicans Fend Off Challenges to Their Majority in State Senate", The New York Times, November 5, 1997. Retrieved June 20, 2010.
  7. ↑ Mercurio, John. "GOP, Democrats tout primary victories", CNN, June 5, 2002. Accessed May 267, 2010. "In New Jersey, Doug Forrester, a wealthy businessman, spent $3.1 million of his own money to defeat fellow Republicans Diane Allen and John Matheussen -- both state senators -- in the race to challenge Democratic Sen. Bob Torricelli , who faced charges of ethical violations during his first six-year term."
  8. ↑ NJ US Senate - R Primary2002, OurCampaigns.com, last updated January 16, 2007. Accessed May 26, 2010.
  9. ↑ KYW-TV News Alumni, KYW-TV. Retrieved July 6, 2006.
  10. ↑ WCAU-TV News Alumni, WCAU. Retrieved July 6, 2006.
  11. ↑ Senator Diane B. Allen, Project Vote Smart. Retrieved September 15, 2007.
  12. ↑ Reitmeyer, John. "Candidates for state Assembly, Senate and county offices file for June primary", Burlington County Times, April 10, 2007. Retrieved April 11, 2007. Archived 17 July 2007 at WebCite
  13. ↑ June 5, 2007 Primary Election Results, Burlington County, New Jersey. Retrieved June 19, 2007.
  14. ↑ 7th Dist: Allen holds on to Senate seat, The Star Ledger, November 6, 2007
  15. ↑ Saxton, citing his health, to retire after this term, The Star Ledger, November, 2007
  16. ↑ Allen says she won't run for Congress, Burlington County Times, November 29, 2007
  17. ↑ Hester, Sr., Tom. "State Senator Diane Allen diagnosed with aggressive cancer", NewJerseyNewsroom.com, November 9, 2009. Accessed January 26, 2012.
  18. ↑ Staff. "Back from surgery for oral cancer, Diane Allen still has a lot to say", The Star-Ledger, August 17, 2010. Accessed January 26, 2012. "When state Sen. Diane Allen found out last November that she had late-stage oral cancer, doctors at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital told her they probably would have to remove a large portion of her tongue, leaving her unable to use her voice normally ever again."
  19. ↑ Legislative Roster 2012-2013 Session, New Jersey Legislature. Accessed January 26, 2012.
  20. ↑ Official List Candidate Returns for State Senate For November 2011 General Election, New Jersey Department of State, December 14, 2011. Accessed January 7, 2012.

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