Sylvia Tenney Allen (born April 2, 1947) is an American politician from
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...
. She was a
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or again ...
member of the
Arizona State Senate
The Arizona State Senate is part of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature of the US state of Arizona. The Senate consists of 30 members each representing an average of 219,859 constituents (2009 figures). Members serve two-year terms w ...
.
Education
Sylvia Allen holds a high school diploma from
Snowflake High School
Snowflake High School is one of the oldest schools in Arizona. It was founded in the late 19th century for the education of Snowflake's youth. In 1888 the Snowflake Stake Academy was established to provide education beyond the 8th grade for all w ...
, in
Snowflake, Arizona
Snowflake is a town in Navajo County, Arizona, United States. It was founded in 1878 by Erastus Snow and William Jordan Flake, Mormon pioneers It has frequently been noted on lists of unusual place names. According to 2010 Census, the populati ...
.
Career
She is a co-founder and co-owner of George Washington Academy, LLC, a
charter school
A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...
in Snowflake, Arizona.
She served as a
Navajo County
Navajo County is in the northern part of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 106,717. The county seat is Holbrook, Arizona, Holbrook.
Navajo County comprises the Show Low, Arizona, Sho ...
Supervisor
A supervisor, or lead, (also known as foreman, boss, overseer, facilitator, monitor, area coordinator, line-manager or sometimes gaffer) is the job title of a lower-level management position that is primarily based on authority over workers or ...
.
A Republican party activist, in 2008 she was appointed to the
Arizona State Senate
The Arizona State Senate is part of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature of the US state of Arizona. The Senate consists of 30 members each representing an average of 219,859 constituents (2009 figures). Members serve two-year terms w ...
following the departure of Senator
Jake Flake. A resident of
Snowflake, Arizona
Snowflake is a town in Navajo County, Arizona, United States. It was founded in 1878 by Erastus Snow and William Jordan Flake, Mormon pioneers It has frequently been noted on lists of unusual place names. According to 2010 Census, the populati ...
, she first represented the 5th legislative district.
Following her appointment, she was elected in her own right in 2008.
[ In the 2009–10 legislature, she was a member of four standing committees: Appropriations; Education Accountability and Reform; Natural Resources, Infrastructure, and Public Debt; and the Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Welfare. She served as chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Welfare for the ]Arizona Senate
The Arizona State Senate is part of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature of the US state of Arizona. The Senate consists of 30 members each representing an average of 219,859 constituents (2009 figures). Members serve two-year terms w ...
.
Allen was a sponsor of a 2012 bill, SB 1127, that introduced shared parenting
Shared parenting, shared residence, joint residence, shared custody, joint physical custody, equal parenting time (EPT) is a child custody arrangement after divorce or separation, in which both parents share the responsibility of raising their c ...
to Arizona.
After the death of Chester Crandell
Chester J. Crandell (June 19, 1946 – August 4, 2014) was an American politician and a Republican member of the Arizona Senate representing District 6 since January 14, 2013. Crandell served consecutively in the Arizona State Legislature from ...
, Allen was selected to replace him on the primary ballot and was elected to the Arizona State Senate District 6 seat in 2014, taking office on January 5, 2015. In the 2015 legislative session, Allen served on the Appropriations, Education, Government (Vice-Chair), Rural Affairs and Environment (Chair), Rules, Water and Energy (Vice-Chair) committees. She was selected by her caucus as President Pro tem
''Pro tempore'' (), abbreviated ''pro tem'' or ''p.t.'', is a Latin phrase which best translates to "for the time being" in English. This phrase is often used to describe a person who acts as a ''locum tenens'' (placeholder) in the absence of ...
.
For the 2015-16 term, Allen served as President Pro Tem and as Chairman of the Senate Education Committee, where she has played a role in securing funding increases for Arizona universities and K-12 schools, the passage of Prop 123 ($3.5 billion increase in K-12 funding over 10 years), and was awarded Legislator of the Year by Arizona Community Colleges and Champion of Education by the Arizona School Administrators. Other awards Allen has won include Friend of the Family from the Arizona Family Project and Champion of the Taxpayer from Americans for Prosperity
Americans for Prosperity (AFP), founded in 2004, is a libertarian conservative political advocacy group in the United States funded by Charles Koch and formerly his brother David. As the Koch brothers' primary political advocacy group, it is one ...
. Allen also has an "A" rating from the National Rifle Association
The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent gun rights lobbying organization while cont ...
. Her term ended on January 1, 2017. In 2017, the American Conservative Union
The American Conservative Union (ACU) is an American political organization that advocates for conservative policies, ranks politicians based on their level of conservatism, and organizes the Conservative Political Action Conference. Founded o ...
gave her a lifetime evaluation of 92%.
Allen was defeated in her bid for re-election in 2020, losing to Wendy Rogers in the Republican primary.
Controversies
Speaking at a June 2009 Rural Development and Retirement Committee hearing regarding a uranium mine, Allen said the world was "6,000 years old."
During her tenure as a county supervisor, Allen was said to have attempted to interfere with an internal investigation into the conduct of her son-in-law, a detention officer, with female inmates in the Navajo County jail, where he worked. K.C. Clark, the Navajo County
Navajo County is in the northern part of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 106,717. The county seat is Holbrook, Arizona, Holbrook.
Navajo County comprises the Show Low, Arizona, Sho ...
Sheriff, threatened to arrest her if she continued to interfere. According to the White Mountain Independent "Former Navajo County detention officer Tim Hunt was first terminated and then allowed to resign last year after allegations he had sexual contact with inmates in exchange for contraband. Hunt is Sylvia Allen's son-in-law." In March 2015, Allen filed a senate bill that would provide detention officers, like her son-in-law, with greater protections from disciplinary investigations.[
During a March 2015 Senate committee hearing on a bill that would relax ]concealed carry
Concealed carry, or carrying a concealed weapon (CCW), is the practice of carrying a weapon (usually a sidearm such as a handgun), either in proximity to or on one's person or in public places in a manner that hides or conceals the weapon's pr ...
restrictions pertaining to public buildings, Allen, a member of the LDS Church
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ...
, suggested that attending Sunday church services should be compulsory for Americans. Arizona state senate Democrat Steve Farley
Steve Farley (born December 24, 1962) is an American politician, artist, and graphic designer who previously served as a State Senator from Arizona, including serving in the capacity of assistant minority leader. He also served previously in the ...
argued that even if church attendance might prove beneficial for society at large, Allen's proposal was a clear violation of the separation of church and state
The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...
laws, including the First Amendment
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
to the US Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the nation ...
.
In 2017, while Chairwoman of the Arizona Senate Education Committee, the George Washington Academy charter school, of which she is a co-owner and co-founder, received an "F" grade from the Arizona Department of Education
Arizona Department of Education (ADE) is a state-level department tasked in Arizona with oversight of public education from kindergarten to secondary school. The ADE is run by an elected Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction.
History
Th ...
. Allen continues to deny she owns the George Washington Academy, but the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) still lists Allen as the owner of the academy. “On our records, she is an owner of this company,” said Patricia Barfield, ACC corporations division director. Allen was the statutory agent who filled out the Articles of Organization in 2014. She also signed the Affidavit of Publication. She’s also listed as one of the officers for GWA LLC along with Kathleen Danielson and Kellee Hunt.
In part of a speech she gave in July 2019, Allen lamented the "browning" of the United States, claiming that the country would "look like South American countries very quickly", and complained that immigrants failed to "learn the principles of our country". When contacted by media outlets, Allen attempted to clarify by saying the reason this concerned her was that she viewed many South American countries as "socialist". These remarks were quickly denounced by many Arizona Democrats
The Arizona Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Arizona. Its headquarters are in Phoenix.
Party organization
The Arizona Democratic Party is organized into three parts: the state committee, the executiv ...
. Within the same speech, Allen claimed that "our boys are struggling to know how to be men" due to "this feminist movement" which was "destroying our families", and denounced the Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. Proponents assert it would end legal distinctions between men an ...
.
In January 2020, Allen introduced a bill to ban the word "Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...
" from Arizona's SexEd curriculum.
References
External links
Senator Sylvia Allen - District 6
''official State Senate website''
Sylvia Allen for State Senator
''official campaign website''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Sylvia
1947 births
Living people
Latter Day Saints from Arizona
County supervisors in Arizona
Republican Party Arizona state senators
Women state legislators in Arizona
Politicians from Phoenix, Arizona
People from Snowflake, Arizona
Tea Party movement activists
21st-century American politicians
21st-century American women politicians