Carol Moseley Braun

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page.

Carol Elizabeth Moseley Braun
United States Senator, Illinois
In office January 1993 – January, 1999
Preceded by	Alan J. Dixon
Succeeded by	Peter Fitzgerald
Born	August 16, 1947 (age 59) Chicago, Illinois
Political party	Democratic
Religion	Roman Catholic

Carol Elizabeth Moseley Braun (born August 16, 1947) is an American politician and lawyer who represented Illinois in the United States Senate from 1993 to 1999. She was the first, and to date, the only, black woman elected to the United States Senate. Also, she was the first African-American senator to be elected as a Democrat. She briefly participated as a candidate for the Democratic Party nomination in the 2004 U.S. presidential election.

Contents 1 Early history 2 Public service career 2.1 Controversy 2.2 Presidential campaign 3 Life after politics 4 Electoral history 5 Footnotes 6 External links

[edit] Early history

Braun was born Carol Elizabeth Moseley in Chicago, Illinois and educated in the Chicago public school system. Her father, Joseph Moseley, was a law enforcement officer and her mother, Edna, was a medical technician.^[1] She graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1969 and earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Chicago in 1972.

[edit] Public service career

As an attorney, Moseley Braun was a prosecutor in the United States Attorney's office in Chicago from 1973 to 1977. An Assistant United States Attorney, she worked primarily in the civil and appellate law areas and tried cases of national importance.^{[citations needed]} Her work in housing, health policy, and environmental law won her the Attorney General's Special Achievement Award. She subsequently received over 300 awards for achievements in the public interest.^{[citations needed]} She left the US Attorney's office in 1977 to start a family. Her adult son Matthew, is a computer engineer.

Moseley Braun was first elected to public office in 1978, as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives. There, she rose to the post of assistant majority leader. As a State Representative, she became recognized as a champion for education, governmental reform, and civil rights.^{[citations needed]} As early as 1984, she proposed a moratorium on the application in Illinois of the death penalty. And in what became a landmark reapportionment case, Crosby vs State Board of Elections, she successfully sued her own party and the state of Illinois on behalf of African American and Hispanic citizens. When she left the state legislature in 1987, her colleagues recognized her in a resolution as "the conscience of the House."^{[citations needed]} That same year, she was elected as Cook County, Illinois Recorder of Deeds, a post she held for four years.

In 1991, angered by incumbent Democratic senator Alan Dixon's vote to confirm Clarence Thomas, Moseley Braun challenged him in the primary election. Candidate Albert Hofeld's campaign ran many anti-Dixon ads, and Braun won the primary, ultimately defeating Richard S. Williamson in the Senate election. In 1992, she became the first African American woman to be elected to the United States Senate. Her election marked the first time Illinois had elected a woman, and the first time a black person was elected as a Democratic Party candidate to the United States Senate. She was one of two African Americans to serve in the Senate in the 20th century, and was the sole African American in the Senate from 1993 to 1999.

[edit] Controversy

Her term in the Senate was marked with controversy. Before her swearing in, it was alleged that she had rewarded several campaign workers with jobs at the Cook County Recorder of Deeds. Further controversy came when several of her campaign staffers allegedly accused her campaign manager and fiancé, Kgosie Matthews, of sexual harassment; Moseley Braun supported Matthews against the allegations. To celebrate her 1992 victory, Matthews and Moseley Braun flew to Matthews' native South Africa using the Concorde for one leg of their trip. Meanwhile, several aides supposedly complained that they had not been paid.

The most damaging allegation of illegal activity came when the Federal Election Commission began investigating $249,000 in unaccounted campaign expenditures in 1993. Charges had been made that Moseley Braun and Matthews had squandered the donations on trips and other personal expenditures. Numerous allegations of misappropriation were stated in various media reports.

Following the nearly five-year investigation, on January 16, 2003, the Federal Election Commission found those allegations to be without merit.^{[citations needed]} No fines or sanctions were ever levied against her or her campaign. On page 7, paragraph 2 of the Final Audit Report of the Federal Election Commission (AK007596, AR 93-32approved 5/6/96) it states: "Unless specifically discussed below, no material non-compliance was detected."

Further, the Justice Department later rejected two requests from the Internal Revenue Service to investigate Moseley Braun for criminal misappropriation of campaign funds.^{[citations needed]}

In 1996, she traveled to Nigeria accompanied by Matthews, who was also a registered agent of the Nigerian government.

In 1998, after George Will wrote a column reviewing the allegations of corruption against her, she responded to Will's comments, saying that "I think because he couldn't say nigger, he said corrupt."^[2] She also compared Will to a Ku Klux Klansman, saying "I mean this very sincerely from the bottom of my heart: He can take his hood and put it back on again, as far as I'm concerned."^[3] Later, Braun apologized for her remarks.^[2]

She lost reelection by about 4% of the vote in 1998 to Republican candidate Peter Fitzgerald. In 1999, President Clinton named her special consultant to the Department of Education on school construction and nominated her to become the Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa. Once the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee called a hearing on the nomination, she was confirmed by a vote of the full Senate of 98-2. As Ambassador her portfolio included New Zealand, Samoa, the Cook Islands, and Antarctica. She traveled extensively throughout the region and was very well received, becoming the first US Ambassador to be made an honorary member of the Te Atiawa Māori tribe. She describes this part of her public service as being "Ambassador to Paradise", a position she held until 2001.

Braun was given the regular security clearance and was officially absolved of all of the insinuations of wrongdoing by all investigations previously undertaken.^{[citations needed]}

[edit] Presidential campaign

She announced her intention to run for the Democratic Party presidential nomination in February 2003. On January 15, 2004, four days before the Iowa caucuses, Moseley Braun dropped out of the race and endorsed Howard Dean.

[edit] Life after politics

She currently runs a private law firm, Moseley Braun LLC in Chicago. Moseley Braun has launched a line of organic food products called Ambassador Organics.^[4]

Moseley Braun is divorced and resides in Hyde Park, Chicago. She has one child, an adult son.

[edit] Electoral history

• 1998 election for U.S. Senate
  • Peter Fitzgerald (R), 51%
  • Carol Moseley-Braun (D) (inc.), 47%

• 1992 election for U.S. Senate
  • Carol Moseley-Braun (D), 53%
  • Richard Williamson (R), 43%

• 1992 Democratic Primary for U.S. Senate
  • Carol Moseley-Braun, 38%
  • Alan Dixon (inc.), 35%
  • Albert Hofeld, 18%

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Ambassador Organics
• Catching Up With Carol Moseley Braun
• NPR Interview with Former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun
• NOW/PAC Endorses Carol Moseley Braun for President
• Article on her 1992 primary win

Preceded by Alan J. Dixon

United States Senator (Class 3) from Illinois 1993 – 1999 Served alongside: Paul Simon, Richard Durbin

Succeeded by Peter Fitzgerald