Carol Moseley Braun

Carol Moseley Braun
United States Ambassador to Samoa
In office
February 8, 2000 – March 1, 2001
President Bill Clinton
George W. Bush
Preceded by Joe Beeman
Succeeded by Philip Wall (Acting)
United States Ambassador to New Zealand
In office
December 15, 1999 – March 1, 2001
President Bill Clinton
George W. Bush
Preceded by Joe Beeman
Succeeded by Philip Wall (Acting)
United States Senator
from Illinois
In office
January 3, 1993 – January 3, 1999
Preceded by Alan Dixon
Succeeded by Peter Fitzgerald
Recorder of Deeds of Cook County
In office
December 1, 1988 – December 1, 1992
Preceded by Bus Yourell
Succeeded by Jesse White
Member of the Illinois House of Representatives
from the 25th district
In office
January 12, 1983 – December 1, 1988
Preceded by Constituency established
Succeeded by Donne Trotter
Member of the Illinois House of Representatives
from the 24th district
In office
January 5, 1979 – January 12, 1983
Preceded by Robert Mann
Succeeded by Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born Carol Elizabeth Moseley
(1947-08-16) August 16, 1947
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Michael Braun (1973–1986)
Children Matthew John
Alma mater University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
University of Illinois, Chicago
University of Chicago
Religion Episcopalianism
(Formerly Roman Catholicism)[1]

Carol Elizabeth Moseley Braun, also sometimes Moseley-Braun[2] (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 female African-American Senator, the first African-American U.S. Senator for the Democratic Party, the first woman to defeat an incumbent U.S. Senator in an election, and the first and to date only female Senator from Illinois, although Tammy Duckworth will become the second female U.S. Senator from Illinois in January 2017. From 1999 until 2001, she was the United States Ambassador to New Zealand. She was a candidate for the Democratic nomination during the 2004 U.S. presidential election. Following the public announcement by Richard M. Daley that he would not seek re-election, in November 2010, Braun began her campaign for Mayor of Chicago.[3] The former Senator placed fourth in a field of six candidates, losing the February 22, 2011, election to Rahm Emanuel.

Early life

Carol Elizabeth Moseley was born in Chicago, Illinois. She attended public and parochial schools. She attended Ruggles School for elementary school, and she attended Parker High School (now the site of Paul Robeson High School) in Chicago.[4][5] Her father, Joseph J. Moseley, was a Chicago police officer and apple guard and her mother, Edna A. (Davie), was a medical technician in a hospital. Both her parents were Catholic.[6][7] The family lived in a segregated middle-class neighborhood in the South Side of Chicago. Her parents divorced when she was in her teens, and she lived with her grandmother.[8] She began her undergraduate studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, but dropped out after four months.[5] She then majored in political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago,[9] graduating in 1969 and earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 1972.

Professional 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. Her work in housing, health policy, and environmental law won her the Attorney General's Special Achievement Award.[10]

Early political career

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 liberal social causes.[11] 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 v. 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."[12] That same year, she was elected as Cook County, Illinois, Recorder of Deeds, a post she held for four years.

U.S. Senate

Elections

U.S. Senator Moseley Braun

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 Moseley Braun won the Democratic primary. On November 3, 1992, she became the first African-American woman to be elected to the United States Senate, defeating Republican Richard S. Williamson. Her election marked the first time Illinois had elected a woman and the first time a black person was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate. She (along with Republican Edward Brooke) was one of two African Americans to serve in the Senate in the 20th century and was the sole African American in the Senate for her entire term. She was the first woman to serve on the Senate Finance Committee.[13]

Carol Moseley Braun was a one-term Senator, losing to Republican Peter Fitzgerald in her re-election bid in 1998.

Female Senators of the Democratic Party, 1993. Top Row (L-R): Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) Bottom Row: Sen. Carol Moseley Braun (D-IL), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)

Positions

Despite her reputation as a liberal, Moseley Braun possessed something of a centrist record on economic issues. She voted for the 1993 budget package and against the welfare reform laws passed in 1996, but on many other matters she was more conservative. Moseley Braun voted in favor of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and lawsuit reform measures like the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (she was also among the minority of Democrats to support the even more controversial Common Sense Product Liability and Legal Reform Act of 1995). She also voted contrary to the interests of the more populist wing of the party by voting for the Freedom to Farm Act and the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Like her Illinois colleague, fellow Democrat Paul Simon, she voted in favor of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the United States Constitution and also to place a nuclear spent fuel storage facility in Nevada, a move strongly opposed by many Democrats, especially former Majority Leader Harry Reid.

On social issues however, she was significantly more liberal than many of her fellow senators. She was strongly pro-choice, voting against the ban on partial-birth abortions and the restrictions on funding in military bases for abortions. She also voted against the death penalty and in favor of gun control measures. Moseley Braun was one of only sixteen senators to vote against the Communications Decency Act and one of only fourteen to vote against the Defense of Marriage Act. She delivered a eulogy to Thurgood Marshall on January 26, 1993.

In 1993, the Illinois Senator made headlines when she convinced the Senate Judiciary Committee not to renew a design patent for the United Daughters of the Confederacy because it contained the Confederate flag. The patent had been routinely renewed for nearly a century, and despite the Judiciary Committee’s disapproval, the Senate was poised to pass a resolution sponsored by Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina that included a provision to authorize the extension of the federal patent. Moseley Braun threatened to filibuster the legislation “until this room freezes over.” She also made a plea to her colleagues about the symbolism of the Confederate flag, declaring, “It has no place in our modern times, place in this body, place in our society.”[14] Swayed by Moseley Braun’s argument, the Senate rejected the UDC’s application to renew its patent.[15][16]

Controversy

Moseley Braun was the subject of a 1993 Federal Election Commission investigation over $249,000 in unaccounted-for campaign funds. The agency found some small violations, but took no action against Moseley Braun, citing a lack of resources. Moseley Braun only admitted to bookkeeping errors. The Justice Department turned down two requests for investigations from the IRS.[17]

In 1996, Moseley Braun made a private trip to Nigeria, where she met with dictator Sani Abacha. Despite U.S. sanctions against that country due to Abacha's actions, the Senator neither notified nor registered her trip with the State Department. She subsequently defended Abacha's human rights records in Congress.[18] Her former fiancé Kgosie Matthews, who also served on her campaign staff (in violation of U.S. immigration regulations[19]), had been a lobbyist for the Nigerian government; Matthews would later leave the country. She had paid Matthews, a native of South Africa, a salary of $15,000 a month during the campaign.[20] Braun is on the advisory board of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

In 1998, after George Will wrote a column reviewing the allegations of corruption against her,[21] Moseley Braun responded to Will's comments, saying that "I think because he couldn't say nigger, he said corrupt,"[22] 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."[23] Later, Moseley Braun apologized for her remarks.[22]

Ambassadorship

On October 8, 1999,[24] President Clinton nominated Moseley Braun to be the United States Ambassador to New Zealand. Although her nomination ran into token opposition from her old adversary, Jesse Helms, and the senator who defeated her, Peter Fitzgerald, the Senate confirmed her on November 10, 1999, in a 96–2 vote.[25][26][27] She served until the end of Clinton's presidency.

2004 presidential campaign

She announced her intention to run for the Democratic Party presidential nomination in February 2003. On January 15, 2004, two days after a disappointing third place showing in the D.C. primary[28] and four days before the Iowa caucuses, Moseley Braun dropped out of the race and endorsed Howard Dean.

2011 Chicago mayoral candidate

In November 2010, Moseley Braun announced she would run in the 2011 Chicago mayoral election, after mayor Richard M. Daley announced he would not be seeking re-election.[29] In early 2011 potentially strong African-American candidates congressman Danny Davis, and state senator James Meeks left the race and endorsed Moseley Braun, making her the so-called consensus black candidate.[30][31][32]

In a debate on January 30, 2011, she accused another candidate, Patricia Van-Pelt Watkins of "being strung out on crack" for 20 years.[33]

Moseley Braun came in fourth in the field of six, receiving about nine percent of the vote. In her concession speech, she remarked that her young niece could become the first female mayor of Chicago,[34] neglecting to mention Jane Byrne, Chicago's first female mayor, who served from 1979 to 1983.[35]

Life outside politics

She currently runs a private law firm, Carol Moseley Braun LLC in Chicago. Moseley Braun has launched a line of organic food products called Ambassador Organics.[36]

Lauryn Valentine

In September 1998 a woman, Lauryn Kaye Valentine, applied to legally change her name to Carol Mosley Braun. Citing the former senator as her hero, and promising not to "dishonor [the] name", the change was made official. That December, however, Valentine put her name forward as a candidate for Alderman of the city's 37th Ward.[37] Before the election a Circuit Court judge rescinded the name change, forcing the woman to revert to her original name.[38] Valentine was later ruled ineligible to run, as she was not a registered voter at the time because of the name changes.[39]

Personal life

In 1973, she married Michael Braun, whom she met in law school.[6] They had one son, Matthew, in 1977. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1986.[11] She resides in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. She is an honorary member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority.

Crime victim

In April 2007, Braun suffered a broken wrist when a mugger emerged from bushes near her front door to steal her purse, cutting the strap with a knife. Braun resisted and fell during the struggle, fracturing her left wrist. The mugger was chased off by a University of Chicago student while his girlfriend called 9-1-1. Braun was later treated and released from a hospital.[40] A suspect, Joseph Dixon, was later charged with the crime and was sentenced to 20 years in prison on July 11, 2008.[41]

Home foreclosure

Braun's financial problems made headlines in October 2012 when it was revealed that her home was in foreclosure as she had not made any mortgage payments for over a year. Before she was evicted, she managed to sell her house although the sale was "underwater" as she sold it for approximately $200,000 less than the amount she still owed on her loan.[42]

Electoral history

Illinois U.S. Senate Election 1992 – Democratic Primary
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Democratic Carol Moseley Braun 557,694 38.30
Democratic Alan Dixon (incumbent) 504,077 34.61
Democratic Albert Hofeld 394,497 27.09
Illinois U.S. Senate Election 1992
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Democratic Carol Moseley Braun 2,631,229 53.27
Republican Richard Williamson 2,126,833 43.06
Illinois U.S. Senate Election 1998
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Republican Peter Fitzgerald 1,709,041 50.35
Democratic Carol Moseley Braun (incumbent) 1,610,496 47.44
Reform Don Torgersen 74,704 2.20
District of Columbia 2004 – Democratic Presidential Primary
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Democratic Howard Dean 18,132 42.65
Democratic Al Sharpton 14,639 34.43
Democratic Carol Moseley Braun 4,924 11.58
Democratic Dennis Kucinich 3,481 8.19
Democratic Others 1,340 3.15
Chicago mayoral election, 2011[43] (General Election)
Party Candidate Votes %
Nonpartisan Rahm Emanuel 323,546 55
Nonpartisan Gery Chico 140,362 24
Nonpartisan Miguel del Valle 54,342 9
Nonpartisan Carol Moseley Braun 52,483 9
Nonpartisan Patricia Van Pelt Watkins 9,604 2
Nonpartisan William "Dock" Walls III 5,291 1

Other

In 2007 Carol Moseley Braun was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame as a Friend of the Community.[44]

An elementary school in Calumet City, Illinois bears her name.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Mihalopoulos, Dan (October 23, 2003). "Crusading for a second chance". Chicago Tribune. p. 1 (Tempo).
    Religion: Braun is Episcopalian. Raised Roman Catholic, Braun said she became a born-again Christian in 1986—the year she got divorced, her mother suffered a stroke, a younger brother died of drug abuse and Chicago Mayor Harold Washington blocked her bid for lieutenant governor.
  2. ↑ Marja Mills, "The Humble Hyphen", Chicago Times, March 14, 2003, explaining that Moseley Braun adopted the hyphenation on joining the Senate and dropped it ten years late.
  3. ↑ Mitchell, Mary (September 14, 2010). "Trailblazing Moseley Braun set to run again". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved September 18, 2010.
  4. ↑ Cook County Clerk website, "Carol Moseley Braun". Retrieved January 12, 2011
  5. 1 2 Carol Moseley Braun, Illinois state representative. (November 16, 1980). Chicago Tribune (1963–Current file), p. f48. Retrieved January 13, 2011, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers Chicago Tribune (1849–1987) (Document ID: 619772962).
  6. 1 2 Levinsohn, Florence Hamlish, "Carol Moseley Braun: She has the credentials. Can she get the votes?", Chicago Reader, March 5, 1992. Retrieved January 4, 2011.
  7. ↑ https://www.geni.com/people/Carol-Moseley-Braun-U-S-Senator/6000000036065770767
  8. ↑ "Carol Mosely Braun." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Vol. 11. 2nd edn. Detroit: Gale, 2004, pp. 199-200. 23 vols.
  9. ↑ Ginny Tunnicliff, New Funds in the College. UIC College of Liberal Arts & Sciences website says she is an alumna. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  10. ↑ Simmonds, Yusef, "The Senators: Carol Moseley Braun". Los Angeles Sentinel, November 20, 2008. Retrieved January 4, 2011
  11. 1 2 Nordgren, Sarah, "Carol Moseley Braun: the unique candidate". Associated Press, printed in the Gainesville Sun, August 9, 1992, p. 15D. Retrieved January 1, 2011.
  12. ↑ "Carol Moseley-braun". National Women's History Museum. Retrieved November 21, 2010.
  13. ↑ "Carol Moseley-Braun". National Women's History Museum. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  14. ↑ John Clay Smith Jr., ed. (2000). "The Confederate Flag as Racist Symbolism". Rebels in Law: Voices in History of Black Women Lawyers. University of Michigan Press. pp. 150–156. ISBN 0-472-08646-4. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  15. ↑ "Black Americans in Congress – Carol Moseley Braun, Senator from Illinois". Baic.house.gov. Retrieved June 12, 2012.
  16. ↑ Clymer, Adam (July 23, 1993). "Daughter of Slavery Hushes Senate". New York Times. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
  17. ↑ Slate, Is Carol Moseley-Braun [sic] a Crook?", February 19, 2003.
  18. ↑ NPR, "2004 Democratic Presidential Candidates: Carol Moseley Braun", May 6, 2003
  19. ↑ Siskind Susser Bland. "US SENATOR’S CAMPAIGN MANAGER FOUND TO BE WORKING ILLEGALLY Archived December 6, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.." May 1998. Accessed February 16, 2010.
  20. ↑ Johnson, Dirk, "Illinois's new Senator under fire on issue of boyfriend's conduct", Chicago Tribune, December 31, 1992. Retrieved January 1, 2011.
  21. ↑ Will, George F. "Story of Chicagoan Carol Moseley-Braun Archived December 6, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.." September 6, 1998.
  22. 1 2 Associated Press, "Moseley-Braun Lashes Out At Columnist, Apologizes" (defunct link. Archived copy as of June 13, 2007.), CNN, September 9, 1998.
  23. ↑ "Moseley-Braun loses to Republican Fitzgerald", CNN, November 3, 1998.
  24. ↑ "President Clinton Names Carol Moseley-Braun For U.S. Ambassador To New Zealand", Office of the Press Secretary (Ottawa, Canada), The White House, October 8, 1999.
  25. ↑ "Senate Confirms Moseley-braun". Chicago Tribune. November 10, 1999.
  26. ↑ "Congressional Record - 106th Congress (1999–2000) - THOMAS (Library of Congress)". loc.gov. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  27. ↑ "U.S. Senate: Roll Call Vote". senate.gov. January 27, 2015. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  28. ↑ "D.C. Primary results 2004". U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
  29. ↑ Mitchell, Mary (September 14, 2010). "Trailblazing Moseley Braun set to run again". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved September 18, 2010. So it really shouldn't be a surprise the wide open field that appeared when Mayor Daley announced he would not seek another term brought about a relapse. 'A group of people came together to encourage me to run,' Moseley Braun told me. 'They literally took a vote telling me to get in the race.'
  30. ↑ "Braun gets official stamp of consensus candidate". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved July 23, 2014.
  31. ↑ "Carol Moseley Braun Emerges As Main Black Candidate in Chicago Mayor's Race". Huffington Post. January 1, 2011.
  32. ↑ "Braun left as main black candidate in Chicago race". theGrio. January 1, 2011. Retrieved June 12, 2012.
  33. ↑ "Carol Moseley Braun Calls Patricia Van Pelt-Watkins Crack Addict at Candidate Forum". Fox News. Archived from the original on February 3, 2011. Retrieved February 25, 2011.
  34. ↑ "Topic Galleries – WGN". Wgntv.com. Retrieved June 12, 2012.
  35. ↑ "A Chronology of Chicago's Mayors". Chicago Public Library. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  36. ↑ AP (2006). Carol Moseley Braun Launches Organic Food Line. Retrieved May 21, 2006 Archived May 25, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
  37. ↑ Ayres, B. Brandon (January 12, 1999). "Political Briefing; What's in a Name? Ask Moseley-Braun". The New York Times. Retrieved June 7, 2013.
  38. ↑ "Woman can't go by Mosley-braun name". Chicago Tribune. April 22, 1999. Retrieved June 7, 2013.
  39. ↑ "New Name Hinders Ward Candidate". Chicago Tribune. January 16, 1999.
  40. ↑ Ihejirika, Maudlyne. "Moseley Braun's rescuers", Chicago Sun-Times, April 29, 2007.
  41. ↑ "Carol Moseley Braun's attacker gets 20 years", Chicago Tribune, July 11, 2008. Archived July 12, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  42. ↑ Goldsborough, Bob. "Former Sen. Moseley Braun sells Hyde Park home for $1.205 million". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 23, 2014.
  43. ↑ "Rahm Emanuel wins Chicago mayoral vote". CNN. February 23, 2011.
  44. ↑ "Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame". glhalloffame.org. Retrieved May 14, 2015.

Further reading

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Carol Moseley Braun
Party political offices
Preceded by
Alan Dixon		 Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator from Illinois
(Class 3)
1992, 1998 		Succeeded by
Barack Obama
United States Senate
Preceded by
Alan Dixon		 United States Senator (Class 3) from Illinois
1993–1999
Served alongside: Paul Simon, Dick Durbin		 Succeeded by
Peter Fitzgerald
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Joe Beeman		 United States Ambassador to New Zealand
1999–2001 		Succeeded by
Philip Wall
Acting
United States Ambassador to Samoa
2000–2001
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