From: ronaldd@cbnewse.cb.att.com (ronald.h.davis)
Subject: Re: Looking for info on Carol Moseley Braun
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 20:23:04 GMT

In article <1993Jan6.165029.13242@midway.uchicago.edu> thf2@midway.uchicago.edu writes:
>
>Braun is a University of Chicago Law graduate.  She didn't run much
>of a campaign on the issues, so it's not all that clear where she
>stands on much stuff.  The Democratic primary featured a lot of
>
i don't know about that.  she talked about wanting to see that more
federal dollars came back to illinois and wanting to invest in
infrastructure of chicago.  she also talked about family stuff [daycare,
etc.] and education.  such talk served more or less to give a general
sense of what she thought important.  as far as being a "campaign on
the issues" that about as much as you're likely to get in a political
campaign; including that of the presidential candidates.  bill clinton,
for instance, talked a blue streak about plans and policies but he didn't
*really* say if or how he would pay for them - so you don't know how much
of what he *said* he would do is actually likely to happen.

>because that would only have hurt her.  Revelations about scandals
>in her past (she ripped off Medicaid) were enough to make the race
>a small landslide instead of a large landslide, but since Williamson
>
you know, that what the reporters said but i don't personally buy it.
i think that in races where a black person is running against a white
person there is a significant group of voters who don't want to vote
for a black candidate, but don't want to say that is how they feel.  so
they either lie about their preferences, or they call themselves "undecided".
as a result, the election results show little correlation to the poll
results.  take the new york mayoral election where david dinkins won.  if
you took the polls, he should have won big time; instead he squeeked by.

in the case of carol mosely braun, however, this segment had an excuse.
they weren't failing to support her because of her race but because they
didn't "trust" her.  consequently, the polls were somewhat accurate with
the election results.  the bottom line is that i think that the medicaid
thing had more impact on the poll results than on the actual election results.

>a walk, with some (unneeded, as it turned out) help from Mayor Daley,
>who had been worried about Braun for some time as a potential mayoral
>opponent, and was happy to see her off to Washington.
>
hmmm...this is news to me, i never heard of her as a potential candidate
for mayor of chicago.

>The local media's impressions of her started off overwhelmingly
>positive and worshipful, and then turned on her when she proved
>human.  Right before she left her office as the Cook County
>Recorder of Deeds to go to Washington, she had the office hire six 
>of her former campaign workers, much to the disgust of Jesse White
>(of the Jesse White Tumblers), the new Recorder.  Press opinion
>
according to carol braun, it was *two* campaign workers and i believe
it was the case that they were either on leave, or were already working
in the office on a part-time, or contract basis [i don't remember every
detail of her explanation].  it's certainly the job of the press to not
take her word for it, but until they produce the goods one has to take
it as a case of much ado about nothing.

>Medicaid revelations, plus leaks from within the campaign, as
>staffers became disgruntled with her manager and boyfriend,
>Ngosie Matthews (is that the right name?), who, by all accounts,
>was not particularly a nice person, and has been accused of
>sexually harassing some of the staffers.  Further problems arose
>
these charges, as sen. braun puts it, were based on innuendo, and
anonymous or third party rumors.  given that, you've got to suspect
the motives of the people who are the sources of the charges.  for
instance, given that, according to what you say, matthews is not
"a nice person" charges could have flown as a way to "get even".  on
any account, not being "nice" is not a basis for charging sexual
harassment the last i heard.

>when newspapers interviewed her and found that she wasn't on top of
>many important issues; the Chicago Tribune refused to endorse either
>candidate for the Senatorial election.  Braun brought further
>
but you know, here i have to agree with that fat slob rich williamson: the
chicago tribune editorial *was* silly.  the tribune said that braun wasn't
on "top" of the issues but that williamson had a great command of them but
that while they would have liked to endorse williamson because of this
"command" they wouldn't because of the tenor of his campaign.  first of all,
i couldn't figure out what this "command" was that the tribune kept babbling
about - to me williamson sounded like a bigger idiot than dan quayle.  i think
that the bottom line was that the tribune editorial board tends to be rather
conservative and would not have been inclined to support a "liberal" like
carol braun.

>disdain when she took a month-long vacation with Matthews after
>the election instead of trying to network with the other senators,
>and then responded to media criticism by lashing out at the media--
>not a positive sign.
>
i don't know that this assessment is viewed as such by most.  the press
conference to which you refer was not a *reasonable* press conference.
it was full of stupid questions, many of which dealt with personal questions
that were inappropriate in such a forum.  so i think that most people
probably didn't interpret her response the way you did.  in fact, i think
most people would have probably directed a few choice words to those idiots.

>Other trivia:
>* I've heard at least one report that much of her Congressional staff i
>  consists of former Alan Dixon staffers. I don't know how true that is.
>
i've heard that ever since she got elected so i suspect there is something
to it.

>* I'd lay odds that Braun is in for further criticism from Jesse White;
>  she was elected to the Recorder's Office on a reform platform, one
>  which she didn't seem to keep.
>
well, make sure you don't lay them (the odds) too long are you might lose
your shirt, or find a couple of large guys at your door with orders to
break your legs.  to date there just doesn't seem to be enough grist here
for a continuing political saga.

i can't say that i followed her term in the recorder's office [but then,
who does?] but i got the impression that she was thought of positively.

>District, and former Black Panther Bobby Rush is the representative in
>my District, the First.  He looks like he'll be a big wheel in the
>Congress because of the work he did for the Clinton campaign.
>
at least he looks to be more likely to stay awake during house sessions.  i
always thought that charlie hayes looked like he had narcolepsy and was
likely to keel over and die at any moment.

>ted frank                     | thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu 
>standard disclaimers          | void where prohibited
>the university of chicago law school, chicago, illinois 60637
>never shout movie in a crowded firestation
>
well, you certainly don't want to shout: "the doughnuts are here"...unless
you've actually got some.

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