geekpic. more on mosely-braun.

political
State Representative, 1979-87;
Cook County Recorder of Deeds, 1988-92;

US Senator, 1993-99 (elected in 1992; lost for re-election in 1998); amid a swirl of controversy related to illegal campaign finance allegations from her 1992 campaign. Never charged w/ anything.

Special Consultant, US Department of Education, 1999;
US Ambassador to New Zealand, 1999-2001.

Braun was the first African-American Democrat to serve in the US Senate and the first African-American female to serve in the US Senate

professional Attorney. Assistant US Attorney, 1973-77.

education B.A., University of Illinois, 1969. J.D., University of Chicago, 1972.

personal Born August 16, 1947 in Chicago, Illinois. Divorced. One son. Catholic.

Braun says her campaign is a legitimate effort to "advance the cause of women in higher office, paving the way for a woman president."

her self-proclaimed losing campaign
2004 Campaign: She raised just $145,000 in 2Q 2003 -- and let all of her paid campaign staff go during that same quarter (relying now on a volunteer campaign staff). In August 2003, Braun picked up endorsements from the National Women's Political Caucus and NOW, prompting Braun to formally announce her candidacy in mid-September 2003.

Braun -- who readily concedes she won't win the nomination -- focuses her message on the topic of politically empowering women and minorities. She explains she is running so that little girls across America can see her campaign and grow up understanding that someday a woman will be elected President. Braun raised another $125,000 in 3Q 2003 -- leaving her with a cash-on-hand of just $29,000 at the end of the quarter. Still, her campaign continues to limp along because it is not about winning the nomination.

definitely a liberal

Voted Against Additional Funding For Anti-Terrorism Capabilities, To Cut Intelligence Funding, And Against Increased Defense Spending.
Voted For Largest Tax Increase In U.S. History And Voted Three Times For Budgets That Tapped Social Security Surplus.
Voted Against Approving Constitutional Amendment To Prohibit Flag Burning.
Voted Against Banning ~~Partial-Birth Abortions~~ D&X Procedures, Against Banning Human Cloning And Voted In Favor Of Using Taxpayer Dollars For Abortion.
Staunch advocate for stricter gun control laws
Current position on schools: The federal govenment's 6% contribution to education requires too much reliance on local property taxes to pay for schools. I want to expand the federal contribution to at least 10%.
Current position on health care: It will take a shifting of funding sources from the employment base we now have to a more progressive, elastic source such as the income tax, but will wind up costing no more than the 14% of GDP we currently pay.

controversy (aka the dirt)
Moseley-Braun's post-victory honeymoon was brief. Even before she arrived in Washington, she was blasted for rewarding several campaign workers with cushy jobs at her old office, the Cook County recorder of deeds.

Her campaign manager and then-fiance, Kgosie Matthews, was accused of sexual harassment by several Moseley-Braun campaign staffers; the newly minted senator stood by her man, to whom she'd been paying a salary of $15,000 per month. To celebrate their '92 victory, the pair jetted off to Matthews' native South Africa on a 27-day vacation, making use of the Concorde for one leg of their trip; several aides, meanwhile, complained that they hadn't been paid.

The real doozy, though, was $249,000 in unaccounted campaign expenditures, which spurred a Federal Election Commission investigation beginning in 1993. The FEC was investigating charges that Moseley-Braun and Matthews had squandered the donations on personal trips and shopping sprees; the campaign would admit only to lackadaisical bookkeeping and eventually filed nearly 10,000 pages of amended reports, according to the Chicago Tribune. The nearly five-year investigation did turn up some splurges, like a $4,000 tab at the Four Seasons Hotel in Maui, but the agency declined to take legal action, citing a lack of resources. The Justice Department similarly turned down two requests from the Internal Revenue Service to investigate Moseley-Braun for criminal misappropriation of campaign funds.

Yet the damage was done. Not helping matters was Moseley-Braun's 1996 trip to Nigeria, where she met with the late military dictator Sani Abacha—whose oppressive government was a client of Matthews, then a Beltway lobbyist. The journey, one of at least half-a-dozen she took to Africa during her Senate stay, was heavily criticized by the State Department, human-rights groups, and other African-American members of Congress. Economic Sanctions Against The Country, Despite Urging From Human Rights And Environmental Activists.

Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL) Called Moseley-Braun's Trip "Ill-Advised And Ill-Informed." "The trip was ill-advised and ill-informed . . . . The black caucus has made it crystal clear, along with other members of Congress, that the Abacha regime represents the anti-democratic forces in Nigeria. That administration kills people. It deprives them of free speech." (Basil Talbott, "Moseley-Braun Under Fire," Chicago Sun-Times, 8/22/96)

Republican Peter Fitzgerald beat Moseley-Braun by 4 percentage points in the 1998 election. When the Tribune asked whether she'd ever run for office again, the departing senator replied: "Read my lips. Not. Never. Nein. Nyet."

Moseley-Braun Was Investigated For Allegedly Taking Money From Her Mother So She Would Still Be Eligible For Medicaid Benefits. The Illinois Department of Public Aid investigated Carol Moseley-Braun, then- Cook County recorder of deeds, on charges that she "took a $28,750 check from her mother so that Medicaid would continue paying for the 78-year-old woman's nursing-home care . . . ." (Rob Karwath And Frank James, "State Will Investigate Braun: Probe To Center On Check, Mom's Medicaid Assistance," Chicago Tribune, 9/30/92