Controversy has trailed Moseley-Braun since the latter stages of her campaign. The most damaging incidents all seem to involve her boyfriend and campaign manager, Kgosie Matthews. In an exuberant victory speech two months ago, Moseley-Braun dubbed Matthews her “knight in shining armor.” Many of her staffers, however, took a dimmer view of his autocratic and often arbitrary behavior. After the election, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that two women staffers had anonymously accused Matthews of sexual harassment during the campaign. Moseley-Braun said an internal investigation-headed by a friend and contributor-concluded the charges were “groundless,” and she refused to take further action unless the women came forth publicly. Meanwhile, political pros continue to express surprise about the candidate’s decision to pay the inexperienced Matthews $15,000 a month for his campaign work-more than most veteran managers earned.
More recently, Moseley-Braun has had to live down her reputation as the “Home Alone Senator.” During the Christmas holidays-while Illinois senior Sen. Paul Simon was busy holding town meetings and other freshmen were boning up on health care-Moseley-Braun disappeared from sight. She and her 15-year-old son, Matthew, were accompanying Matthews on a secretive, 27-day trip to his native South Africa and three other African countries. Before leaving, she had selected only a handful of temporary Senate staffers; some campaign aides hadn’t been paid. Local sniping hardly abated when the news broke that the three travelers had returned via London and New York on the Concorde (approximately $4,000 per person). At a press conference last week, reporters pressed Moseley-Braun (who has recently moved into a $3,000-a-month apartment that overlooks Lake Michigan) about how she could afford either the time or money for her trip. The new senator said she had saved up, adding: “I had no idea that going on vacation was a problem.”
Last week Washington made a public show of welcoming Moseley-Braun, who despite everything remains the most visible member of Congress’s Anita Hill class. Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, one of the perceived villains of the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill hearings, chatted amiably with Moseley-Braun after her swearing-in. Sen. Joseph Biden, Judiciary Committee chairman, lobbied hard to get her to join. Behind the scenes, however, many on the Hill were critical of the Chicagoan’s apparent lack of judgment-and worried that one or more of the simmering controversies could explode. “The last thing we need is another scandal,” said one senior Senate staffer.
Supporters of the new senator say that, as a historic first, she has come in for closer scrutiny-and sharper criticism-than her colleagues. She now must walk a fine line between the self-styled outsider who ran for office and the insider she must become in order to have much impact. “She was either unaware of the rules or was playing by her own rules,” says Jesse Jackson, a longtime friend and adviser. “She’s not one of the good old white boys. She was saying, ‘I’ve got a style of my own, and this is my timetable, this is my rhythm’.” Some political observers, however, suggest Moseley-Braun was never anything but an old-style Chicago pol who capitalized on anger generated by the Hill/Thomas hearings.
The question now is how well Moseley-Braun will survive her first term. “You cannot take the pillorying that she has taken over time and not suffer some consequences,” says Democratic consultant David Axelrod. “But this is a six-year term, and six years is a millennium in politics.” Moseley-Braun herself seems to recognize she needs all the help she can get. She arrived for her swearing-in armed with a Bible. The marked passage: Psalm 30, the Prayer for Deliverance.
