In the polished, imposing wood-paneled sanctum of the prestigious Senate Finance Committee, Alan Greenspan, the powerful chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, sits at a table facing a group of men whose reputations are as rich as his. There’s Daniel Patrick Moynihan, perhaps the smartest man in Washington. A few seats away is Bill Bradley, a basketball legend considered among the ablest of lawmakers. Further along the raised, curved dais that allows senators to look down on witnesses is Jay Rockefeller, whose name is synonymous with great wealth.
At the very end of the row is the committee’s newest member, Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois. Her presence there on this cold, crisp morning symbolizes all the hope and promise, controversy and gossip, hard work and blind luck that have swirled around the 47-year-old African-American woman from the South Side of Chicago. Three years ago she was the Cook County Recorder of Deeds; now she’s a United States senator waiting to ask Greenspan about interest rates and the bailout of the Mexican peso.
Being chosen in January for Finance, the caviar of committees, was a triumph for the freshman senator, elected in 1992 after defeating Alan Dixon in a three-way primary. She is the first African-American on the panel, the first Democratic woman ever; and the first senator from Illinois since the legendary Everett McKinley Dirksen, whose name graces the Capitol Hill building where the committee is meeting.
Moseley-Braun used all of her considerable intelligence, charm and political acumen to win her place on the committee, which writes tax laws and carries Social Security, welfare, Medicaid, Medicare and trade in its portfolio. She worked for the seat from the moment she came to Washington, pestering, cajoling, wheeling and dealing. When she heard she had it, she was ecstatic. “I will be at the table when decisions are made about economic policy, about taxes, about spending,” she said. “I’m really going to be a player now in ways I never imagined two years ago.”
But for Moseley-Braun nothing is simple. There seem to be no pure, glorious triumphs. After struggling to overcome the perception that she’s an accidental senator, she has her seat at the table with the big boys. But her reputation is still a work in progress and even her achievements are controversial.
There are some on Capitol Hill who say Moseley-Braun won her prized place on Finance by double-dealing. Staffers and a few senators grumble that she was too pushy in pursuit of the prize. Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, called her selection “unpopular.” So instead of being celebrated for her shrewdness and willingness to work hard in pursuit of a goal, Moseley-Braun once again became the subject of controversy.
The senator was selected for the committee by Sen. Tom Daschle, the new Senate Democratic leader. Daschle gave up his seat on the panel so there would be a spot for Moseley-Braun after she became the deciding vote in the contest for leader. Though one might get the impression that she was named to the committee as part of a deal that gave Daschle victory over Sen. Christopher Dodd, Moseley-Braun and Daschle say there was no quid pro quo. Moseley-Braun says she always favored the South Dakota senator, though she appeared to open the door to Dodd’s candidacy, a move that made her vote the only one still in play. She also says she made it “very clear” to both contenders that her “bottom line” was a seat on the committee.
Dodd’s supporters tell a different story. They contend that Moseley-Braun said she would switch and vote for Dodd after he promised her a seat on Finance. They charge that she broke her word to Daschle, whom she first supported, then to Dodd when she switched back. Dodd’s irate allies, who saw their own plots and ambitions disintegrate when he lost, have spent the last few months bad-mouthing Moseley-Braun. But she says she never told Dodd or his supporters that she would vote for him. That’s “just not true,” she said. For the record, Dodd, who became Democratic Party chairman after losing the leadership race, “is not angry.”
“Life,” he said, “moves on.”
To Chicagoans, it may seem ridiculous to make a big fuss out of a politician cutting a deal that results in getting what she wants. If Moseley-Braun managed to maneuver so she ended up with her plum, well, that’s what a good Illinois pol is supposed to do, isn’t it? And even in the current holier-than-thou atmosphere in Washington, politicians still celebrate one another for being shrewd, tough operators. But no matter what Moseley-Braun does, there are critics, perhaps because she has to live up to expectations as both a symbol and a meat-and-potatoes pol.
“There’s no way I can meet everyone’s job expectations,” she said. “I try to find a balance and do the best job I can. That’s all I can do.”
It has been more than three years since she decided to challenge Dixon in reaction to the clash over Clarence Thomas’ nomination to the Supreme Court and Anita Hill’s charges that he had sexually harassed her. Hill’s treatment by the white males on the Judiciary Committee angered many women, including Moseley-Braun, who was looking for an opportunity to run for a higher office.
When Moseley-Braun defeated Dixon, she became a heroine to those who were proclaiming 1992 “the year of the woman.” She was a star attraction at the Democratic convention, courted by presidential nominee Bill Clinton, who made sure he was seen with her at every opportunity. Though she had to weather campaign controversies, she won the election and went to Washington, where she was sworn in as the first African-American woman to serve in the U.S. Senate. But she often seemed trapped in the role of a symbol. In the last year or so, she has worked hard to downplay the symbolism and focus on being an effective senator for Illinois.
Now she is positioned on the Finance Committee to exercise real power. She will be the state’s senior senator after 1996 when Sen. Paul Simon retires, and she already is beginning to fill that role as Simon is perceived as a lame duck. But the question remains: What kind of senator is Carol Moseley-Braun?
She is a symbol, whether she likes it or not. When South African president Nelson Mandela addressed a joint session of Congress, Moseley-Braun was seated in the front row with the Senate Majority Leader and two powerful senior colleagues. And down in the basement of a Senate office building, a young African-American employee has a photo of Moseley-Braun on his desk.
“I’m the first person in my family to ever work in an office,” he said, “and she inspires me.”
The senator is an idealist who says her career in public life is built on “the whole notion of defining and building community.
“As Americans we are all in this together,” she said. “And that’s even more important now when there are those pitting people against each other on hot-button issues.”
Ask her what she is about and she answers: “Preserving opportunity and freedom.” She believes in freedom of choice, whether the issue is abortion or forcing motorcyclists to wear helmets. In her Springfield office, the senator, who’s been known to ride a motorcycle herself, gleefully pulls out a letter from a bikers group commending her stand against helmets.
Moseley-Braun wants to preserve “opportunity for the next generation.” She often talks about her son, Matt, a senior at St. Ignatius College Prep, and how her generation owes it to his to do something about problems such as the federal budget deficit. She is a strong supporter of the Balanced Budget Amendment. But she also thinks opportunity means education and “developing production capacity” to help provide jobs. “The thread is opportunity and being a free American,” she said. If she could write her own epitaph, “I would like it to say I made it possible for children to excel.”
Moseley-Braun also is a good old-fashioned pol who wants to be reelected, a senator who vows to “bring home the bacon,” who will work a bill on the Senate floor with all the smiles, winks, nudges and whispers that senators use to communicate with each other.
She has earned the respect of her colleagues for her knowledge of the legislative process and her ability to play the political game, something she learned as a member of the Illinois General Assembly. Though senators are not about to trash a colleague on the record, what they choose to praise often reveals what they think. And her colleagues over and over praised Moseley-Braun’s ability to operate within the legislative process.
Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell said: “She really is a serious legislator. She is very well prepared. She’s very persuasive.”
Sen. Orrin Hatch, the Utah Republican who served with Moseley-Braun on the Senate Judiciary Committee before she left it for Finance, called her “the best politician” in a freshman class that includes high-profile political veterans such as Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer of California and Ben Nighthorse-Campbell of Colorado. Hatch, who helped lead the attack on Hill, said he and Moseley-Braun have discussed the Thomas nomination. Though they still have “opposite views,” Hatch thinks Moseley-Braun came to understand the “realities” of the situation.
Sen. Edward Kennedy, who was the chairman of the Labor and Human Resources Committee when Moseley-Braun succeeded in passing a bill to fund rehabilitation of schools, laughed about Moseley-Braun’s persistence. “She did better than most old-timers getting funding for a new program,” he said. “Behind that wonderful smile is a will of steel.”
And Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole said: “She just fits right in. She’s one of our colleagues.”
One of her Illinois colleagues, U.S. Rep. Dick Durbin, praises Moseley-Braun for her efforts in trying to head off cuts in funds for Argonne National Laboratory. Scott Shearer, an assistant secretary of agriculture, who was on Dixon’s Senate staff, said Moseley-Braun “was very much involved” in the successful fight to designate ethanol as an alternative fuel. Sen. Simon said she was a participant who did her homework in battling for issues important to Illinois.
Tom Donovan, president of the Chicago Board of Trade, has high praise for Moseley-Braun’s willingness and ability to learn about issues and follow through. He cited her swift reaction to word that President Clinton planned to propose a transaction tax in his budget that would hurt Chicago’s exchanges. The senator put in calls to Clinton, White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, and Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin. Clinton was out of town, but she talked to Rubin.
Donovan said Moseley-Braun’s knowledge of the exchanges and how they do business enabled her to react swiftly. A long-time political insider–Richard J. Daley’s patronage chief and close friend of former U.S. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski–Donovan also noted the value of Moseley-Braun’s special status as a black woman senator and her access to the White House. “She is able to talk to the president directly,” he said.
But Donovan also pointed out one of Moseley-Braun’s problems: her image. “She is not getting credit for what she’s done for business,” he said. “Business has to identify with her the way they did with Dixon and Rosty. She’s good for them. Someone has to tell them.”
Moseley-Braun is trying. She has embarked on a campaign to improve her image in Illinois, and to emphasize that she is a businesslike senator. She has spent the last few months talking to editorial boards and appearing on Sunday interview shows. She’s been holding press conferences and chatting with reporters. And she has been impressive, displaying a grasp of issues ranging from the Mexican economy to Social Security. Her appearance before the Tribune’s editorial board in January was a stark contrast to an embarrassing performance during the Senate campaign that resulted in the candidate’s crying, and in her lack of knowledge and preparedness becoming an issue.
“I’ve had an extraordinarily productive last two years,” she says at each press appearance. She cites legislation providing $100 million to improve the infrastructure of schools, both urban and rural; her sponsorship of provisions in the crime bill, including “midnight basketball”; a community banking initiative; and legislation requiring uniform enforcement of child support orders. And, of course, she cites her efforts to snare projects for Illinois, including empowerment zones for Chicago. When it looked as though California might elbow out Chicago for the zones, Moseley-Braun used her clout with the White House to help make sure they came here.
