Board sources within the National NAACP have confided to some of their members that the run for U.S. Senate by Kweisi Mfume came as no surprise. Several national board members are still upset because the NAACP board took a negative hit when Mfume “supposedly resigned” from his $300,000-plus job, allegedly for not being able to get along with Chairman Julian Bond.
However, sources close to the national board tipped that in about October of 2004, a special committee of the board met prior to Mfume’s resignation to discuss a sensitive issue of sexual harassment claims by one of the civil rights group’s female employees. The allegations were made while a board committee was considering the renewal of Mfume’s contract.
In a special meeting of the board last fall, the sexual allegations charge disappeared, but the board voted to accept the recommendations of its smaller committee and not renew the former congressman’s contract.
Coincidence? A serious race for U.S. Senate involves great personal scrutiny and candidates need a clean slate. Two years from now, that race in Maryland will not include Paul Sarbanes, the popular veteran Democratic incumbent who announced last week that he was not running for re-election and not endorsing anyone as of yet.
Sarbanes, a noted breeder of poodles, will look on as Mfume hopes his candidacy is not “dogged” by allegations of sexual harassment during his otherwise successful tenure as head of the NAACP.