Mfume

WASHINGTON -- The speaker of the House has recommended that Rep. Kweisi Mfume be elected chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, a plum that would broaden the Baltimore Democrat's congressional resume while making him the first black to control the influential panel.The Joint Economic Committee does not handle legislation, but it employs a staff of economists charged with making an annual economic report to Congress. The panel also conducts monthly hearings, at which the Bureau of Labor Statistics unveils national unemployment figures, and serves as a kind of economic think tank for Congress.

Kweisi Mfume, the former Maryland congressman and NAACP leader, endorsed Sen. Ben Cardin on Friday for a second term, backing his one-time rival. Mfume is the latest prominent black leader in the state to announce support for Cardin, who lost Baltimore city and Prince George's County in his 2006 primary against Mfume. Cardin secured an endorsement from Prince George's County Executive Rushern Baker earlier this week, and already has the backing of Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown.

BEFORE the month is over, Kweisi Mfume may end the suspense and tell us what most savvy politicians long ago surmised: He's running for mayor of Baltimore.The NAACP president can't delay his announcement much longer. He owes it to the civil rights group he has served so ably. He also owes it to those who have gone out on a political limb to make his run for mayor possible.It's hard to imagine how he could ignore the support from a City Council majority, civic and business leaders and most city legislators.

When we think of the technological advances of the past 20 years, one in particular will probably come to mind for most Americans: wireless technology, which now enables us to access the Internet from anywhere. But when most Americans think of the top uses for the wireless Internet, health care is probably not the first thing on that list. Perhaps, in the near future, it will be. The current revolution in medicine will use the full potential of technology to transform medical practice to save lives and improve health.

Born Frizzell Gray, Baltimore native Kweisi Mfume began his career as a political activist, first elected to the Baltimore City Council in 1979. After two terms on the council, in 1986, the Democrat was elected to the House of Representatives and went on to serve as the congressman from Maryland's 7th District for five terms. From 1996 to 2004 he was president and CEO of the Baltimore-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Since a failed bid for the Senate in 2006, Mfume has toured the country on public speaking engagements.

After a week when even Palestinians and Israelis were doing the unthinkable and talking peace, it was hard to fault NAACP Director Benjamin Chavis and Jesse Jackson for trying to mend fences with the Nation of Islam's controversial Minister Louis Farrakhan. Brought together by Rep. Kweisi Mfume at the Congressional Black Caucus' annual legislative weekend, the attempt at reconciliation between mainstream civil rights leaders and the foremost spokesman for black separatism made for the kind of memorable spectacle that left some 2,000 audience members applauding in the aisles at a town-hall style meeting last week.

LAST WEEK, Del. Howard P. Rawlings thought his months of maneuvering to get NAACP President Kweisi Mfume to run for mayor had paid off.In a telephone call from Ghana last Thursday, Mr. Mfume told Mr. Rawlings that he planned to hold a press conference today, where he would announce his resignation from the NAACP post.From their conversation, Mr. Rawlings expected Mr. Mfume to announce his plans to enter the mayoral race from the steps of City Hall this Saturday before a raucous crowd of supporters.

WASHINGTON -- When the Labor Department delivers its monthly unemployment report to Congress, sometimes the most exciting thing that happens is that someone displays a flow chart.The proceedings were a bit more stimulating yesterday, when Rep. Kweisi Mfume debuted as the newly elected chairman of the Joint Economic Committee.The Baltimore Democrat eschewed technical talk of job statistics and market rates for a homily about the gritty facts of inner-city crime.Breaking off a discussion of the inflation rate, he worried about the troubles of urban youth:"Young people who cannot find work, who are out of work, who have idle minds and who are often times given to the temptations that may be around them -- I don't want to pontificate on the subject except to say that it is something that concerns me. . . ."

How does Rep. Kweisi Mfume, Maryland's only black member of Congress, assess the Clarence Thomas nomination to the Supreme Court? In a meeting yesterday with Sun editorial writers, the Baltimore lawmaker made these assertions:* It is his "gut feeling" that Judge Thomas, a black conservative nominated to replace Justice Thurgood Marshall, will be confirmed.* The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, taking the same path as the National Urban League, will wind up taking no position ("the best position for civil rights organizations")

WILL the next mayor of Baltimore have a sweeping, 25th-floor view of the Inner Harbor and all that is his realm?Such speculation gains more credence every time Kweisi Mfume takes another small step that seems to indicate that he wants to be Baltimore's chief executive.It happened again last week when The Sun reported that Mr. Mfume is moving into a two-bedroom condo at Harbor Court. "Now he's running for sure," ran the gossip.Indeed, hardened politicians and observers don't believe Mr. Mfume's frequent disclaimers of non-candidacy.

Former Maryland congressman and NAACP president Kweisi Mfume says he is taking a position with a national group that represents the interests of more than 30,000 black doctors and their patients. The National Medical Association announced Thursday morning that Mfume will become its new executive leader effective Monday. NMA leaders say they approached Mfume because they wanted somebody with a "proven background in mission-based work" who is a "seasoned health policy expert." While serving as president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People from 1996-2004, Mfume, a native of Baltimore, established the organization's Office of Health Advocacy to fight for access and affordability in health care.

Nicholas D'Adamo Jr. thought it would be fitting to announce the end of his political career where he began - by the two storefronts that used to house Shocket, his father's store in Highlandtown. D'Adamo said he would not seek re-election when his term expires in 2011. The seven-term City Council member made the announcement Saturday during a ceremony that named the 3900 block of Eastern Ave. in his father's honor and designated May 2 Nicholas C. D'Adamo Sr. Day in the city. "You know inside when it's time to move on," said D'Adamo, 51. "I wanted to make the decision when my mom and dad are here with me. "When you do something for seven terms, it's a lot of emotions," D'Adamo said.

Some of the most prominent members of Morgan State University's Board of Regents have routinely missed meetings since at least 2000, a pattern of absenteeism that critics say robs the Baltimore school of key oversight at a time when it is under criminal investigation by the Maryland attorney general for its fiscal practices. Board members U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, former congressman Kweisi Mfume and prominent science education advocate Shirley M. Malcom have missed dozens of meetings in recent years, according to minutes from the board meetings that The Sun obtained through a public information request.

Born Frizzell Gray, Baltimore native Kweisi Mfume began his career as a political activist, first elected to the Baltimore City Council in 1979. After two terms on the council, in 1986, the Democrat was elected to the House of Representatives and went on to serve as the congressman from Maryland's 7th District for five terms. From 1996 to 2004 he was president and CEO of the Baltimore-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Since a failed bid for the Senate in 2006, Mfume has toured the country on public speaking engagements.

The will-he-won't-he allure of Kweisi Mfume ends today. So do the whispers about a phantom white candidate jumping into Baltimore's mayoral race at the last minute. The last minute ends at 9 tonight - the deadline by which city candidates must file their papers with the election board, cough up a $150 registration fee and reserve a spot on the primary election ballot. Starting tomorrow, Baltimore's voters will at least know whom they're dealing with. As in past years, much buzz has surrounded Mfume's potential candidacy.

Parren J. Mitchell, the first African-American elected to Congress from Maryland and a lifelong crusader for social justice for the nation's minorities, died yesterday of complications from pneumonia at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. He was 85 and had lived in a nursing home since a series of strokes several years ago. A founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus and later its chairman, Mr. Mitchell was the younger brother of Clarence M. Mitchell Jr., Washington lobbyist for the NAACP in the hard-won civil rights struggles in Congress of the 1960s and 1970s.

FROM LONG-TIME members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to whites who never saw a && reason to join that group, the selection of Rep. Kweisi Mfume as its new president has brought a reaction as welcome as sunshine breaking through rain clouds.Not only does he bring to the job the stature and skills to resurrect a venerable but broken organization, he also offers the rest of the country the hope that race has not created an unbridgeable gap between Americans after all.No longer welcome?

NEW ORLEANS -- A multiyear contract extension for NAACP President Kweisi Mfume has been approved by the executive committee of the civil rights organization's board of directors, Julian Bond, the organization's chairman, said yesterday. Bond's announcement, made during a board meeting at the 92nd annual meeting of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, was met with applause. He said that a few minor details must be worked out but that he expected Mfume to continue leading the nation's oldest civil rights organization "for many years to come."

With pundits increasingly convinced he's not in the race, Kweisi Mfume is still hedging his bets publicly about whether he will run for mayor of Baltimore in this year's election - adding to lingering speculation about his intentions as the deadline for his decision approaches. After attending a City Hall event yesterday with Mayor Sheila Dixon and another potential mayoral candidate, Comptroller Joan M. Pratt - a symbolic gesture for all three leaders - Mfume said he is not planning to run "at this point" but would not rule out changing his mind this summer.

WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said yesterday that there was little he could do about Republican campaign brochures distributed in Maryland on Election Day that Democrats said were designed to mislead African-American voters. But he agreed to meet with Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin to discuss the issue. Cardin, a Democratic candidate in that election, pressed Gonzales on the issue during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "If there is an effort made to deny minorities full participation in the state of Maryland, you have a responsibility to do something about that," he told Gonzales.