European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 10, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                On sen. Has turned Clarence Page Arol Moseley Braun having Ridden a Crest 1 of popularity As the Senate a first Black woman was clearly annoyed by the firing 1 squad of reporters and cameras. Quot my new years eve Resolution is to make sure i genuflect appropriately before the Chi Cago Media on everything i do a she said. No genuflect on necessary As far As the reporters were concerned. Just answers. They wanted to know whether she thinks it is proper for her to be dating her Campaign manager Gosie Matthews while paying him a $15,000a month salary they wanted to know Why she spent four weeks on an african vacation with the South african born Matthews that might better have been spent organizing her staff detailing plans and answering questions that were mounting in her absence. And what they wondered is she doing about published reports that Matthews sexually harassed women on her Campaign staff. There was More. Why did she a Reform candidate put several Campaign workers on the Cook county payroll just As she was stepping Down from her Post As recorder of deeds and they wondered is that a spiffy new wardrobe you re wearing How a you pay for that and that new $3,300-a month apartment you just moved into on Chicago a ritzy lakefront or that ticket Home from Africa on the a Omi gosh a concorde and now that you re Back in the country when Are you going to All the rest of your staff vacancies some pretty major offices sitting empty there Arentt they / Braun a responses came fast and in temperament furious. A a a. A. On the harassment charges she said her office questioned staff members after receiving an Anonymous letter and a nobody had any evidence of anything approaching sexual  she defended Matthews salary pointing out it was $2,000 a month less than californians new a in Dianne Feinsteih paid her Campaign manager. She apologized for the last minute hiring and denied they were political. She denounced Theresa of the charges As sensationalism she paid for the Africa trip out of savings she said. She paid for the new apartment by Selling her former House and flew Back on the supersonic concorde so that for one thing she could More swiftly Saccom Rodate the press she said. Or face the music. The harassment charges Are Par Ticu tarty embarrassing since Braun s Campaign was sparked by resentment of the Senate a treatment of Anita Hills harassment charges against Claren Ethomas. In Matthews defense his accusers remained Anonymous and none of the published or broadcast charges against him were As serious As say the grabbing groping and skirt pulling of which sen. Bob Packwood a Ore has been accused neither were the allegations against 6larence Thomas but at least Thomas was allowed to confront his accuser. Matthews accusers although widely reported remained Anonymous. That a important partly beaus the Quick tempered Matthews was known to be an equal Opportunity abuser particularly to reporters who i he reportedly called Quot dogs behind their backs. It Well dogs can turn on you much like the Way Braun a coverage seems to have turned on her. Why Quot primarily i did no to have a press person a she said. That shot much of an excuse since she could have been filling the a press pets on and other key slots instead of trotting the Globe. Charges of Sloppy and sluggish organization dogged her Campaign As far Back As the primaries. As a Long shot against two term incumbent sen. Al Dixon Braun did no to draw intense scrutiny and after her Surprise Victory fooled pundits and pollsters unlike most other Black candidates in statewide races she actually received More votes than the polls predicted its flaws seemed to matter Little As Money and National Fame poured in. Then a month before the november election her bandwagon was jolted by disclosures that she had violated medicaid regulations by failing to report thousands of dollars from her Mother who is in a file sen. Carol Moseley Braun before genuflect on. Nursing Home and receiving medicaid. Suddenly her popularity began to slide she found herself facing the Tough questions other politicians have had to face when caught violating a Law they helped to  weathered the storm anti won but a Friendly Media seemed to be in the words of Don Rose a a Campaign consultant who used to work for Braun a paying penance for months of easy questions. Its hard for Braun after months of kid Glove treatment to blame her troubles on a hostile press even if there is some truth to the charge. If she is a victim of Media Bias it is the Media s Bias in favor of a Good Story. Image Cost Rol is a key element in Mode m pol it is. At Best Braun was naive to think the Media during the slow Days of the transition would refrain from lighting any fires she might have to put out. The Media monster must be fed. Even the tiniest charge can become a major Issue if it festers unanswered for Days. When Braun was a lesser politician it did no to matter As much. But As the Senate a first Black woman she is making history every Day. She also has become the subject of Quot character a standards that she helped to raise she also has the Burden of fulfilling the cup Catu tons she helped to raise which Means the India will cast a spotlight on her every move and the Public would be quite upset if we did no to. So no it is not the Media before whom sen. Braun must genuflect on a everything she Doos it is her Public. Its not easy living in a spotlight but she can to say she did t ask for it. A a the Chicago Tri Buna a column vanishes a and my memories Andy Rooney s ome Days Are harder than others for columnists. On a recent night after dinner i wanted to get a Start on a column so i sat Down at my powerful new computer with which reluctantly replaced my old Underwood typewriter and set to work. The Best columns Are the easiest to write. The ones you anguish Over write and rewrite Are never As Good. It May not be my place to say so but the column 1 wrote on this night May be the Best i Ever did. The words flowed through my three typing fingers onto the screen. In this column i elaborated on my disbelief in any kind of mysticism. Rejected the idea that anyone Ever acquires information from any other worldly source. I made it Clear that i did no to believe in such nonsense As paranormal Phenomena mental telepathy or extrasensory perception. I said i did t feel kindly about the prognostications of the transparently phony horoscopes in newspapers. As i recall i wrote that the Only doubt i Ever have about the possibility we might get some kind of visitation from an unexplained source to some inner subconscious area of our brain is when i leave the House for work in the morning and get the nagging feeling in be forgotten  feeling bothers me a lot because i done to know from whence it emanates yet in be never known it to fail. If i think i May possibly have forgotten something i have without any doubt forgotten something. This is knowledge that comes to me without rational thought on my part. I did no to Call for the thought by riffling through the file Catalon in my brain. The sense of having forgotten something comes unbidden. How do i fit this into my belief that rational thought and the use of logic combined with memory arc the Only things that Bear on the course of our lives my scepticism is shaken to its Core. You probably done to think so from the Way i m telling you about it but i wrote it beautifully. It All made so much More sense then than it does now. Why done to i simply show you what 1 wrote so Well the Story is almost too sad to Tell. I turned off the computer and forgot to save it it s gone erased a literary Gem forever lost to posterity. It s As if i wrote written the great american novel and someone burned it in the fireplace by mistake. This never happened when i typed columns on my Underwood in search of something for today in be tried to reconstruct that column but its nowhere near As Good. In a fighting off the thought that my impression of its Quality might have been favourably influenced by the fact that i d had a drink before dinner. So i need a column for today. There s one i wrote several months ago but in a trying to save that for an emergency. Maybe i la be sick someday or travelling and ill need a Rairie Day column. It does no to seem right to use it on a Day when i have plenty of time a just because i m distraught Over having erased what 1 considered last night to be a wonderfully profound interesting and amusing column certainly it was the Best i Ever wrote. A. Tribune Media services Andy Tooney la a former stars and stripes reporter. X january 10.1993 sunday Page 9 r