NAACP President Kweisi Mfume Steps Down

• He rescued the organization from scandal, near-bankruptcy; General counsel named interim chief

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) today announced that Kweisi Mfume, President and CEO, will leave his position as head of the Association he has led since 1996. Dennis Hayes, General Counsel, has been named as interim president and CEO while a national search for a new chief executive is conducted. Mfume said he is stepping down from his position effective January 1, 2005. To help assure a smooth transition to a new administration, Mfume has agreed to serve as a consultant to the NAACP until July 1, 2005. Mfume said he decided it is time to pursue new challenges in media, politics and business. He went on to say: "For the last nine years I've had the honor and privilege to help revive and restore the nation's oldest and largest civil right's organization. The people I have met along the way and the lessons I have learned have been invaluable, but sadly for me the time has come to set sail and to chart a new course. Today I prepare to step forward into an America of greater need but also into an America of greater hope. I believe that it is out of that sense of hope that we will find the self-renewal so desperately needed, to bring about progress in the nation that we love. In order to win the fight against poverty, eliminate discrimination and foster greater tolerance for the persons and things that we find different from ourselves, we are obligated to work together in coalition for the greater good. [more] and [more]

• Relations among NAACP leaders were said to be strained. A possible Senate run might be the upshot.his friends and political allies said he was pondering a run for the Senate. Mfume resigned his House seat in 1996, but he maintains his old campaign committee, which has fueled speculation about a political comeback. The committee had $99,384 at the end of September, according to Federal Election Commission records. But many political observers say it seems unlikely that Mfume would run for Senate unless Sarbanes decided not to run again - a question that remains unanswered. [more]
• The Washington Post (12/1, A2, Fears) reports, "Mfume quickly played down the whispers in an interview, saying, 'It's kind of like the rumor that I was going to run for mayor [of Baltimore] four years ago. Paul Sarbanes is my friend. It's too early for me to speculate. It's disrespectful for me to talk about what-ifs.'" But "Mfume, who grew up in Baltimore and went on to represent Maryland as a Democrat in Congress, did not completely back away from the idea. 'I hear the rumors,' he said. 'They're not going anywhere. I'm a partisan animal, and at some time I would like to get back into the fray. I'm not ruling anything out.'"
• Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) said that Mfume's could run for the seat, but Sarbanes spokesperson Jesse Jacobs said it's "too
  early to speculate" about whether his boss plans to retire (Kiely/Eversley, USA Today, 12/1).
• The New York Times (12/1, Seelye) reports, "Asked whether he would consider trying to unseat Maryland's governor, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican, or to run for Mr. Sarbanes's Senate seat, Mr. Mfume replied, 'I really don't know what the future holds.' He added: 'I learned as I get older never to say "never." And there's a part of me that says, "Well maybe you might," but I'm not really sure about that.'"
• Hayes no stranger to interim role: NAACP's general counsel filled in temporarily as president before, in 1994 [more]
• Julian Bond says he will not seek the top job at the NAACP [more]
• Transcript of Mfume on Tavis' radio show [more]