Mfume Accused of Favoritism At NAACP

"Whenever an allegation of any sort that violates our personnel policies comes to our attention, we investigate, and if the allegation has merit, we take action," Bond said.

Asked whether the allegations played any role in Mfume's departure, Bond said, "That's a personnel matter that I cannot comment on."

When Mfume publicly announced his retirement, he told reporters that his abrupt departure was not the forced result of any scandal or squabble but a voluntary decision to spend more time with Christopher, his 15-year-old son.

"They tried to talk me out of it," Mfume said of board members.

Three months later, Mfume, who is divorced, stood with five of his six sons in a lounge overlooking Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore to launch his bid for the Senate seat being vacated by Paul S. Sarbanes (D-Md.) in early 2007.

In campaigns for Baltimore City Council and for Congress, the polished orator transformed a checkered past into an inspirational story of personal triumph that has been one of his strongest assets. Stumping in Bowie last week, he told a crowd of young Democrats, "Your values are what you're going to be tested on."

A separate memo shows that Mfume has faced questions about his romantic relationships with NAACP employees going back to 1998. In 1999, staff lawyers conducted an inquiry after two women got into a loud verbal altercation, allegedly over his attentions. One woman was disciplined; the other was promoted several months later, according to one document.

The altercation is described in a May 24, 1999, internal memo that lawyers for the NAACP wrote to Bond. "There appeared to be a widespread belief in the organization that President Mfume had displayed preferential treatment" to one of the women "based on a possible dating relationship," the memo says.

The lawyers then questioned whether Mfume "interfered with this inquiry by exerting improper influence on two key witnesses." Also, according to the memo, Mfume refused to answer questions in the inquiry.

Mfume acknowledged yesterday that he dated one of the women in that altercation, a female NAACP employee, for "three months" and later adopted her 4-year-old son. The boy is now 15, he said. The woman now works for the Maryland Department of Transportation.

"It was for a very brief moment," he said of the relationship. "And I fell in love with this kid who was fatherless and was very withdrawn. He's [become] an unbelievably impressive young man."

Mfume also said that he has never doled out raises or promotions within the NAACP to women with whom he reportedly had intimate relationships.