First who cares who he will endorse? He is such a minor player that it hardly seems important.
I am surprised that Jake would characterize Smith as a “rising star”. Hardly. He is just a rich kid from Ladue was able to buy an election. Smith seems to be the embodiment of the term “White privilege”. While he would deny it to the end, it is what he is. His money comes not from the “grass roots” as he would try to make people believe, but in $2,000 increments from the wealthy areas of St. Louis County, NY, and the West Coast. In both his elections, he has had a huge advantage when it came to money. (His rich friends allowed him to have 25 times that money that an established politico like Favazza had. His wealthy friends also came through for him when he ran against two established Black politicians to win a majority black district election.) Smith talks about affirmative actions for Blacks, but his ego is too big for him to apply it to situations that would impact him.
The gambling story is so telling. That fact that he wont’ take responsibly for his actions says so much. I am sure that when he was young and got caught doing something wrong, he could come home to his parents saying, “But it wasn’t my fault!” and they would bail him out. The same thing is going on here. He gets caught red handed and rather than man up and take responsibility, his response is to say” But it wasn’t my fault! I didn’t break the law; the law is unfair.” Horse hockey. Our system is different from other areas, but it isn’t unconstitutional. It is that law and he, particularly as an elected official, should follow it. If he thought it was wrong, he should have proposed legislation to change it, not just ignore it because he found it inconvenient.
This is a kid with, like many politicians, a huge ego. The fact that he even got caught is also telling. A poster on another thread commented on how hard it is to get disciplined on a casino. I am not a regular there but I have played a little. He is exactly right. This is a crowd that is drinking, cursing, yelling. How obnoxious would you have to be to have security come over? You have to basically tell them to “Go f___ your self; I am not doing what you tell me to” to get in trouble. Power has gone to this kid’s head and he thinks the rules do not apply to him.

Smith’s lawyer isn’t making a very good case, either. He said, “When you go to a liquor store, you have to prove you are 21. They don’t get to take down all of your personal information.” True. The problem is, it’s a bad analogy, because there’s no limit on the amount of liquor an individual is permitted to purchase, nor are there any restrictions on purchasing liquor beyond proving your age. A better analogy would be purchasing a firearm. Since some states limit the number of firearms you can purchase, and since felons are generally prohibited from owning firearms, gun dealers must record detailed personal information prior to making a sale. Your FFL is in jeopardy if you don’t follow the procedures.

Observer-

Lay off the cr+ck pipe. To suggest Smith had his elections handed to him is beyond absurd. If you were talking about Russ Carnahan or Lacy Clay, it would make sense, but Jeff Smith is the hardest working guy in MO politics.

If you want to criticize his political views, fine. But his work ethic is unmatched in this business.

Hardest working person in Mo politics? Let me guess. You are 22 and your first political campaign was working for Smith. You worked 7 days a week and put in 12 to 14 hour days. Let me let you in or a little secret: Everyone works hard on campaigns. While I am sure it felt like a one of a kind of an experience, it is pretty typical of most campaigns. The only difference is that your candidate, Smith, had no job, no wife and no family to deal with. Plus he had access to gobs of money form his rich friends.
Smith is a great self promoter and most importantly is great and getting others to buy in. It won’t last though.
I find it interesting that you would use the work “ethic” because he does not know what it means. He is driven by ego pure and simple.
By the way, his legal argument for why the law should not apply to him is seriously lacking. Some lawyer friends told me it fails the most important test of a good legal argument. Apparently you have to be able to repeat it without laughing and they couldn’t.

To observer and anotherstldem (who of course are the same person - writing style is a dead giveaway), let me set the record straight on a few counts. #1, Smith did not have “huge money advantages in his races. He was outspent about 3-1 by Russ Carnahan in 2004 and spent about the same amount as Gambaro and El-Amin in his second. Check the reports. #2, if a lot of people didn’t care who Smith would endorse, then the presidential campaigns wouldn’t have asked for his support; according to people supporting both Edwards and Obama, his endorsement was highly sought by both. also, campaigns want people who can mobilize armies which whether you love him or hate, he can clearly do. and finally, if he didn’t have some influence, clowns like you wouldn’t waste so much time creating fake aliases to trash him on the blogs. #3, you say Smith is a rich kid from Ladue? not so fast. He grew up in middle class Olivette with middle class parents, I’ve heard him say his mom was a teacher and his dad a coach. He’s an adjunct professor and they don’t exactly get paid well. So I’m not sure how that makes him rich. #4, In a recent speech Smith said he knocked on 7000+ doors and did 93 coffees when he ran for Congress and had over 2000 donors. That sure sounds grass roots to me, whether or not a handful of wealthy people gave him 2000 bucks. If an established buffoon, I mean politician, like Favazza had knocked on all those doors or had all those coffees maybe he’d have been able to raise more. But I guess he was a bit heftier back then. #5, Immediately after Casino-gate broke Smith apologized for it and said that it was a mistake for him to accept the players card but that he had wrongly assumed the host of the tour knew the rules. He apologized to his constituents and said it wouldnt happen again. He said he was replying to work emails in between hands of poker and if you know what a workaholic Smith is, you would believe it. That’s what caught the casino’s eye, not rude or obnoxious behavior. Clearly, you need to check your facts, observer/anotherstldem/whatever your next alias is.

Keith J, stldem, Jeff S. whatever your name is,
#1 To compare Smith to Carnahan is ridiculous. His father had been State Treasurer and Governor for a total of 16 years. He was a martyr for the Democratic Party. His mother was a US Senator. They are a political dynasty in Missouri and the nation. The money is flowing there. But Smith spent more money than Stoll, Barry, Karll, and Favazza, all experienced government servants. (Tens times as much at Favazza and 50 times as much as Karll.) While the others raised in small increments - look at Barry or Favazza’s filings - Smith used 500, 1000, 2000 and even 4000 donations. (I am not sure how he was able to take donations over the limit.)
#2 You are delusional if your think the presidential campaigns even know who he is much less are courting him.
#3 His parents are multi millionaires. They own huge apartments complexes in St. Louis County and some tenement like structures in the city. (I will be mature and not use the word slumlord.)
#4 Knocked on 7000 odors? You are too easily impressed. The average candidate should spend about 20 hours a week knocking on doors. (Sat and Sun and a couple of evenings; in the summer you can do more but let’s be generous.) Figure 25 to 50 doors per hour - most people aren’t home and most conversations are brief. That comes to a minimum of 500 doors per week so in 12 weeks you can get 7000. I am sure most candidates get that many if not more. 93 coffees mean 3 coffees a week for 30 weeks. That is what candidates do.
#5 If Smith was such a workaholic he would be in his office responding to e-mail and working, not hanging out at a casino. The idea that he should get a pass fraudulently using someone else’s ID b/c a lobbyist “may” have told him it was OK is ridiculous. His action was criminal. He has not taken responsibility for it. That is why he is telling the court that the law is wrong rather than his action. He is trying to make his cheating into some act of civil disobedience and it is insulting to people who have actually gone to jail for social change.