Smith empties campaign fund, refunds $81,000 in contributions
Smith
ST. LOUIS — Former state Sen. Jeff Smith is out of public office, but that didn’t keep him from submitting a thick campaign finance report this quarter.
The reason: Smith, who resigned in August after admitting to a political cover up, emptied virtually his entire campaign fund, refunding more than $80,000 in contributions and giving most of the rest to charity.
The St. Louis Democrat left office after pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy for lying to federal investigators about his role in an anonymous attack mailer targeting U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan, who Smith ran against in 2004.
But Smith, who was poised to run for a second term in 2010, still had a robust campaign account when he stepped down.
Not anymore. According to Ethics Commission filings submitted last week, Smith returned about 260 individual donations for a total of $81,481. He gave most of the rest — $15,000 — to charity, including donations to Backstoppers, Planned Parenthood and the Mathews-Dickey Club.
Smith left himself with $502 in his campaign fund.
The refunds could help Smith’s chances at his Nov. 10 sentencing in federal court. Unless the judge departs from sentencing guidelines, Smith is looking at as much as 21 months in prison.
Smith’s co-defendant, former state Rep. Steve Brown, is looking at less time — even probation — in part because he cooperated with the FBI against Smith.
As for his campaign finances, Brown gave about $3,200 to charity. He did not give any contributions back, but that could be because most of Brown’s campaign was funded by a $190,000 loan to himself.
“…most of Brown’s campaign was funded by a $190,000 loan to himself..” Every voter, every taxpayer, hell – every citizen should be disheartened by this. Ask yourself why someone would spend $190,000 to get elected friggin’ state representative. He didn’t put that money into a college fund for his kids, or put it into a retirement account for himself and his spouse. Nope, he used it to get himself elected state rep. Makes you wonder kind of return on investment these sleazebags are getting in Jefferson City that would make spending $190,000 on a campaign seem like a smart investment.
Let’s see if he DOES NOT claim the charity contributions on his taxes.
“The refunds could help Smith’s chances at his Nov. 13 sentencing in federal court.”
Another politician/celeb buying their way out of the proper sentence.
Not Impressed….I don’t think you have a grasp of the story. You could also argue that a legislator who wasn’t motivated by money could be a more “honest” public servant. Maybe not in this case but in general.
All of you are focusing on the wrong issues.
First of all, this corruption case had nothing whatever to do with corruption involving money for personal gain. It had to do with a dirty trick during a campaign that Smith lost. It wasn’t about enriching anyone. Smith and Brown’s crime had only to do with not owning up to their dirty trick to the FBI. Neither of them did what they did for personal monetary gain. They broke the rules of campaign finance law and lied about that to the FBI. That’s all there was to this case. It has nothing to do with what people think of as corruption in the classic sense of taking payoffs and that sort of thing for enriching one’s self such as in the El Amin case.
And as far as taxes goes, Smith can’t and wouldn’t take those contributions off his taxes because it wasn’t his personal money to begin with. It was money that belonged to his campaign committee.
Get real is right on all counts. A campaign committee is a separate, tax exempt entity which has nothing to do with one’s personal income tax.
And regarding the conviction itself, yes, it has nothing to do with the enriching yourself, or even with the “dirty trick” itself, and everything to do with the lying and cover-up. As a contrast, Brad Harmon and the St. Charles Organization of Republicans violated 3 points of Missouri campaign law with a negative flyer they put out against me recently (link below). The penalty for this was only $1,000 - and if they stay clean for 2 years, then only have to pay $100 of it.
Now, one might ask why the FBI is wasting its time investigating a nasty campaign flyer, what with being so busy chasing after drug dealers, terrorists, and such. And that would be a great question. But regardless of the answer, Smith and Brown are resting in a grave which they dug themselves.
Oops, forgot the link …
http://www.mec.mo.gov/WebDocs/PDF/CommMtg/2009/20090910ActionsV2.pdf
top of page 6.
I think the really sad thing is how Steve Brown agreed to wear a wire against his buddy Jeff Smith.
If he’s smart, the next state rep from that district will conduct all of his business in a hot tub.
Does anyone have any information on the City of St Peters Audit???