From phenom to felon
By Jeff Smith
Jeff Smith
I once held a position of public trust. I write today as a felon, having broken that trust, and I don’t want anyone to make the terrible mistakes I made.
I thought I could get away with it. If anyone learned of what happened, it would be my word and the word of my friends and staffers against that of a loner with a shady past.
It was easy to think this way. I had arrived on the political scene.
When I decided to run for Congress in 2004, I was a nobody. It was a familiar role. As a boy I was the smallest kid on the court, scrappy and hypercompetitive, and I tried to overcome my political weaknesses with the same drive. Eventually I went from a non-entity to a contender.
As Election Day drew near, I authorized a close friend and two aides to help an outside consultant send out a mailer about my opponent but without disclosing my campaign’s connection.
Fiercely competitive, I was seeking any advantage I could get. I knew that hiding my campaign’s involvement was against the law. I was raised better than that, but I thought the ends justified the means. I was stupid and wrong.
When my opponent filed a Federal Election Commission complaint against me, I wanted to preserve my political future and concealed the misconduct. Instead of taking the hit, I stonewalled, assuming the FEC would not connect the dots.
I was elected to the Missouri Senate in 2006 and was honored to serve my constituents. My dream was fulfilled, and I had a platform to effect social change and fight for the city I love.
In 2007, the FEC cleared my campaign of wrongdoing. It was the worst thing that could’ve happened to me.
Because the lesson I took wasn’t that “I got lucky. What I did was reckless, illegal, and wrong. I won’t break the law again.” My takeaway was, “Whew. I’m home free.”
Wrong again. In 2009, the FBI obtained new information indicating a cover-up of the original misconduct. They approached me, and I stuck with my earlier account. It was easier for me to lie than to face the scrutiny and embarrassment that would come with accepting responsibility.
I was terrified of admitting anything. My nightmare was for all this to come out: my betrayal of what I thought I stood for and wanted to achieve; my betrayal of supporters and constituents; my parents’ embarrassment reading about my actions in the newspaper, and their shame as friends and neighbors searched for what to say to them and how to say it.
Well, it all came out, and it is worse than I had feared.
I’ve lost what I loved most: serving my district and teaching political science. I have lost the respect of others I cherished and my self-respect — even the ability to look strangers in the eye. And I haven’t even been sentenced yet.
I apologize to my constituents, my Senate colleagues, my family and friends and to anyone who has lost faith in government because of my actions. Telling the truth is the basis of public trust: the minimum I owed my constituents, my family and myself. I am a reminder of the obligation to always be truthful, particularly for those honored to serve the public.
Jeff Smith, a Democrat, represented St. Louis in the Missouri Senate and taught at Washington University until he pleaded guilty to two felony charges. He is awaiting sentencing.
“I once held a position of public trust … Telling the truth is the basis of public trust … ”
Ironic, isn’t it, that this appears in the noted Crucible of Public Trust — the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch ??
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In all seriousness Mr. Smith, there will be brighter days ahead.
Jeff, thanks for your hard work in the Senate for Father’s rights. Senate Bill 141 was very much appreciated. I’m glad you took an interest in this issue, because no one else did the previous two years when Chris Koster proposed similar legislation.
I was planning to volunteer for your campaign next year because of your determination, and your ability to work across the aisle. I never really paid to much attention to politics the way I did this year when SB 141 was progressing through the Senate and the House. I gained more knowledge of the legislative process because of you.
I wish this mistake would have never happened, but I know you will succeed in whatever you do because of your tenacity and determination. Thanks again.
Keep your head up, Jeff. We all are capable of making mistakes, you have faced yours. That is all you can do at the moment.
What’s that saying: talk to the hand?
I’m sure all the professors at Wash U — you know, the `Harvard’ of the Midwest — will be glad to know they’re `nobodies.’ But, as Jeff has shown, there is hope; all you have to do is run for political office.
–Says a lot about the Federal Election Commission, doesn’t it?
–Says a lot about ALL entrenched bureaucratic agents and agencies in Washington D.C. They are all top-heavy with leftist idealogues.
Mr. Smith,
I won’t say that I’m not disappointed by this breach of trust, and the gambling boat incident. I will say accepting responsibility and apologizing, show you are a bigger person than some of your colleagues in politics. I have followed some of your voting record in the Mo. Senate and sincerely wish you could have remained there. Good luck in the next phase of your life. Thank you for your public service. Jesus said “Go and sin no more”. I’m not sure how the recipient of that advice felt, but his forgiveness was real. It should be consolation enough.
Dust your shoulders off.
I’m just glad to see there wasn’t another towing scandle or Ballpark Village tax scam going on in St. Louis
Hope to see you around soon, contributing to the community again.
You do have to hand it to Mr. Smith for owning up to his mistakes. For that, he will be a better person and can move on with life peacefully. As we have learned all too many times, when you cover up the truth and deny, deny, deny, you just get yourself into a bigger mess — or at the very least you travel around with baggage for the rest of your life.
Send a quick e-mail to Mr. Obama and see if he can simply come clean on this whole birth certificate thing.
Jeff,
A lot of people will kick you when you are down. You are doing the right thing. You can’t change what has happened. You can influence what happens in the future. Your legacy is still to be written. Make sure this episode is only a footnote. Good Luck.