The venality in Jeff Smith’s fall
Jeff Smith at an anti-Wal-Mart rally in 2006, before he needed a new cell phone. (AP/James Finley)
Those who have sought a deeper meaning in the disgrace of former Missouri state Sen. Jeff Smith have fallen back on the ancient Greek notion of hubris: excessive pride and arrogance, the greatest sin in all Greek tragedy, cause of the downfall of heroes.
That seems a bit much for this sordid episode, regardless of Smith’s own outsized sense of self-regard. Yes, in campaigning for the Democratic nomination for Dick Gephardt’s vacated U.S. House seat in 2004, he presented himself as something special — a vibrant young urban Democrat who could energize young people around his liberal idealism, a white Ph.D. who played street hoops in the inner city, the guy who cared about All the Right Things.
Why, there was even a movie about Smith’s righteousness, a documentary pegged to another Jeff Smith, the good-hearted bumpkin portrayed by the young James Stewart in Frank Capra’s 1939 movie “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”
But our Jeff Smith was no bumpkin. He and a couple of cronies — more about them in a moment — signed off on a deal right out of Donald Segretti’s Watergate bag of dirty tricks. When Smith got caught, he lied about it to the Federal Elections Commission. Then he engineered a cover-up to try to fool a federal grand jury. He pleaded guilty Tuesday to two federal counts of obstucting justice.
Hubris? Not so much. Heroes don’t buy disposable cell phones. The most telling part of the indictments against Smith — who once crusaded against Wal-Mart — is that when crunch time came, he sent an aide to Wal-Mart to buy use-and-lose phones.
Nor is it exactly “stupidity,” as suggested by John Gillies, special agent in charge of the St. Louis FBI office. Jeff Smith is not stupid.
One word that comes to mind is venality: Willingness to be bribed or bought off, or to prostitute one’s talents for mercenary considerations.
Too often the noble cause of public service turns into an extended exercise in self-interest. People either forget why they got involved in the first place, or they get involved for the wrong reasons, conflating their own interests with those of the public they serve.
For many politicians, the job is the best one they’ve ever had, with better pay and perks than most of them ever could expect in the private sector. Politics can be a stepping stone to great wealth. But you’ve got to get there first.
The revolving door between Congress and the lobbying industry is well-documented. Even a job in the legislature can lead to a nice lobbying gig or a six-figure job elsewhere in state government.
Nor does one have to run for office to get in on the rewards program. In Washington, top staffers move easily to and from lobbying and law firms. In Springfield, you can serve in the legislature and hold other jobs in Illinois government. In Jefferson City, you can serve on the legislative staff — or even be speaker of the House — and run a political consulting firm out of your back pocket.
The money involved in politics is obscene. So, in addition to attracting idealists, politics also attracts “consultants” and “operatives,” some of whom are craven opportunists.
Enter Milton Harold “Skip” Ohlsen III, the mystery figure in the Jeff Smith case. He flitted across the Missouri Democratic political landscape from 2004 to 2006, a consultant with a shady background who was unwittingly accepted into the party’s councils and paid thousands of dollars for his work, whatever it was.
Apparently it was Ohlsen who, during the 2004 primary, sold Smith’s campaign on the idea of paying him to print and distribute flyers attacking Russ Carnahan, the leading candidate — and eventual winner — in the race to succeed Mr. Gephardt. Smith and two of his top advisers — Steve Brown and Nick Adams — signed off on the plan.
Brown, a former assistant to state Attorney General (now Governor) Jay Nixon, and Adams, who was Smith’s campaign treasurer, each pleaded guilty Tuesday to one federal count of obstruction of justice. Brown resigned the Missouri House seat from Clayton to which he was elected last year. Like Smith, both face federal prison time when they’re sentenced in November.
This is not a Democratic or Republican thing, but a sleaze thing, and sleaze is an equal opportunity employer. The temptations could be reduced by taking money out of politics by publicly financing campaigns, but the people who would have to do that are the very people who benefit from the current system.
And even then, there’s the problem of human nature. Venality is a character flaw, not a political flaw. Sadly, it only seems that way.
> This is not a Democratic or Republican thing, but a sleaze thing,
> and sleaze is an equal opportunity employer.
It’s funny … Cynthia Davis, who is not accused of any violation of law, is “armed and dangerous” (7/30 blog entry under Political Fix). But when a Democrat pleads guilty to federal charges, you remind us that sleaze is an equal opportunity employer.
There really is some truth to the old adage that the second oldest profession bears a lot of resemblance to the oldest profession.
That was an awful editorial. It was needlessly nasty and served no purpose in helping people understand why Jeff made the mistakes or did or analyzing what his legacy will be from a policy or political perspective. It took a detour into all sorts of other issues and took repeated cheap personal shots, not what I expect from an editorial board.
I voted for Jeff. I like him a lot and was as disappointed as anyone in what happened. But he accepted responsibility in his statement and really doesn’t deserve this vitriol. He didn’t spend hour after hour in the senate standing up for the city so that its paper of record could kick him when he’s down.
Karen,
I, too, voted for Jeff. I even helped him campaign in ‘04. However, I disagree with the notion that the paper and the editorial have been nasty and without purpose. Had this paper not pursued this story, and had the feds not placed the heat do you really think he would have “accepted responsibility?”
What would you rather the paper write regarding an elected official who was willing to “throw Artie under the bus,” in order to save his own hide?
Karen, from this editorial we should all come away with the realization corruption is both party neutral and party rampant. We should be outraged to the part where our complacency (or our stupidity) is trumped by accountability.
Karen - Why do I suspect you’d still vote for this slime yet you’d be the first to say how bad and dirty the GOP is.
Karen and Tevious both make good points. But I think where the P-D is really going wrong with this story is to bring in the term “Venality” into this. I guess the editorial board’s “Word of the Day” calendar coincidentally must have pulled “venality” on the same week as the biggest state government corruption arrest since the fall of former speaker Bob Griffin. The difference is that Bob Griffin’s case was the true definition of venality, and Jeff Smith’s fall truly was hubris. Jeff is a good guy, that worked hard for his people. He accepted the chance to play the game that MOST politicians in Missouri play (or is played on thier behalf), and that is the use of independent expenditure groups. Now Smith’s “anti-Carnahan” effort was so poorly constructed that is created an election violation mess that was not easily concealed. But let’s face it, “Coalitions for Good Government” and “Workers for a Better Future” type committees always bend and break the rules when trying to help candidates. The only realy “crime” here is that when Jeff was caught, he lied and tried to cover up. His crime is tragic and Nixon-esque. He wanted to get elected and he would do what he needed to win, it was not tied to his own personal gain, per se. So for the P-D to try and squeeze the word “venality” into this story is a shame, because there is no evidence that he stood to personally benefit greatly from his actions. No more than any other candidate in the race.
This must have been a difficult editorial to write. The only thing you might have added is that sometimes suffering is redemptive, and with Jeff Smith’s youth and good qualities, we can hope and pray that he will grow from it into the person people thought and hoped he was, with increased judgment, slightly less ambition, a strong and persuasive moral center, and humility.
> He accepted the chance to play the game that MOST politicians in Missouri
> play (or is played on thier behalf), and that is the use of independent
> expenditure groups. Now Smith’s “anti-Carnahan” effort was so poorly
> constructed that is created an election violation mess that was not easily
> concealed.
Sorry, Purple Leader, but most politicians do NOT do it. Most candidates run honest races, and most elected officials do their best to serve their constituents. In the honest race area, apparently you and Mr. Smith are an exception. You should be ashamed.
Good editorial. This is not just a Democratic or Republican thing, but a sleaze thing throughout our society, not just politicians. Taking money out of politics by publicly financing campaigns will not solve anything; the well-to-do and the under-the-table deals will prevail.
Over the last 50 years, our society’s sense of ethics, honesty, integrity and tolerance for corruption and collusion has grown to the point that it infects every aspect of our society. Read the blogs: too many think that it’s ok to lie, just don’t get caught; that making money by conning someone is ok; that cheating the insurance company is a good thing. Honest people who do get elected cannot stand the sleaze of political office and will get booted , tarred and feathered if they call out the corruption. Our media support and admire personality, not ability, and support candidates they know are corrupt because they are on the side the media prefers.
We used to trust our bankers, our lawyers and hold them in high esteem for their integrity. The corruption and lack of integrity in these professions has grown tremendously. Large numbers of honest, ethical people or businesses have been falsely accused by con artists or someone with a personal vendetta and never get a chance to defend themselves.
We now are a society that assumes guilt and requires the innocent to prove their innocence, that locks up innocent people under the guise that they might commit a crime. We expect lawyers at all levels to lie and cheat for their clients.
We admire and celebrate those who win through corruption, collusion, and lying. Is it any wonder that Smith and Brown did so. Their entire upbringing and the society they inhabit trained them to do so.
This editorial is an excellent essay on venality. It takes guts for a person to say no to unethical conduct and requires courage to turn away from so-called “friends” who try to force your hand in dirty deals. I have watched as other individuals like Smith, who appear to have great potential, fall hand over fist in love with sleazy friends who specialize in dirty tricks. Once they commit that first dirty deal, everything that happens afterwards becomes dirty too. This is why it is so important to stop this kind of behavior as soon as it starts. Otherwise, the unethical conduct will snowball out of control, just as it did when Blunt was governor. Sadly, Blunt acted with vigorous venality, getting enjoyment out of pushing the envelope, just to see what he and his oily minions could get away with. These types seem to think everyone around them is this way, so they figure it’s just how the game is played. Be assured, this is NOT how the game is played, and the majority of politicians aren’t this way. Showing courage can be hard and painful at times, but it grows character and integrity, and is well worth it.