Jeff Smith | |
---|---|
Member of the Missouri Senate from the 4th district | |
In office January 3, 2007 –August 25, 2009 [1] | |
Succeeded by | Joseph Keaveny |
Personal details | |
Born | St. Louis,Missouri,U.S. | December 9,1973
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Teresa Wallace |
Children | 2 |
Education | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (BA) Washington University in St. Louis (MA,PhD) |
Jeff Smith (born December 9,1973) is an American politician who served as a member of the Missouri Senate,representing the 4th district from 2007 until 2009. His district covered the western portion of the City of St. Louis.
Prior to his political career,Smith co-founded Confluence Academies,a group of urban charter schools in St. Louis that now enroll nearly 4,000 students. He also authored a successful [2] and critically acclaimed [3] [4] book chronicling the injustices faced by those incarcerated,Mr. Smith Goes to Prison. excerpted by Politico. [5] Smith continues his community work as the executive vice president of community engagement and policy at Concordance Academy,a St. Louis-based nonprofit that provides comprehensive re-entry services to individuals returning to the community after prison.
Smith was raised in the St. Louis suburb of Olivette,Missouri and graduated from Ladue Horton Watkins High School.[ citation needed ] He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,graduating Phi Beta Kappa with a double major in African-American Studies and political science. He received his MA and PhD in political science from Washington University in St. Louis. [6]
Smith has taught as an adjunct and visiting professor at Washington University in St. Louis,the University of Missouri–St. Louis,and Dartmouth College and won the 2002 Washington University in St. Louis Dean's Award for Teaching Excellence. During his time at Dartmouth,he dated one of his former students,future political strategist Lis Smith. [7] In 2001,Smith co-founded the Confluence Academy,a charter school in North St. Louis focusing on math and science education. [6]
In 2004, Smith was a candidate in the crowded Democratic primary election for the U.S. House of Representatives to replace retiring Congressman Dick Gephardt. Beginning as an unknown, Smith finished second in the ten-candidate field, narrowly losing to Russ Carnahan. [8] His campaign was widely recognized as an example of successful grassroots organizing. It was the subject of the documentary film Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore? , which won the 2006 audience choice award at the Silverdocs film festival. [9] In February 2007, the documentary aired on the award-winning PBS series Independent Lens . [10]
In the primary approach to the 2004 congressional election, a representative, unknown at the time to be working for a group called Voters for Truth, approached members of Smith's campaign staff, offering to create and send out campaign mail regarding opponent Russ Carnahan's inconsistent voting record. Campaign staff subsequently approached Smith, who told them he had no opinion on the issue, and regardless of what decision they came to, not to share with him any of the details in order to avoid the possibility of campaign malfeasance. In September 2004, Smith submitted an affidavit to the Federal Election Commission relating to an accused conspiracy with the group Voters for Truth, occurring in the summer of 2004. Smith certified that he knew nothing in detail regarding the mailing sent by Voters for Truth.
In January 2009, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office, acting upon newly discovered information, opened a criminal investigation to determine whether anyone had attempted to obstruct the Federal Election Commission proceeding. Smith's former friend and associate Steve Brown was approached by the FBI to wear a wire. Brown escaped a jail sentence by recording conversations with Smith, in which Brown deliberately brought up the topic of the campaign mailings. Smith pleaded guilty to two felony counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice. Each conspiracy count is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines. He resigned effective August 25, 2009, and was sentenced to one year and a day of prison. He also was fined $50,000. [11]
Smith and his lawyer requested two years of home confinement and full-time community service, during which Smith would be allowed to leave his home only to teach civics and coach basketball at Confluence Academy, without pay. It would've saved taxpayers over $175,000: two years of a teacher's salary, plus the cost of housing a federal prisoner. More than 300 people, including a bipartisan group of the state's top elected officials, wrote public letters to the judge presiding over Smith's case, requesting clemency and arguing that—as Smith's prison counselor in Kentucky would later note—detaining Smith would be a waste of money and resources. However, Federal officials portrayed Smith as the mastermind of a "textbook case of political corruption" and pushed for a harsh sentence at the top of the federal guidelines. Smith was sentenced to one year and one day in prison. His lawyer subsequently requested Smith be sent to a prison camp in Marion, Illinois. [12] However, Smith was sent to the camp at Federal Correctional Institution, Manchester in Kentucky. [13] In late August 2010 he was released to a halfway house in St. Louis. [14] In November 2010, he was released early from the halfway house and is no longer in federal custody. [15] [16]
A year after his unsuccessful congressional campaign, Smith announced his intention to seek the Missouri Senate seat being vacated by Pat Dougherty. The race was heavily contested and other candidates included State Representatives Yaphett El-Amin, and Amber Boykins, former State Representative Derio Gambaro, and former St. Louis Alderman Kenny Jones. Smith won the primary election on August 8, 2006, and was unopposed in the general election. [17]
On December 22, 2008, Smith introduced Paternity Reform legislation in the Missouri State Senate. Sen. Smith's SB 140 created "fathering courts" throughout the state, while SB 141 is generally like the model legislation. [18] Governor Jay Nixon signed both bills into law shortly after the 2009 legislative session. Smith also emerged in 2009 as the Legislature's leading advocate for historic preservation tax credits, and he sponsored and passed legislation creating a state Green Sales Tax Holiday eliminating sales tax on energy efficient appliances during the week of Earth Day each year.
In spring 2011, Smith was married; in September of the same year, he and his wife Teresa had their first child, Charlie Wallace Smith. Smith accepted a professorship in urban policy at the New School's Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy in New York City. He began writing for the website The Recovering Politician [19] and contributing to Politico - The Arena. [20] His writing has been published in Inc. magazine [21] and praised in New York Magazine's Approval Matrix. [22] In 2012, Smith gave a TED talk in New York titled "Lessons in business ... from prison". [23] In 2015, Smith published a book, Mr. Smith Goes to Prison, which details his time in politics and federal prison. [24]
John David Ashcroft is an American lawyer, lobbyist and former politician who served as the 79th U.S. Attorney General in the George W. Bush administration from 2001 to 2005. A former U.S. Senator from Missouri and the 50th Governor of Missouri, he later founded the Ashcroft Group, a Washington D.C. lobbying firm.
Melvin Eugene Carnahan was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 51st Governor of Missouri from 1993 until his death in 2000. A Democrat, he held various positions, including stints as a state Representative, where he rose to the position of majority leader, as State Treasurer and as Lieutenant Governor. He was elected Governor of Missouri in 1992 and re-elected in 1996. In 2000, he ran for the U.S. Senate against incumbent John Ashcroft in a hotly contested race. During the final weeks of the campaign, Carnahan was killed in a plane crash on his way to a campaign event. However, he was elected posthumously to the U.S. Senate, and his widow, Jean, served in his stead until a special election was held in 2002.
William Lacy Clay Jr. is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative from Missouri's 1st congressional district from 2001 to 2021. His congressional career ended after he lost in a Democratic primary to Cori Bush in 2020, after successfully defeating her in the 2018 primary.
William Todd Akin was an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Missouri's 2nd congressional district from 2001 to 2013. He was a member of the Republican Party. Born in New York City, Akin grew up in the Greater St. Louis area. After receiving his bachelor's degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, Akin served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and worked in the computer and steel industries. In 1988, he was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives. He served in the state house until 2000, when he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, in which he served until 2013.
Jean Anne Carnahan is an American politician and writer who was the First Lady of Missouri from 1993 to 2000, and served as the state's junior United States senator from 2001 to 2002. A Democrat, she was appointed to fill the Senate seat of her husband Mel Carnahan, who had been posthumously elected, becoming the first woman to represent Missouri in the U.S. Senate.
Roy Dean Blunt is an American politician who served as a United States senator from Missouri from 2011 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 33rd Missouri Secretary of State (1985–1993) and U.S. Representative for Missouri's 7th congressional district (1997–2011).
Claire Conner McCaskill is a former American politician who served as a United States senator from Missouri from 2007 to 2019 and as State Auditor of Missouri from 1999 to 2007.
John Russell Carnahan is an American politician from the state of Missouri. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the U.S. representative for Missouri's 3rd congressional district from 2005 to 2013.
Robin Colleen Carnahan is an American businesswoman, lawyer, and politician, who previously served as the Missouri Secretary of State and currently serves as the Administrator of General Services in the Biden administration. She is the daughter of Missouri politicians Mel and Jean Carnahan. In 2010, she was the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate to replace retiring Republican Senator Kit Bond. She was then a senior advisor at the global strategy firm Albright Stonebridge Group. In 2013, Carnahan was named a fellow at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics. In February 2016, she joined the General Services Administration as the director of the state and local practice at 18F, a role she held until January 2020. She then became a fellow at the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University.
The 2006 United States Senate election in Missouri was held November 7, 2006, to decide who would serve as senator for Missouri between January 3, 2007, and January 3, 2013. This election was the fifth consecutive even-number year in which a senate election was held in Missouri after elections in 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2004.
James Matthes Talent is an American politician who was a U.S. Senator from Missouri from 2002 to 2007. He is a Republican and resided in the St. Louis area while serving in elected office.
The 2000 United States Senate election in Missouri was held on November 7, 2000, to select the next U.S. Senator from Missouri. Incumbent Republican Senator John Ashcroft ran for reelection to a second term, but he was defeated by Democratic Governor Mel Carnahan despite Carnahan's death in a plane crash three weeks before election day. Roger B. Wilson, the newly inaugurated governor, appointed Mel Carnahan's widow Jean Carnahan to fill the seat until a special election could be held. As of 2023, this is the only time a deceased person has won a U.S. Senate election.
The 2002 United States Special Senate election in Missouri was held on November 5, 2002 to decide who would serve the rest of Democrat Mel Carnahan's term, after he died while campaigning and posthumously won the 2000 election. The winner would serve four more years until the next election in 2006. Missouri Governor Roger Wilson appointed Carnahan's wife Jean, also a Democrat, to serve temporarily. She then decided to run to serve the remainder of the term, but she was narrowly defeated by Republican nominee Jim Talent.
Jeff Roe is an American political consultant and strategist for the Republican Party. He is the founder and principal of Axiom Strategies, a political consulting firm based in Kansas City, Missouri, with twelve offices in eight states. He formerly served as a chief of staff, campaign manager, and longtime aide for United States Representative Sam Graves.
The 2010 United States Senate election in Missouri took place on November 2, 2010 alongside 36 other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Primary elections were held on August 3, 2010. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Kit Bond decided to retire instead of seeking a fifth term. Republican nominee Roy Blunt won the open seat.
The 2012 United States Senate election in Missouri was held on November 6, 2012, concurrently with the 2012 presidential election, other elections to the United States Senate in other states, as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore? is a 2006 documentary film directed by Frank Popper, which follows Missouri politician Jeff Smith's 2004 Democratic primary election campaign to the United States House of Representatives after the retirement of Dick Gephardt from his seat. The film follows Smith as he challenges Russ Carnahan, a member of the Carnahan political family and the frontrunner of a crowded Democratic primary, to capture the Democratic nomination for the seat. The movie's title references Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, a film in which a naive but well-meaning man becomes a Senator and fights the cynical nature of Washington.
The 2016 Missouri lieutenant gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 2016, to elect the Lieutenant Governor of Missouri, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as elections to the United States Senate and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
Andrew Blunt is a Missouri political consultant and founder of state-based consulting firm Statehouse Strategies LLC. He is the son of Missouri Senator Roy Blunt and the brother of former Missouri Governor Matt Blunt. The Missouri Times named Andy Blunt one of the 100+ people to know in Missouri politics for the previous four years, stating, “If this list was the 5+ [people to know], Andy Blunt would still be on it.” Blunt's extensive client list has been credited by some to his diverse range of experiences and relationships at the Missouri state capital, while others assert that his clients are attracted to the influence he has on his father. Blunt is a state lobbyist and does not lobby the federal government.
The 2022 United States Senate election in Missouri was held on November 8, 2022, concurrently with elections for all other Class 3 U.S. senators and elections for the U.S. House of Representatives, to select a member of the United States Senate to represent the state of Missouri. Incumbent Republican Senator Roy Blunt announced that he would not seek reelection to a third term in office. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt won the election to succeed him.