Ghosts of Dartmouth's Past

My buddy and St. Louis denizen Matt Frederick had an interesting take on former Dartmouth Professor-cum-Missouri State Senator-cum-convicted felon, Jeff Smith. 

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By way of background, Mr. Smith (couldn’t resist) was a mainstay in Hanover throughout my college years.  He was easily the envy of male political dorks everywhere.  Besides wielding a formative wit, and an abundance of charisma, Smith was also known as a first-rate professor of government, and for his dalliances with some of the hottest co-eds on our campus. It was not a stretch to say that Prof. Smith epitomized the Dartmouth lifestyle – work hard, play hard.

More to the point, following his 2004 race for Congress, Smith was accused of some fairly routine violations of federal elections law.  Specifically, the Smith campaign was said to have ‘coordinated’ with outside entities in the production of a campaign mailer in violation of federal campaign finance law. While the penalties for such violations are fairly inconsequential (Matt rightly points out that both Obama and McCain had several hundred such complaints lodged between the two of them), Smith lied to federal prosecutors, rather than come clean. Even though the case was initially dropped, the matter was re-opened earlier this year, and the fib earned Smith one year and one day in the federal penitentiary. 

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I suppose for those without ties to St. Louis or Hanover, NH the account is probably uninteresting. But Matt helpfully added some needed dimension to the story, discussing Smith’s work in the Missouri Senate and in his district.  Smith had apparently done a great deal to improve race relations in the highly stratified, Midwest city. Matt also predictes a bit of a political comeback for Smith who is widely acknowledged as a ‘show me state’ political talent.

Perhaps the assessment is not far off. 

Fellow convicted felon, James Traficant is also said to be mulling a political comeback in his former Youngstown, OH congressional district. If an aging politico with a rat toupee can climb the political ranks fresh out of prison, then surely a true political talent (who had actually done some good) can do the same.