Mr. Smith goes home. Or almost. Former Missouri State Senator and Washington University professor Jeff Smith was released from prison two weeks ago.

Whenever the topic of my future comes up at a family gathering and I admit that I want to pursue a career in politics, inevitably one of my relatives will shake their head and tell me, their voice deep with concern, that politics is a nasty business that I would be better off avoiding.

Dear Professor Smith, Over the past few weeks, we have dissected your actions in our boardroom, wondering about the relationship between your prosecution and the role you once held in leading our inquiring young minds. The Washington University and greater St. Louis communities have come to see you as a cliché, a fraud and a [...]

Jeff Smith, a Missouri state senator who frequently taught at Washington University, resigned his Senate seat and pled guilty in federal court on Tuesday to two counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice, after weeks of speculation about a federal investigation into Smith and others who worked on his 2004 congressional campaign.