“Surely it won’t be a picnic,” Smith said. “But I’m a strong person, and I’ve overcome things before…so I’ll get through it, with the help of friends and family and a great support system.”

In an interview with Student Life on Friday, the former Washington University political science instructor and former Democratic state senator also reflected on his recent legal troubles and his teaching career at the University.

Smith’s term will start in about six weeks. Although he did not know where, he said he has asked to be placed in a facility in Marion, Ill., about 120 miles from St. Louis, because of its closeness. Before then, he plans to spend his time with friends and family, to write, and to read, especially short stories, memoirs and nonfiction works on political science, education and history. After prison, he hopes to do more community service and continue his work in education, though he is not sure yet if he will teach again.

Smith had pleaded guilty on Aug. 25 to two counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice for lying to investigators about his authorization of and involvement in an illegal postcard mailer during his 2004 congressional run. Smith was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison and fined $50,000 on Tuesday.

Federal guidelines require all sentences of a year or less to be served fully, but the extra day Judge Carol Jackson put on Smith’s sentence could allow him to get out nearly two months early.

“I’m glad she did that,” Smith said. “It will allow me, if I encounter no problems during incarceration, to potentially get out early, so the potential for early release is obviously a good thing, and the fact that she departed from the guidelines was positive.”

Still, he said he would have liked to see her depart further. Smith’s attorney, Richard Greenberg, had sought home confinement and community service for Smith instead of prison time.

“I’m obviously not a threat to society, and I was no threat to re-offend, given that I will not be running for office in the future,” Smith said. “So I think the community would have been best served by having me remain here and continuing the community service-type things I’ve done for 20 years.”

Greenberg cited Smith’s annual 3-on-3 basketball tournament and community fair, the time he devoted to tutoring students, and the St. Louis charter schools he founded in 2002 called Confluence Academies. Jackson said Smith’s community service experience was notable, but felt he deserved prison time due to his long pattern of lying to investigators.

Smith also disagreed with Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith’s comment at the sentencing that he saw “the light go off” in campaign treasurer Nick Adams’ head but not in Smith’s. “I was not aware that he was possessed of such supernatural powers to see that,” Smith said. “I went into his office and did as I was advised by my attorney, which was to listen to the tapes without comment or expression.”

Goldsmith had said that Adams realized the seriousness of his crimes after hearing recordings of the three defendants’ conversations. But Goldsmith indicated he did not see the same reaction from Smith.

The Federal Election Commission found no evidence of wrongdoing on Smith’s part in its 2004-2007 investigation, but the FBI uncovered new evidence and reopened the inquiry in June 2009. Investigators conducted wiretaps and enlisted Smith’s co-conspirator, former state Rep. Steve Brown, D-Clayton, to wear a wire starting in June.

After the FEC investigation closed, Smith said, he “thought it was over.” But he was surprised after finding out that the FBI was revisiting the issue in June, when he heard that Democratic operative Milt “Skip” Ohlsen III may have been providing information on the postcard scheme to the FBI in exchange for a lighter sentence on an unrelated charge. FEC documents from 2004 link Ohlsen to the scheme, and Brown’s lawyer, Art Margulis, has cited Ohlsen as the John Doe in court documents who approached Smith’s campaign with the idea for it.

But Smith said the bigger surprise was “that my conversations were being taped. It was not something I would have put in the range of possibility.”

Smith said Brown called him in early June to say that Ohlsen may have been cooperating with the FBI. The two and Adams then met to discuss the matter.

The FBI then showed up at his house early on June 30 for an interview in which Smith said he lied about the postcards.

In July, the FBI had Smith listen to recordings; that’s when he and his attorney decided to work on a plea agreement, he said. Smith said he sought to keep others in his campaign out of the stipulation of facts if he did not know whether they had any interaction with Ohlsen.

Smith said he also asked prosecutors to delay the indictment until after his annual 3-on-3 basketball tournament and community fair, because “we had spent so much time preparing for that. That’s my big event of the year.” He also did not want to disappoint the many kids who had already signed up for the event and for free school supplies.

He was to teach a course in the fall on campaigns and elections, but he canceled the course in mid-August. He was popular among most of his students for his interactive class structure and lecture style; for instance, his campaigns and elections courses required students to devise and execute a mock campaign plan.

He said he learned “a lot about human nature” from his students. In his legislative process class, students would simulate debates and votes on legislation, and then explain the reasons behind their votes. “Listening to years and years of kids describing why they did what they did in the role play gave me a lot of insights for when I went to the Senate for how people will make decisions about bills,” Smith said.

Smith also noted how much he interacted with students and made them a part of his campaigns, saying, “I couldn’t have come close in my first election without students.” He estimated that half of his roughly 550 volunteers in 2004 were students from the University, Saint Louis University, University of Missouri-St. Louis and other schools.

The St. Louis Democrat and former Washington University instructor received 12 months and one day in prison for each of two counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice. The sentences will run concurrently. He was also ordered to pay a $50,000 fine.

Law school graduate Steve Brown, a former Democratic state representative from Clayton, was sentenced to two years of probation on one conspiracy count and fined $40,000. University graduate Nick Adams, who was Smith’s campaign treasurer, was sentenced to two years of probation for each of two conspiracy counts and fined $5,000. His sentences are also concurrent.

Brown and Adams avoided receiving prison time largely because they assisted an FBI investigation in 2009.

The three pleaded guilty in the same courthouse on Aug. 25, following weeks of speculation in the Missouri political system about the futures of Smith and Brown, who also resigned their legislative seats that day.

Judge Carol Jackson told all three defendants that their crimes were “very serious.” The more she learned about the defendants and the case, the less she was able to figure out “how a bunch of smart guys like you could have done something so boneheaded,” she said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith told reporters afterward that all of the sentences were appropriate. He also hoped that the case would send a message to other politicians.

“We’re not going to tolerate this kind of corruption,” Goldsmith said. “The people deserve better—the people in this city, the people in this state, the people in this country.”

In court, Smith acknowledged lying about his role in producing illegal campaign literature in his 2004 bid: “With the postcards I left a piece of my honor in that campaign.” All three defendants apologized, with Smith saying, “I should have owned up to my mistakes.”

In a brief statement afterward, Smith said, “This has been a difficult chapter in my life, but it will not be the last one and it will definitely not be the defining one.”

The sentences were lighter than those suggested in the plea agreement guidelines, which recommended 15-21 months for each count. The plea agreement suggested prison terms below the guidelines for Brown and Adams because the two helped the FBI’s investigation.

Jackson, who was responsible for the sentencing, said she would have been tempted to send Brown to prison, were it not for the U.S. attorney’s office’s mention of Brown’s cooperation.

“This was a very stupid thing for you to do,” she told Brown, adding that he had been a lawyer who was now himself being prosecuted. Brown lost his law license after pleading guilty.

Goldsmith told Jackson during Brown’s sentencing that he has “never been involved in a case where I’ve had this kind of cooperation.”

Smith’s lawyers had sought home confinement and community service for Smith as an alternative to prison time, citing his lifelong commitment to service. Richard Greenberg, one of Smith’s lawyers, pointed out the St. Louis charter schools that Smith founded in 2002, his annual three-on-three basketball tournament, and the students he has tutored.

But Goldsmith argued that home confinement would not have been enough of a punishment, because of Smith’s pattern of lying to investigators.
“Citizens have a right to his honest services and his integrity, and he abused them of that right,” Goldsmith told reporters.

Jackson agreed but said it was “not inappropriate” to take Smith’s community service into account as grounds for sentencing him below the guidelines. She also said she had  “no doubt” that Smith’s remorse was real, and she noted that more than 100 people, including Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster, had sent her letters urging her to be lenient in sentencing Smith.

Adams received a light sentence in part due to his cooperation with investigators. Goldsmith said he supported a light sentence because he saw “the light go off” in Adams’ head after Adams initially refused to cooperate. But Goldsmith also said he did not see a light go off in Smith’s head.

The charges against the three men stemmed from an FBI investigation over the summer that revisited a 2004 inquiry by the Federal Election Commission into Smith’s congressional run. The FBI found that all three men had lied by hiding their involvement in the creation of anonymous postcards that attacked Smith’s main Democratic primary opponent, now U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-St. Louis.

Carnahan had filed a complaint with the FEC in July 2004 alleging Smith violated federal law by helping make campaign materials—the postcards, in this case—without disclosing that he was involved. Smith submitted an affidavit denying the claims. The FEC closed its investigation in 2007, clearing Smith and his campaign. Carnahan defeated Smith in the 2004 primary by a 23 percent to 21 percent vote, and Smith was elected to the Missouri Senate in 2006.

New evidence emerged in 2009 that prompted the FBI to revisit the matter. FBI wiretaps revealed that the three men had known all along about the postcards and that they had helped an unnamed Democratic operative produce them. The FBI also found that the three continued lying in 2009 in an effort to cover up the crimes. Goldsmith said the help Brown and Adams eventually provided was critical in building a case.

Art Margulis, Brown’s lawyer, said he appreciated that Jackson took Brown’s cooperation into account in determining his sentence.

“Clearly this is no time for celebration,” Margulis said. “There’s been a lot lost here—more than one career damaged—and we’re grateful for the judge’s consideration.”

Former state Sen. Jeff Smith (center), D-St. Louis, exits the Thomas Eagleton Federal Courthouse on Tuesday after pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice. Smith faces up to 20 years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine for each count. (Matt Mitgang | Student Life)

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.

The first count is for conspiring to obstruct a Federal Election Commission investigation into the St. Louis Democrat’s 2004 congressional run. The other count is for conspiring to obstruct a federal grand jury investigation this year that revisited the 2004 inquiry.

Nicholas Adams, the campaign treasurer from 2004, also pled guilty to two counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice. Another legislator connected to Smith’s case, state Rep. Steve Brown, D-Clayton, also appeared in court Tuesday and pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice. Brown also announced his resignation Tuesday.

Each count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and/or fines of up $250,000. Officials said Brown and Adams may receive lighter sentences, however, because they provided assistance to investigators.

Sentencing in all of the cases has been set for Nov. 10.

The FBI this past summer was revisiting the 2004 FEC investigation, which centered on anonymous literature allegedly distributed illegally by Smith’s campaign. The literature, in the form of postcards, attacked Smith’s main opponent in 2004, now-U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-St. Louis.

The charges concern how Smith, Brown and Adams tried to “corruptly attempt to obstruct, influence, and impede” the investigations. All three men acknowledged to Judge Carol Jackson they had misled investigators.

Gov. Jay Nixon announced on Tuesday that both seats would be filled in a special election on Nov. 3.

In mid-2004, Carnahan’s campaign filed a complaint with the FEC about the postcards, alleging Smith had violated federal election law by anonymously spreading “false and malicious information intended to deceive potential voters and evade proper federal disclosures.”

Smith in an affidavit, which he acknowledged on Tuesday as being false, denied any involvement. In late 2007, the FEC found there was not enough evidence to prove wrongdoing on the part of Smith and his campaign committee.

Court documents say an unnamed individual affiliated with the organization Voters for Truth approached Smith’s campaign committee in July 2004 to discuss the idea of making and distributing the postcards. Smith’s campaign committee introduced Brown, a “close and personal friend” of Smith and not yet a member of the Missouri House, to an unidentified individual.

At that time, Brown agreed to raise funds for making the ads. He raised “substantial” funds for Voters for Truth and personally gave the individual $5,000 in cash.

Though the documents do not name the individual, Brown’s attorney, Art Margulis, said the individual is Milton “Skip” Ohlsen III, a Democratic operative. FEC documents from 2004 linked Ohlsen to the postcards and Smith’s campaign.

On July 23, 2004, Voters for Truth mailed 25,000 postcards to voters in Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District. Carnahan responded by filing the complaint against Friends of Jeff Smith.

On Sept. 8, 2004, Smith submitted the falsely sworn affidavit to the FEC, stating he had “no knowledge of who was responsible for the [postcard] referenced in the [FEC] complaint, nor who paid for the mailing.”

The FBI returned to the 2004 charges when new evidence emerged this year. The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment on how the new evidence was developed.

Court documents detail several conversations between Smith, Brown and Adams about their plans to mislead investigators in both the FEC investigation and the FBI investigation. Smith is quoted as pressuring Brown to lie to investigators: “Don’t do anything stupid. Stupid would be telling them things that were happening in your brain.” Smith also told Brown he would not be truthful to investigators, saying, “I’d be 90% honest.”

After the court hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith said the crimes were a “classic case of corruption.” John Gillies, special agent for the St. Louis FBI, agreed with Goldsmith.

“At the end of the day, for those of you in the courtroom, this is pure stupidity,” Gillies said. “You’ve got a Ph.D., a J.D. from Washington University, another guy with a master’s, and all of this for what at the end of the day? Just so they could get a little more power and feel a little bit better about themselves that they’re big shots of the town. We will not tolerate this kind of corruption.”

During his court appearance, Smith said, “I am guilty as charged.” Smith left the Thomas Eagleton Federal Courthouse with his lawyers, relaxed and smiling.

Nixon released a statement Tuesday calling the resignations “necessary and appropriate” because both Smith and Brown had “violated the public’s trust.”

After leaving the courthouse, Smith made several comments to reporters, including an apology to his constituents and family.

“This event has humbled me,” Smith said in a statement posted to his Web site. “I have done some significant introspection and that has been the hardest part: coming to terms with my own poor judgments and mistakes.”

In a press release, Missouri Senate Majority Floor Leader Kevin Engler, a Republican, said: “Jeff has made some serious mistakes and will be held accountable for those mistakes, but that should not detract from his accomplishments in the Senate or his hard work on behalf of his community. Sen. Smith was always a very reasonable person in the capitol. He was someone quite frankly that encouraged more bipartisan behavior between our parties.”

Smith has previously taught courses on ethics in politics and campaigning at the University, but a school spokeswoman announced last week that his scheduled class for this fall had been canceled.

The University released a statement on Tuesday afternoon saying it would not comment on personnel issues.

Associate Professor of Political Science Andrew Rehfeld said he doesn’t think that Smith’s plea will adversely affect the political science department as a whole.

“We are and remain interested in being engaged with people who are involved in politics and being engaged with a wide variety of people, and that means we’re going to encounter the real-life problems and turmoil of human beings,” Rehfeld said. “I think what happened is sad, but it goes along with being experienced.”

Still, Rehfeld is concerned that Smith’s actions may diminish the messages of his lessons. He said students likely attribute “some moral perfection” to a professor.

“I think for better or worse this will cause some of the students to question what he taught, and some of that questioning is justified and other of it is probably not,” Rehfeld said. “The lessons that we teach our students are not about us; they’re about a subject matter and on that score, as far as I can tell, especially in the smaller classes that he taught, he was a gifted teacher.”

With additional reporting by Kat Zhao, Michelle Merlin and Dan Woznica