Ritz Carlton employees wait in a field on Oct. 16, 2008, after being evacuated from their building when a bomb went off in a nearby parking garage. (Matt Mitgang | Student Life)

New information about the 2008 bombing at the parking garage at 190 Carondelet Blvd. in Clayton has brought new attention to Milton “Skip” Ohlsen III, a former Democratic campaign strategist also tied to former state Sen. Jeff Smith, D-St. Louis, and former state Rep. Steve Brown, D-Clayton, who resigned from the Missouri General Assembly on Tuesday.

The bombing injured attorney John Gillis when the bomb went off next to his car, although it is believed that the intended target was Richard Eisen, who was an attorney from Husch Blackwell Sanders at the time of the bombing. Eisen had represented Ohlsen’s ex-wife in a divorce filed in December 2007. Gillis was treated for burns after the bombing.

Ohlsen is also connected to Smith’s 2004 congressional campaign, which Smith lost to now-U.S. Rep Russ Carnahan, D-St. Louis. Carnahan filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission stating that Smith’s campaign violated federal law by producing anonymous fliers critical of Carnahan. Ohlsen has been implicated in the production of the fliers and told federal investigators that he had connections to Smith’s campaign.

Smith was in a 10-way primary race to replace  the retiring U.S. Rep. Richard Gephardt, D-St. Louis. Smith finished second in the primary and Gephardt went on to the seat. Ohlsen was head of Voters for Truth, an independent organization, which sent thousands of anti-Carnahan postcards.

Ohlsen was arrested on firearms charges, an unrelated case, last December and will be sentenced in September on those charges as well as fraud charges stemming from a mortage and equity line of credit he obtained, Ohlsen pled guilty to both sets of charges. Also in December, FBI agents searched Ohlsen’s apartment for evidence related to the bombing.

Ohlsen was also charged with stealing an airplane that was awarded to his ex-wife in the divorce. In March, 2008 Ohlsen was pulled over for speeding and police found a Glock pistol loaded with armor-piercing ammunition in his car.