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| SMITH: Now a former legislator |
Derrick
Smith is no longer a member of the Illinois House of Representatives.
Upon
being found guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court on corruption charges, he
lost his legislative post. Democratic Party officials will get to pick someone
to replace him for the rest of his term (which basically amounts to the six
days of the fall veto session in November) later this summer.
SMITH,
OF COURSE, was the guy who got kicked out of the Illinois House two years ago
when he was indicted because of the great shame he brought upon the
Legislature. Yet he managed to get re-elected in the general election cycle
because his name remained on the ballot. Although this year, he lost in the
Democratic primary.
There
are those people who claim that Smith was an absolute travesty because of the
fact he didn’t disappear upon indictment – lingering on in the Legislature like
a perpetual lame duck.
I
always thought the fact that some people were getting so worked up over this
was a tad pathetic. Because the reality is that now that he has a felony
conviction, he will be removed from office.
Ultimately,
he is gone. Whether it happened then, or now, doesn’t make much difference.
HE
GETS TO focus his attention now on how little of prison time he can somehow
manage to be sentenced to later this year.
And
as for those people who were determined to postpone his trial a few days so he
could be a part of any General Assembly action toward resolving the budget
mess, it would seem that his lone presence wasn’t enough to get anything done.
The
Legislature still punted, putting off a real definitive vote until autumn.
In
all, Smith doesn’t have much of a legislative legacy. He didn’t accomplish
much. Most of his colleagues go out of their way to distance themselves from
him.
YET
HE GOT so much public attention from having been removed, then re-elected.
Has
ever a nothing legislator been paid so much attention in proportion to how
little he accomplished?
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