Column:
Corruption is non-partisan
Indictments of Smith, Brown and Adams reflect poorly on politicians.
Published Sept. 1, 2009
Missouri Democrats have had a rough week. The indictment of former State Sen. Jeff Smith, D-St. Louis, State Rep. Steve Brown, D-Clayton, and Nick Adams has stirred up the political news wire. According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney Office of the Eastern District of Missouri, these men have been implicated in a conspiracy to obstruct a Federal Election Commission investigation involving the 2004 U.S. representative race in the third district.
Jeff Smith, who was running against Russ Carnahan (who now holds the seat), and his friends, including Brown and Adams, allegedly violated ethics codes by sending out mailings attacking Carnahan without acknowledging who funded the literature and using illicitly gained funds to produce it.
For those of us out there who don't know the ins and outs of campaign finance law, this might not sound like a huge violation. These laws are in place to ensure the fairest and most transparent elections possible, and to undermine those laws is a blatant slap in the face to the idea of a good, clean race. It is very disheartening to voters to see the people they chose to run the state involved in this situation. Cynicism and skepticism about elected officials aside, we do trust our representatives and senators to play fair and obey the law.
The most disappointing thing is that the fallout after a debacle like this has a very negative effect on the Democratic Party as a whole. This is the thing that bothers me the most. Not only do these men disappoint their constituents and supporters, but cast a shadow on the organization that allowed them to rise as high as they had risen in the first place.
Press relations for the Democrats have to be responsible for cleaning up this mess by carefully controlling the damage while not seeming to condone what Smith, Brown, Adams and company did. And in this day of biting political coverage and commentary, what is the most ethical and respectful way to do that, without having to apologize for something that involved only these few men?
This is a tough position for the Dems, and thankfully, things have not gotten too negative yet. After more news about this becomes public, you can bet things will get ugly. It wouldn't be the first time, and it definitely won't be the last. I would hope the informed voter and citizen would have enough sense not to tie these crimes to the party because corruption isn't linked to political affiliation.
Corruption is regrettably a large part of politics, but party never seems to be an indicator of who will violate what law. Both sides have had their share of disgraces, and the public never seems to have a long enough memory to remember the last time the other guys had some trouble.
I wonder, why is corruption so rampant in every level of politics? Is it the power? Is it the money? Is it the inflated notion that when you rise so high on the political scale, they feel as if they are exempt from law? Perhaps it's a combination of all of these.
Somehow, these small scandals seem to discredit all politicians, and give people who don't vote further reason not to, or young or disinterested citizens no incentive to get involved. That really sucks because there are public servants out there who got into this game to help people and to do the right thing. Hopefully, in November, when Smith's, Brown's and Adams' seats in the Missouri Legislature are filled, Missourians will have located and seated more worthy candidates.
Stein is a senior political science major at MU. She can be reached at jesf25@mizzou.edu.
