Jefferson Smith was a youth counselor in college?
Now that we know all about Nutsy Smith's checkered career in college, complete with a criminal rap for assault on a woman half his size, his story about his academic career starts to sound a lot more like classic Smith -- that is, a half-truth at best. Here's his tale, as told by the Tribune:
Smith recalls losing his temper often during high school and his first couple years at the University of Oregon, even getting into fights at the tavern."I was kind of an angry dude," Smith said.
Smith’s father is a former Mormon, and recalled many benefits from his two-year missionary stint for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The elder Smith, seeing his son skating through college, ordered him to take a year off for community service work.
Jefferson became a youth counselor in Lane County, and then ran youth sports programs for inner-city African-Americans in Washington, D.C.
He was "skating through college" -- really? Sounds more like a guy who should have been thrown out of college for a year or two to think things over. Who knows? Maybe he was. And he was counseling kids, given his record? What organization would put him in that position? Did they know about his violent streak?
Smith talks about "getting into fights at the tavern," but leaves out the part about the kegger where he sent a woman to the hospital and had to divert his way out of criminal assault charges. Smith and his father sure took that Trib reporter for a ride.
We've already wondered aloud whether Nutsy disclosed his arrest record in his applications to the New York bar (where he was never sworn in despite passing the grueling bar exam) and the Oregon bar. Do you think he disclosed it on his Harvard Law School application? Maybe a reporter will ask him. He probably won't remember, and alas, there was that tragic storage unit fire....
Smith is now an inactive member of the Oregon bar. If he ever wants the right to practice law again, he'll have to reactivate, which means getting vetted again by the bar fitness folks. No doubt they'd have some questions now that they didn't have last time around.
Or maybe he'll just go back to running the three murky, interlocking entities collectively known as the Bus Project, for relatively crummy pay. As one reader remarked here yesterday, it's time to him to formulate a Plan B for his 40s, which begin this coming June. A term at City Hall does not seem to be in the offing.
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Comments (19)
I'm still wondering if Smith's violent actions towards that student made their way to the U of O internal disciplinary committee. If the female student had filed a complaint, or if anyone else at the party had, it would have been adjudicated on campus, and a year long leave of absence could have been imposed. It would be interesting to know *when* he took his year of community service. I don't doubt for a minute that he did perform community service...it is often a very good antidote for bad-acting college kids. I just wonder when he did it--was it the academic year following the assault?
Posted by Dave J. | October 11, 2012 9:25 AM
Jack,
After my Jefferson Smith interview got contentious last year, his campaign called my editors at Neighborhood Notes to complain about it, and they killed the piece. They also took me off the Eileen Brady interview. That hurt my feelings as it was punitive and made it seem like I was unsafe to place in front of a politician, even though my Charlie Hales and Max Brumm interviews went well. In short they caved to a bully.
I was eventually reassigned to email "interviews" in a series called Armchair Mayor and you were one of them. Phil Stanford went along as did one of the owners of Artichoke Music. Thanks to all of you. We even drifted back into the political arena later with Scott Fernandez, and Cameron Whitten.
This very morning I was informed that the Armchair Mayor series is over and I am in their rearview mirror. It's okay. I've lost better gigs than that.
In fact, I'm sort of grateful to the Neighborhood Notes people. Their typical stories were things like, "10 Places to Get an Ice Cream Sandwich in Portland" so they took a leap letting me interview politicians. The Hales interview went well, the Max Brumm interview went great, then came Jeffy.
Now it's just another line in my job history. Farewell, Neighborhood Notes. Best of luck to you going forward. Sorry it got weird with the Jefferson Smith character, but I reacted to him the way I wish someone else had long ago.
Maybe he would have dropped the bully routine and grown up.
Posted by Bill McDonald | October 11, 2012 10:43 AM
Let's see. Smith born in June 1973, so would start UO in the fall of 1991 at 18. Assault occurred Oct 1993. Graduates UO 1996 and Harvard in 1999.
That year off would fit right in after the assault.
Posted by Andrew | October 11, 2012 11:01 AM
Any chance that Smith's work as a youth counselor was his required 20 hours of community service from the diversion agreement?
Posted by Andrew | October 11, 2012 11:06 AM
Jeff Smith is an addict. It's plain as day. Jeckel and Hyde behavior. Repeat driver's license suspensions. Left several extremely lucrative jobs most ambitous people would kill for ultimately for a job where he managed himself. Problems with the law while socially drinking. Does anyone else not see this?
Anyone who has taken reasonable suspicion training for drug abuse or has known family members battling addiction can see it plain as day.
Posted by mark fitz | October 11, 2012 11:10 AM
Maybe Smith's idea of "community service" was 20 hours of working for the Bus Project before it had money to pay him.
Posted by jmh | October 11, 2012 11:27 AM
"Jefferson Smith was a youth counselor in college?"
So what? Sam likes to hang around high schools to mentor youth.
Enjoy Jeffy's 15 minutes of fame before he becomes a staffer for a commissioner.
Posted by Steve | October 11, 2012 11:53 AM
How can we be certain this guy's chances in the race have tanked? Do the "polls" even reach the Keep Portland Weird crowd, let alone accurately weight them?
Seems to me since 1984 Portland voters have shown a distinct tendency to reject the establishment candidate for whomever is the alternative.
Posted by boycat | October 11, 2012 11:54 AM
He really needs to turn the "Bus Project" into the "Couch Project."
"Here, take this son...."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQMgNtmJQ6w
Only imagine Smith there being portrayed by Tom Sizemore....in a courtroom scene with daddy.
Posted by Mojo | October 11, 2012 12:05 PM
Andrew, I think you're onto something here. Down here, that "youth counselor" routine is a regular one for fratboy offenders who get a cushy deal: put in a year or maybe two without incident, and the judge wipes all record of the offense. Most of the time, it's for assault or sexual assault, but often it's for felony drug use as well. This has two big benefits: not only is the perp's record clean, but he can then stand up and claim the counseling job as an asset in future political campaigns. I could point to several Texas politicians, including a certain carpetbagging former President, who took advantage of that wink-wink good old boy network, and nobody bothers to ask "So if you did such a great job, and you did such wonderful things for the community, why did you quit the moment you weren't required to do so?"
Posted by Texas Triffid Ranch | October 11, 2012 1:06 PM
Boycat,
You bring up a great point. Out of respect for Jack I looked up the successful write-in campaigns in American History, and there are quite a few, with some big names.
But my impression was they all had actual candidates trying to win. Has LaVonne Griffin-Valade announced she's running? Are there rallies where she appears and asks for our votes? What's her campaign slogan?
I'd hate to have to deal with Mayor Smith because of a gesture. A protest vote for a candidate who - as far as I know - never said she was a candidate.
Posted by Bill McDonald | October 11, 2012 1:10 PM
Ya'no, I remain skeptical not endorsing the 2-part premised frame of the given analysis of JefferS psychological status/slash/mid-life crisis.
1) " a guy who should have been thrown out ..., given his record?" Premised: your Permanent Record is all you are, ever, (separate from your being), and one sinful blemish on your Permanent Record makes you outcast, thrown out, subhuman, indecent, unAmerican, ineligible to stand for elected office, have a thought, do right, aannnnd you'll burn in hell. Because sin is on your Permanent Record being kept recorded by Scholarian monks, Santa Claus knowing you've been bad, God up above the clouds keeping score whether you win or lose on Judgment Day, and, not least of all the Permanent-Record watchers watching your every minute, mitred piety-peddlers in Confessional eavesdrops.
Well, I'm skeptical that Perm.Rec. is or makes a person a human being.
Moreover, it seems that realworld eventuations are going to beg the question anyway. Perm.Rec.: Is it relevant anymore? And the children sing:
it’s not about what you’ve done
it’s about what you doing
it’s all about where you going
no matter where you’ve been
let’s go!; in chorus.
2) "If he ever wants the right to practice law again, he'll have to .... Or maybe he'll just go back to ... relatively crummy pay" Premise: Money supremacy in life is (psychologically) more important than principles.
Although there has been a long discussion (many thousands of years) on this point, I still am skeptical that money is the tree of life, yet I am strongly convinced that currency is. (the tree of life). Whatever contradiction that is. And the children sing:
Seems like everybody's got a price,
I wonder how they sleep at night.
When the sale comes first,
And the truth comes second,
Just stop for a minute and
Smile
It's not about the money, money, money
We don't need your money, money, money
We just wanna make the world dance,
Forget about the price tag; boom 'r bust.
I kinda expect JefferS under-40 peers voters are legion, (a few busloads of them anyway), and not as repulsed from his criminal Permanent Record as they are from CharlieH's dinosauric age.
And I kinda expect thrivers in the New Future get along well without either Permanent Records or amassed money. ... it's not about what was done
it's about what we're doing ...
Posted by Tenskwatawa | October 11, 2012 1:19 PM
"Smith recalls losing his temper often during high school and his first couple years at the University of Oregon, even getting into fights at the tavern." - Tribune
Hmmm. Up until June, 1994, Nutsy was underage and had no business in a tavern at all, much less getting into fights at one. Phoney ID and underage drinking?
If Nutsy wants to claim that his tavern fights were after June, 1994, when he turned 21, it sort of looks like his commitment to be law abiding, contained in his diversion agreement, didn't last long.
IF Nutsy is telling is that his gar grawling days were before the diversion agreement, sort of sounds like Nutsy had then a huge alcohol and anger management / aggression problem. Also tells us that Nutsy's attack on the girl at the party was part of a pattern and no "accident", despite what he claims now.
Lying sack of stuff.
Posted by Nonny Mouse | October 11, 2012 1:24 PM
Bah. "bar brawling", not "gar grawling".
Posted by Nonny Mouse | October 11, 2012 1:28 PM
Time for a betting pool on when he'll withdraw.
Posted by sally | October 11, 2012 1:50 PM
I'd hate to have to deal with Mayor Smith because of a gesture. A protest vote for a candidate who - as far as I know - never said she was a candidate.
Okay, then write in Scott Fernandez, who is an announced write-in candidate. I'll never vote for Char-Lie Hales for anything, Bill. And if you don't knock it off, I'm going to have my dad call your boss and get you fired.
Posted by Jack Bog | October 11, 2012 1:59 PM
I'm glad Scott Fernandez is keeping his name in the headlights. Commissioner Fish is the next commissioner that Scott would have a good chance to defeat. And if LaVonne isn't successful this time, the next open seat will finally be an interesting race. Only if the media comes to it senses and the City Club starts representing the whole city.
Posted by lw | October 11, 2012 4:48 PM
The City Club is like Willy Week -- they've become a part of the problem.
Posted by Jack Bog | October 11, 2012 7:32 PM
As a card-carrying member of the Keep Portland Weird crowd, I can confidently state that he's in the process of being thrown under the... nevermind
Posted by Zach | October 11, 2012 11:17 PM