Secretary of State White: ‘Derrick Smith’s victory is a black eye to people of Illinois’

By Chinta Strausberg

While Illinois Rep.-Elect Derrick Smith, who has been indicted and expelled from the General Assembly, says he is now a “new man” given his trouncing of attorney Lance Tyson who reportedly did not live in the district, Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White Saturday is outraged over his victory saying it gives the people of Illinois “a black eye.”

“It’s not only what he did but his history. He has a checkered past,” White told reporters after attending the City of Chicago’s annual Veterans Day Commemoration Ceremony held at Wabash and Wacker Streets.

Referring to the Illinois’s 118 House members and the Senate’s 59 senators, White asked, “Why would the federal government seek him out to give him an opportunity to receive $7,000 in the form of bribery? They undoubtedly knew what I knew but yet it wasn’t properly conveyed to the people of the district,” White said.

When told that some legislators are meeting to figure out what can be done to prevent White from taking office in January, White said, “That I don’t know, but I wish them well because the people on the West Side of Chicago have paid their fair share of individuals who have been in violation of the law. Pretty close to 12 of them have been indicted, gone to jail or in the process of being indicted. Enough is enough,” White said.

“It’s a black eye for the people of this wonderful state of ours. It’s a black eye for the people of the district,” he said.

Asked if they should oust him again, White said, “What ever they an do because I don’t want to be a part of history where a gentlemen who has been indicted, arrested for taking a $7,000 bribe I think it’s the wrong message to send to young people, other constituents of the district that it’s Ok for you to take a bribe and you walk around and say, ‘well, a man is innocent until proven guilty.’

“There is a lot of history when it comes to Derrick Smith and if I had known then what I know now, I would not have been a part of helping him get the appointment and I would have disassociated myself from him,” White told reporters.

Chinta Strausberg is a Journalist of more than 33-years, a former political reporter and a current PCC Network talk show host. You can e-mail Strausberg at: Chintabernie@aol.com.