Jeff Smith and Wal-Mart: A Love-Hate Sorta Thing

By Chad Garrison Wed., Aug. 26 2009 at 1:23 PM

Categories: Follow That Story, Politics

Okay, okay. My last post today on Jeff Smith. I swear! But I just had to share this amusing nugget.

As I reported this morning, one of the many subplots in the criminal case assembled against the former state senator and members of his 2004 congressional campaign was their use of throw-away cellphones to corroborate the lies they told investigators.

Particularly intriguing was this little back-and-forth between Smith and Nick Adams, his former deputy campaign manager.

Adams: Can we get some of those pay as you go cell phones like on The Wire?
Smith: Buy three of them at Wal-Mart and meet tomorrow to pass them out.

So, later today I'm scrolling through the Post-Dispatch's online archive of pictures of Jeff Smith when I stumble upon the following AP photo and caption from 2006.

stltoday.com

If you can't read the caption (I know the type is small) Smith is at a rally outside a St. Louis Wal-Mart. The caption states that "Smith said he would never again shop at Wal-Mart after seeing first hand what the retail giant had done to mom-and-pop stores in town squares in rural Iowa."

In hindsight, we now know that Smith didn't mean he wouldn't have other people shop at at Wal-Mart, especially when pressed for tools needed to obstruct a federal investigation.