Early life

Smith earned his bachelor’s degree from Alcorn State University

Alcorn State University

Alcorn State University is an historically black university comprehensive land-grant institution in Lorman, Mississippi. It was founded in 1871-History:...

 in Lorman, Mississippi

Mississippi

Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...

 and his master’s degree from Northeastern Illinois University

Northeastern Illinois University

Northeastern Illinois University is a public state university located in Chicago, Illinois. The main campus is located in the community area of North Park with three additional campuses in the metropolitan area. Tracing its founding to 1867, it was first established as a separate branch of a...

. Smith has written two books: Love the Town Couldn’t Stop and Almost to Late. Smith is also the executive producer of the film, “Love Relations.”

Public service

Before becoming alderman, Smith was a school teacher and worked for the Chicago Economic Development Corporation.

Aldermanic career

Smith was elected alderman in 1983 after he ran unsuccessfully in 1972, 1976, 1979 and 1980. In that 1983 election, running alongside Harold Washington, he ran a progressive campaign publicly committed to smashing the old system of patronage and corruption within Chicago.

As alderman, Smith was the main sponsor of Chicago's Smoking Ban, passed in 2005 by a vote of 47-1. He also pushed the state legislature to pass a statewide ban.

Smith was remarkably free of scandal in the City Council; at twenty-seven years he had the longest tenure of any elected African-American official in Cook County and he was never been mentioned or implicated in any of the city council's corruption scandals.

Smith was also Chicago’s representative on the Transportation, Infrastructure and Service Steering Committee to the National League of Cities

National League of Cities

The National League of Cities is an American advocacy organization representing 19,000 cities, towns, and villages, and encompassing 49 state municipal leagues....

. The National League of Cities works towards “strengthening and promoting cities as centers of opportunity, leadership, and governance.”

Smith was Chairman of the Health Committee where he led campaigns to promote awareness about sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Smith was Vice-Chairman on the Zoning committees, and served on five additional committees: Budget and Government Operations; Finance, Buildings; Committees, Rules and Ethics; and Aviation.

Smith ran in the Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 primary for Cook County

Cook County, Illinois

Cook County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, with its county seat in Chicago. It is the second most populous county in the United States after Los Angeles County. The county has 5,194,675 residents, which is 40.5 percent of all Illinois residents. Cook County's population is larger than...

 Recorder of Deeds

Recorder of deeds

Recorder of deeds is a government office tasked with maintaining public records and documents, especially records relating to real estate ownership that provide persons other than the owner of a property with real rights over that property.-Background:...

in 2008, but did not win. He announced his retirement from the city council in November 2010, effective at the end of that month.

External links

• Chicago Reader profile