Mr. Smith Goes To Court

Derrick Smith, a legislator in the Illinois General Assembly, was running in the Democratic primary - when he got indicted for bribery.

He won the Democratic primary anyway.

"I think the majority of people who voted in this election were machine voters. They are very loyal to the machine. They always vote for the machine candidates and would vote for Atilla the Hun and his brothers," Dick Simpson, UIC political science professor, said.

Today Smith pleaded not guilty in federal court, and indicated he had no intention of resigning.

“The people in my district elected me on March 20, 2012, even after the government charged me with wrongdoing,” he said. “And that’s because they believed in me.”

Technically, he was not elected on March 20. He just won the Democratic primary on that day. But he is running unopposed in the general election!

It's not the voters he has to worry about.
It's the FBI that wants him out.