RE-ELECT FRANK SMITH CAMPAIGN

COUNCILMEMBER FRANK SMITH ADDRESSES QUESTION OF DEGREE

Washington, DC — Councilmember Frank Smith, Jr. addressed the recent questions raised concerning his educational claims today. Correctly stated, the Councilmember holds a Ph.D. in community planning from Union Institute (formerly known as the Union Graduate School) headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. However, the claim that he held a B.A. in Political Science from Morehouse College located in Atlanta, Georgia is an error that first appeared in a bio change in 1993.

“I accept responsibility for this error” said Councilmember Smith. “For sixteen years, I have been on the City Council writing legislation on complicated tax issues, housing, and budget matters. I have worked with the Council, the Mayor, the CFO, and the Control Board to bring our city to good fiscal health. During my years of tenure, I have lived and raised my family in the fishbowl of Washington politics and media scrutiny. My office has handled more than 10,000 constituent concerns and I am proud of my record of service to the people of Ward One and the nation's capital.”

“The Councilmember often tells the story of how he attended Morehouse College where he first heard Martin Luther King, Jr. and left to work for civil rights in the South,” said Ruth Long, Ward One resident.

“In 1959,” continued Smith, “I rode the back of segregated Greyhound bus from Newnan, Georgia to enroll as a freshman at Morehouse College. In 1962, I left Morehouse to join the staff of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Holly Springs, Mississippi. There I taught other African Americans to read, write, and interpret the literacy test which was used as a tool by white officials to deny blacks the right to vote. It was there that I first heard of the black soldiers who fought in the Civil War. For many of the soldiers had settled in Marshal County to live and raise their families after the war. Unfortunately, I did not complete my undergraduate degree, but I did remember that story and thirty years later lead a successful drive to build a national monument to the soldiers and the 'Freedom Fight' they came to represent.”

Smith completed his Ph.D. in 1980. “I keep it on my wall at home and in my office, I keep a picture of me in a Mississippi jail.”

Friends of Frank Smith, 924 U Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001