Police Report raises questions about State Central Committeeperson Larry Smith
Only Lasalle County board member Beth Smith was arrested
How many times must a man hit his wife before we label him a wife beater?
Call me old fashioned, but I would say one documented case is enough. And in my view it doesn't matter what the woman did or how unstable she might be. You don't hit a woman.
Attached is the police report from August 19 of last year where the wife of county GOP chair and SCC member Larry Smith was arrested for battering her elderly spouse in downstate LaSalle County.
\The charge went away with no trial or conviction, and at our horribly rigged state convention she was awarded one of handful of highly prized at-large delegate spots to the national GOP convention last month. That background check was obviously very exhaustive and demanding.
But give the report a read if you haven't already seen it. Actually includes separate reports by 2 officers on scene that night. Put aside the transportation of open alcohol which is a misdemeanor. No one charged with that. The big takeaway is that both officers reported that Larry admitted he struck his wife. One report says with open hand but the other has the wife saying it was with closed fist and one officer did report redness on her face. But "she started it" so apparently it was all cool for him. Only the 30-something wife was taken away in cuffs.
Same facts but lets say JB Pritzker was the husband involved. I'm guessing the IL GOP would have a field day about how awful it is for the Dems to back a wife beater. But in Larry Smith's case we put him in charge of "the grassroots" -- whatever that is these days.
Photo Credit to Beth Smith’s Facebook.
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