User:FloNight/Ada Smith

Ada L. Smith (born April 18, 1945, in Amherst County, Virginia ) served as a New York State Senator from 1989 to 2006. She represented the 10th Senate District, centered in the Jamaica, Queens section of New York City.

Smith, an African-American, was ranking Democrat on the state Corporations, Authorities and Commissions Committee, and gained notoriety for several brushes with the law. She lost the 2006 Democratic senate primary election to Shirley Huntley, who was elected state senator later that year.

Background
Born in Virginia, Smith was raised in New York City. In 1973 she graduated from Baruch College in Manhattan. Smith, who is unmarried, previously worked as deputy clerk to the City Clerk of New York City.

Incidents
In 1996, staffer LaSone Garland-Bryan accused Smith of menacing her with a knife while they were alone in Smith's office. According to Garland-Bryan's statement, the senator became angry when she overheard Garland-Bryan telling family members that Smith "sometimes forgot to take her medication". Garland-Bryan declined to press charges, but wrote an official complaint about the incident to then-Senate Minority Leader Martin Connor, who responded by asserting that he had "no authority" to punish Smith.

In 1998, New York City police arrested Smith after she allegedly became belligerent and bit an officer following a traffic stop in Brooklyn. Police were eventually forced to mace Smith and drag her from her car in order to subdue her.

In 2004, Smith was arrested and cited for reckless driving after refusing to stop at a police checkpoint at a state garage in Albany. Smith refused to stop in order to present ID, and attempted to accelerate through the checkpoint, almost running over a State Trooper with her car in the process.

In 2006, Smith's Chief-of-Staff, Philip Mahlke, alleged that he was fired after having objected to Smith's frequent use of homophobic slurs in abusive tirades against both himself and her other staffers.

Coffee attack
Smith was convicted on August 26, 2006 in Albany City Court of misdemeanor harassment stemming from an attack on former aide Jennifer Jackson in Smith's Albany office on March 21, 2006.

In the incident, Smith flew into a rage and threw hot coffee in Jackson's face after the staffer commented on her weight. Jackson also alleged that Smith pulled off her hairpiece, injuring her neck in the process, and threatened to kill her if she reported the incident. The senator, who is heavy-set, had just returned from a Weight Watchers meeting that morning to report she had lost 4.3 pounds. According to published reports, Jackson said she simply made a lighthearted comment about expecting her boss to have shed more pounds given her constant on-the-go lifestyle, and did not intend to insult her. Smith's lawyer denied the charges and accused Jackson of lying to authorities, claiming that Jackson told had actually told the senator she needed to lose 100 pounds.

Originally charged with misdemeanor battery, Smith chose to go to trial on the charges, rejecting an offer of a plea deal that would include anger management counseling. The harassment conviction does not carry any jail time.

Discipline
In the aftermath of the coffee attack, then-Senate Minority Leader David Paterson stripped Smith of her state-issued car, her honorary title, and a $9,500 per year stipend attached to her leadership position. Paterson, who is now Governor of New York, stated that the coffee attack was the latest demonstration of what he called "a pattern of inappropriate, unprofessional and often abusive behavior" from Smith.

Smith has gone through over 200 high-level aides and staffers in her 17 years in the Senate, more than any other sitting Senator in New York State history.