David Burnell Smith was a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

member of the

Arizona House of Representatives The Arizona State House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. The upper house is the Senate. The House convenes in the legislative chambers at the Arizona State C ...

, representing Arizona Legislative District 7. He served in the House from January 2005 until January 2006, and again from January 2011 until January 2013. He ran unsuccessfully for re-election in November 2014. Smith died of natural causes at his home in

Carefree, Arizona Carefree is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population of the town was 3,690. History Characterized as an upscale residential area, Carefree was conceived in the mid-1950s by busines ...

on October 24, 2014.

Biography

Smith was born in

Charleston, West Virginia Charleston is the capital and List of cities in West Virginia, most populous city of West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Elk River (West Virginia), Elk and Kanawha River, Kanawha rivers, the city had a population of 48,864 at the 20 ...

on April 8, 1941. After graduating from Charleston High School, Smith served in the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

from 1959 to 1967. He received his B.A. from the

University of Charleston The University of Charleston (UC) is a private non-profit university with its main campus in Charleston, West Virginia. The university also has a location in Beckley, West Virginia, known as UC-Beckley. History The school was founded in 1888 as ...

(then known as Morris Harvey College) in 1967, where he was a member and officer in

Tau Kappa Epsilon Tau Kappa Epsilon (), commonly known as or Teke, is a social college fraternity founded on January 10, 1899, at Illinois Wesleyan University. The organization has chapters throughout the United States and Canada, making the Fraternity an internat ...

Fraternity. Smith and his wife, Rita, moved to Arizona in 1993. He ran unsuccessfully for the

Arizona State Senate The Arizona State Senate is part of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature of the US state of Arizona. The Senate consists of 30 members each representing an average of 219,859 constituents (2009 figures). Members serve two-year terms w ...

in 1998, 2000, and 2002. In 2004 he ran for the Arizona House of Representatives, and was elected to represent District 7. When irregularities were discovered in his campaign finances, the Arizona Citizens’ Clean Election Commission recommended that he be removed from office. Smith unsuccessfully fought the removal, and stepped down on January 26, 2006. In 2010 he again ran for the House, and was re-elected. He served from January 2011 through January 2013, but lost his bid for re-election in 2012 when he was beaten in the Republican primary by 32 votes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, David Burnell Republican Party members of the Arizona House of Representatives 1941 births 2014 deaths Arizona politicians convicted of crimes