State lawmakers today kicked out a West Side Democrat accused of taking a $7,000 bribe, marking the first expulsion from the Illinois House since 1905.

Rep. Derrick Smith failed to show up to defend himself or hear his fellow House lawmakers condemn his alleged actions before the 100-6 vote was taken. Three lawmakers voted present (see roll call here).

“We do not take lightly the expulsion of a member,” said House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, who chaired the discipline panel that recommended expulsion. “The case against Rep. Smith, however, is about something that no member of the House can consider harmless.”

“To act in this way is to me a stunning violation of the oath of office each of us has sworn to uphold,” Currie added. “Sometimes actions are so egregious, so contrary to the core values…of the institution that we must act, and we must act now.”

At a news conference at his lawyer's office, Smith said his former colleagues did not wait to hear all the evidence. He called this a both "happy and sad day."

"I am happy because through this ordeal I have been able to learn who my friends are," Smith said. Friends, he said, "stick by you through thick and thin."

The 48-year-old Smith is under federal indictment arising from a sting operation that led to his arrest a week before the March 20 primary that he won overwhelmingly. Smith remains on the Nov. 6 ballot, and voters could choose to send him back to the House.

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