SALEM – It hasn’t been the best of summers for Rep. Greg Smith, R-Heppner, at least in the legal sense.

First, the Morrow County District Attorney charged Smith with harassment after a bruising spanking to one of his three children.

Smith pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge in July, but the case could be dismissed if he adheres to the terms of his probation.

Then this month, while Smith was in Salem for the Legislature’s special session, he was pulled over for driving 41 mph through a 20-mph school zone.

”He told the officers that he was a legislator and on his way to the Capitol and that they don’t have the authority to stop him because of legislative immunity,” said Salem Police spokesman Lt. Bill Kohlmeyer.

Smith doesn’t want to talk at length about either incident – but denies that he sought immunity from the ticket.

He isn’t contesting it and said he mailed the $295 payment for the citation on the day he received it. Salem Municipal Court had not recorded receiving any payment as of Monday, however, and his court appearance is still scheduled for Friday.

Smith characterizes the spanking incident as a personal family matter that turned into a legal issue when his former wife reported him to state workers in Deschutes County in March.

”Right now, I’m just focusing on raising my three sons and representing my district as best as I can,” he said.

The first-term lawmaker is an economic development specialist who worked for the Port of Morrow before his successful campaign for the Oregon Legislature in 2000. He was first elected to the former district that stretched from Crook County to the Idaho border, but those lines changed under the state’s 2001 redistricting plan.

Heppner is now part of a district that covers much of northeast Oregon. He is seeking re-election in November and hopes coverage of his legal matters doesn’t hurt his chances of returning to Salem.

”The timing of this issue – being made public by others just weeks before a general election – is clearly an effort to hurt me politically,” he said.

Smith recently concluded a divorce in which he was awarded sole custody of his three sons, he said in a statement.

The spanking occurred after his son broke a window at school and then lied about it, he said.

Harassment is a class B misdemeanor. A ”no contest” plea has the same legal weight as a guilty plea.

”(Smith) said he was disciplining him,” District Attorney David Allen told the Hermiston Herald. ”I took a different view on that.”

However, no conviction will be filed unless Smith violates his probation, according to a court order signed July 2 by Morrow County Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey M. Wallace.

Those conditions include paying $124 in fines and fees, obeying all laws and not using any form of physical discipline or corporal punishment on his children.

He also must attend regular counseling sessions.

”The circuit court judge and the district attorney believed it was in the best interest of the state of Oregon and the welfare of my children to discharge the case,” Smith said in his statement, ”with the condition that I continue the family counseling that my boys and I had sought throughout my divorce.”

The state constitution grants lawmakers immunity from arrest in many cases but does not shield them from driving citations, said Virginia Vanderbilt, senior deputy in the Legislative Counsel’s office.

Lawmakers may not be held during a session or during the 15 days before a session begins, unless the arrest stems from a felony, treason or breach of the peace, she said.

Kohlmeyer said Smith flashed his legislative identification to officers and tried to claim immunity from the charge.

”He was insistent that they did not have that authority and that if they made him late for an important vote they’d be in big trouble,” he said.

Smith wasn’t held for an unreasonable amount of time, Kohlmeyer said.

Typical traffic stops can last 10 minutes, but Smith’s took just four.

Smith said it was the officer – not him – who was argumentative.

James Sinks can be reached at 503-566-2839 or at jamess@cyberis.net