Monica Yant Kinney: Bob Smith comes back, but not to politics

The last time Bob Smith made headlines, the Gloucester County assemblyman was abandoning politics because of alcoholism.

Smith was sober by late 2005, when he revealed his secret. He planned to keep practicing law but steer clear of elected office, given the temptations and letdowns.

"I began to feel that being an assemblyman was almost meaningless. The imperative in everything we did was political supremacy," he recalled. In recovery, "I had clarity. I needed to see a purpose."

Six years later, Smith can be found occupying, of all places, the mayor's office in Washington Township. It's a job he didn't ask for and doesn't want, a post he will hold only as long as he is asked to do so.

Because the "purpose" thing is finally panning out for the reformed pol. By Christmas, Smith expects to be welcoming patients to a drug and alcohol treatment center he's opening in Costa Rica. The arrivals will look familiar, lost souls from the Philadelphia region desperately needing to find their way.

Smith stunned political circles when he announced in the spring of 2005 that he would not seek reelection for a fourth term. No one walks away from Trenton. No one flees power that hard-fought and hard-won.

Eight months later, Smith acknowledged, in a front-page story in The Inquirer, why he was bolting: He was a longtime closet alcoholic.

Skilled in social consumption and smart enough never to drive drunk - as a suburban municipal prosecutor, Smith handled 10 DUI cases a week - he said his drinking escalated after becoming a legislator. He grew disgusted at deals he felt forced to support and predetermined money-fueled campaigns.

Over doughnuts and Costa Rican coffee in his Turnersville kitchen, Smith, now 48, rued the kept man he had allowed himself to become.

"The irony is, I'm a product of this system, the Democratic Party system," he said, noting the gall of biting hands that bred and fed him. "I was anointed."

So, out of guilt or lingering loyalty, Smith jumped when party leaders sought his help when Matt Lyons resigned after a state Supreme Court ethics panel said he could not serve as Washington Township's mayor and Gloucester County counsel. The suburb needed a temp, a mayoral seat-warmer with no interest in the Nov. 8 special election. Smith was their man.

"The budget process is over, and I'll be gone before snow season," he said gratefully. "My job is keeping a steady hand on the wheel," then handing the keys to the next driver.

When Smith finally sought to slay his demons, his state benefits paid $30,000 to dry out at Princeton House. He knows others in need aren't as well-insured or wealthy.

"I wanted to develop a world-class treatment center that was more affordable and comparable, if not better" than what he received, Smith said, explaining the premise of his luxe Costa Rican facility, Casa Serenidad. The rehab center is set in a suburb outside San Jose, and it occupies nine acres with a stream and horse stables imbuing tranquillity with treatment.

"Bob is a very pragmatic person, a very practical man," the center's director, Francisco Jimenez, told me by phone from Costa Rica. "He has a vision of what can work here for Americans."

Lower labor costs, even for addictions specialists, will keep rates at $10,000 a month or $25,000 for 90 days. Smith hopes that attracts DUI offenders from Philadelphia to New York who would prefer rehab to jail if not for the price.

To help addicts acclimate and keep them from relapsing upon deplaning, Smith hired local support staff to provide before-and-aftercare. The investor-alcoholic knows well the struggle is constant.

"I don't want to ever take the position that I beat it," he said. "That would be dangerous."