Before coming to IFI, Dave Smith, a lifelong resident of Chicago, spent seven years working as an Aide to an Alderman of the Chicago City Council, serving the blue-collar communities on the City's south side.

Dave is nationally known, however, as a leading expert on national decency issues. During a four-year period, David filed 70 complaints with the Federal Communications Commission against radio shock jock Erich "Mancow" Muller's show for his broadcast of sexually graphic material. As a result, Mancow's bosses, Emmis Communications, paid $300,000 for violating the federal broadcast law. (Mancow has since been fired from his Chicago station.)

Dave led the 2006 Protect Marriage Illinois project that was launched in June 2005. On May 8, 2006, more than 30 citizens from across Illinois joined Dave in filing more than 65,000 petitions sheets with more than 347,000 names at the Illinois State Board of Elections (SBE) in Springfield. The purpose of the petition drive was to put an advisory referendum on the November ballot asking if the General Assembly should amend the Illinois Constitution to declare that "marriage between a man and a woman is the only legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State."

Dave has a burden for our culture, and a strong desire to effect positive change. He has been bold speaking out on moral issues, including abortion, homosexuality and, of course, the prevalence of obscene and indecent material in the public square.

An alumnus of the Family Research Council's Witherspoon Fellowship, Dave graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a B.A. in Political Science in 1998. He and his wife of 13 years are the parents of four young children.