Know Your Firearm Fondlers: State Rep. Steve Smyk

Filed in National by on February 27, 2018

If you listen to Republican State Rep. Steve Smyk talk about himself, he’s all about the public safety community. The former state cop calls himself “an outspoken authority on public safety issues,” but what he really should call himself is a traitor to the people he claims are more important than you or me. He has a 93% rating from the NRA, a level only devoted gun-suckers reach.

Smyk, who is known as “Smyk the Dick” or “Smyk the Prick,” depending on whom you ask, was the president of the Delaware State Trooper Association, the state troopers’ union, which oversaw a long-running scam soliciting donations from a gullible public for “Camp Barnes.” The vast majority of the money raised went to the telemarketing firm; most of the rest went to build the a swell clubhouse for our overburdened (with overtime pay, that is) state police. Camp Barnes was lucky to get $10,000 a year of the hundreds of thousands raised. So we know he’s a scam artist got no problem with scam artistry.

Here’s the question for today: If he’s all about the public safety veterans, whom he clearly regards as more equal than the rest of us, why won’t he act to restrict the weapons criminals use to outgun police?

Smyk has taken $800 in blood-soaked gun money. Give it back, Steve, or admit you’re a typical blue-clad phony about public safety.

 

Steve_Smyk_2017

About the Author ()

Who wants to know?

Comments (10)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. chris says:

    Pretty damning info on the Camp Barnes issue. Was there ever a media story published on that anywhere in the state? Just curious….

  2. Alby says:

    Yes, back when I was an editor on the news desk. It was the mid-90s, so it was probably lost when the incompetents at the News Journal wiped several years of electronic files by accident.

    No telling how the newspaper will survive now that the inventor of journalism, David Ledford, has departed.

  3. Joshua W says:

    Smyk has a opponent this time around, Jack Bucchioni, and I think he stands a good chance. If you want to help get rid of the NRA’s preferred candidate, you can donate to Jack’s campaign here: https://bucchioni20.com/contribute-now/

  4. SussexWatcher says:

    For the record:

    The articles by Cris Barrish that Alby refers to ran on Monday, December 18, 1995. They say that DSTA received $3.9 million in donations, with $3.4 million going to the telemarketer; the DSTA got $343,094 and charities got $144,173, of which Camp Barnes got $13,651.

    I’m no fan of Smyk, but he was DSTA president from 2010 to 2012, 15 years after this scandal. Without more information, I don’t think it’s reasonable to tag him with responsibility for that mess just because he was a trooper.

  5. Alby says:

    The scandal never stopped just because the article ran. The only change that was made to the program of which I’m aware is that they stopped giving you a few jars of jam for your donation.

    And he wasn’t just “a trooper.” He was the head of their little union, which lied to the public about the money it was raising and used the bulk of what little they got to build a tree fort without the tree.

  6. SussexWatcher says:

    But he was not its president at the time of this article, correct?

    Do you have any evidence that he continued the practice as its president?

    I like a good scandal just as much as anyone, but context is important.

  7. Alby says:

    Did he give the money back?

    I”m not saying Smyk oversaw the fund-raising program. I’m saying the entire state police union ran a scam on the public. Is he on record condemning it?

  8. chris says:

    If he was head of the DSTA when this scandal happened, then he has some explaining to do…. it is relevant to the voters and his constituents. An opponent should dredge up the issue and hold him accountable on it if the facts bear out..
    Dover needs good honest people serving..

  9. Alby says:

    No, he was the head of the DSTA much later. He didn’t start it, but if he ended it he didn’t do so publicly.

    I haven’t gotten a call from the DSTA in a year or two, but they were definitely doing phone solicitations during his tenure.

  10. Alby says:

    @SW: You make a fair point, so I’ve edited the passage to make it more clear that Smyk didn’t initiate the scam.

    I wasn’t trying to resurrect the scam, just remind people that the state police are inherently dishonest as a union.