Steve Smyk Still Walking Around, Showing His Creeper Face in Public
Some sexual harassment gets you a mug shot in the NJ and some never gets mentioned.
This is from El Som, way back back in June.
If you have a subscription, read away.
We’ll start with some fair use:
A lawsuit filed by a female former Delaware State Police trooper accuses police officials of ignoring years of sex discrimination and harassment, implicates current state Rep. Stephen Smyk as one her harassers and claims overtime fraud occurs in the police unit that protects the governor.
The lawsuit was filed last week in federal court by former Sgt. Nicole Oldham, who worked as a state trooper for more than 15 years. The suit states she was denied benefits and work available to her male counterparts and that she was the subject of sex-based smear campaigns by male officers who went undisciplined by leadership.
Oldham began her career with Delaware State Police in 2002, becoming a barrier-breaking female in the department where male officers currently outnumber women almost seven to one, the lawsuit states. She was voted class president of her police academy, began ranking up faster than her academy counterparts and was a nominee for trooper of the year by 2004.
One of the earliest examples listed in the lawsuit involves Smyk, who had a decades-long career with Delaware State Police, is the past president of the influential Delaware State Troopers Association and is currently representing the Milton area in the Delaware House of Representatives. Reached by text message, Smyk declined to comment saying he had not read the complaint.
The lawsuit states that “early” in Oldham’s career,” Smyk, then a state trooper, circulated an email falsely stating that she conducted a traffic stop with her child in her car and the car was stolen.” In the email, Smyk wrote that this “FEMALE trooper” should not be on the job and indicated he was reporting this to help out his “brothers” in state police, the lawsuit states.
That’s about as much as I can safely excerpt, but there’s a whole lot more in the article. By all accounts, Oldham is an exemplary officer, who rose through the ranks despite ongoing harassment. I mean intolerable harassment.
The Speaker Pete cameo?:
In 2013, she was assigned to the State Police’s Executive Protection Unit, which is charged with protecting the governor, lieutenant governor and their families. She was the first woman named by merit to lead the unit, the lawsuit states.
When she was promoted to the division, male troopers placed a photograph and a message in her mailbox claiming she earned the prestigious position by performing oral sex on Delaware House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, who is also retired from state police.
The lawsuit claims that officers on the unit are typically afforded a free housing benefit, but when she asked for that benefit, a lieutenant told another male sergeant, “she can suck my d*ck.”
If even a scintilla of her allegations are true, this represents an incredibly-toxic culture at work. It would prove that State police, who are about to once again get their pensions padded, are a law unto themselves.
Forget about the civil suit, although I can’t imagine anybody subjecting themselves to yet more harassment for coming forward with false charges. This calls for a full-blown criminal investigation by anybody but the cops themselves. BTW, will any of the cop fellators on the House Ethics Committee do anything about this? Oh, and Speaker Pete? You might want to strip Smyk of his committee posts until this is resolved. Especially the Judicary Committee. If it’s the proper punishment for Darius Brown, then it certainly is for Smyk. Also from the Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee. And the Corrections Committee. Until these allegations are resolved, he has no business near any committee dealing with law enforcement.
One last thing–there had better be no cover-up of what appears to have been a years’-long cover-up of this disgraceful behavior.
Just look at the guy. You know he is guilty as fuck.
A profile of someone who is above the law in Delaware. As are virtually all cops.
I pray Rep. Anton Wilson or Morrison will file a complaint.
iF TRUE, THIS is actual CONDUCT – not a racist statement protected by free speech. This is something someone did, not said.
Would be great if our senators went after an R for once…
It would be the House of Reps.
Rumors going around in Sussex include Smyk running for the Senate District 6 (Lopez’s seat)..
That district is gonna be a solid D district.
Already has a D edge, and the population is way over where it’ll need to be following redistricting. It’s so easy to cut out predominantly R sections from what remains that I doubt that Smyk would even consider running for it.
If he doesn’t get cut out of the district during reapportionment.
We would welcome the re-match, if he runs for Senate 6. Jack Bucchioni (Bucchioni22.com)
Annd, just like that, we have Breaking Political News:
https://www.capegazette.com/article/bucchioni-announces-bid-senate-office/227088
Whether Bucchioni has the field to himself remains to be seen. Because the district looks to be solidly D, I would doubt it.
Bucchioni got 43% of the vote against Smyk in a race for the 20th RD seat in 2018.
Some context on Bucchioni. Here’s what I wrote in my prediction thread back in 2018:
“RD 20: If you’re running against an ex-cop in Trump Country, there’s no point in running a ‘traditional’ campaign that might get you, say, 35% of the vote. To his credit, John Bucchioni has not run a typical campaign. In fact, if I had to describe it in a single word, the word would be ‘delightful’. His website is fun to surf, and I recommend that you do so. He doesn’t pretend to be someone he’s not, and he certainly has the background to be a quality legislator. Both as a teacher and as a businessman. And he may be the first politician I can recall who listed ‘Fast Internet’ as one of his campaign issues. I’d love to have a few beers with this guy. Did I mention he was running against an ex-cop? Steve Smyk. You already know what Smyk rhymes with. I think that Jack outperforms 35%. But Smyk prevails, 58-42. Sometimes, districts are destiny.”
JoshW, who, believe me, knows his way around campaigns, issued a bit of a cautionary note:
“RD20: This one is a genuine mystery to me. Bucchioni is an interesting figure and a nice guy who knows how to sell himself in person, but he’s refused basically all help from the party. Given the way he talks about his campaign, refusing help might make me confident about how things are running, but whereas he said he’d be largely self-funded, he’s only lent himself 10k (by way of comparison, Krista Griffith loaned herself almost 60k), and while he talks a big game about having a lot of volunteers, I haven’t seen many photos of them on his Facebook page. So I don’t know, maybe he ekes it out, maybe not.”
Meaning, it remains to be seen whether Bucchioni can build a strong enough organization to run for this seat. That will be essential, otherwise, an R could sneak in. Or, more likely, he could lose in a primary to a D who puts together a more effective campaign. Plus, he didn’t follow up with a rematch vs. Smyk in 2020, which raises yet another question, at least for me.
El Somnambulo,
I still would like to have that beer, anytime. Yes, would love it if the invitation is still open. Your thoughts/advice to win here in Sussex more detail would be appreciated.
*Yes, we are in Trump county, can you feel it? Going way back, Sussex was Dem as I’m sure you know. Some “lost in history” events that illuminate why we Sussex Dems have to get out and work harder this cycle are:
*Things dramatically changed and it went heavy red team around the last re-districting 2012 forward; back then the thinking was Sussex is safe Blue. (2012 Senate 6 came down was formed The general thinking was Sussex was drawn up to stay blue).
* In the next few years Sussex lost 5 key down ballot elections and still we have not recovered any (Ernie won, Price and Deavers out, Hocker (R) and Collins in. (5 down ballot seats went from the blue team to the red.)
*Re: Smyk vs the world in RD 20, Smyk was originally a Democrat who changed to a Republican for the State House election.
*Last challenge cycles are 2014 Smyk won 5,473 to 3,737 votes | 2016 Smyk won 9,209 to 5,529. Yes, in 2018 Smyk won over me 8,189 to my 6,281. (Correct 43%) in a 3 way race.
________________________________________
Some hard source numbers and my thoughts to your posts are:
*The now Senate 6 loosely overlays RD14,RD20, and part of RD36.
*Given the re-districting is unknown yet, sourcing the Department of Elections registrations one finds RD14 has 8,035 Republicans |RD20 9,409 | and RD36 has 6,313 Registered Republicans in late 2020.
*Dems registrations show on my snapshot from the same source I we see RD14 being 10,208 | RD 20 being 9,775 | and RD 36 at 6,120.
*At the end of the day the new lines will be telling, albeit, these total up to Dems 26,103 |Republicans 23,757 to your point, edge Dems (If they are real Dems and not DINOs in disguise)
*I do believe to understand Sussex political voter math one must seriously consider the effects of swaying the three large buckets that are hidden. I, respectfully, suggest this must include our campaign logically and methodically noting Independents | DINOS | DIXIECRATS on the voter roles (subjectively) then mapping out how Senate 6 really votes. To suggest this area id progressive is in debate down here given the win loss record for the last 10 years.
*The 64,000 question I would pose is:
What candidate can win the general election Senate 6 seat from the historic extreme right voters that live among us down here? To this question we suggest, we need to win this election to make things move. Nothing happens down here unless we start winning, we get it! (We need more seats than just Pete)
* The voter registration here is unlike anything I have ever seen, it merits very close looks, obviously as we Dems have not done well down ballot to this point, (Exception; Pete winning)
*Yes, I know of at least 6 folks who are interested in joining the primary against me. Ain’t that America? We are out early because we plan to win and must start now to get there. Signing off for now. Game on.
Here’s why I don’t think the R’s have much of a chance in 2022, if any:
https://delawareliberal.net/2021/07/19/ernie-lopez-merely-bowed-to-the-inevitable/
You don’t even realize how much of a joke you are, do you?
Care to elaborate?
Just read Bucchioni’s revision of Sussex political history. Maybe if he actually had lived here back then, he would understand what happened. Shirley Price was defeated in 2002 after Republicans redistricting
Joan Deaver retired in 2016, after two terms
The other races were racist Dixiecrat Democratic voters replacing conservative Democrats with conservative Republicans: Atkins for Collins
Venables for Richardson.
George Bunting retired and was replaced by Hocker.
Jack’s a nice guy, but he doesn’t know Sussex, retired here and stupidly refused the support of his RD when he ran, and lost, to Smyk. The 6th needs someone electable.
So who would be electable if Dixiecrats aren’t? I ask because you’re knowledgeable, not to be a smartass.
It seems to me that Sussex has changed so much in 20 years that the history is irrelevant. The problem, at least in the east, is you have a transient population, mostly retirees moving in and young people moving out.
People retire to Sussex, but 20 years is about the lifespan of a retirement, and I’m not sure those retirees from other states even care about the candidates. If I were to move year-round to a resort area in another state, I’d probably just vote for whomever the D was, and I suspect a lot of Sussex retirees might do the same.
I hear that Mitch Crane is going to run. I would certainly support him.
Maybe he’ll run a REAL campaign this time?
Color me ambivalent, at best.
I think his electoral ship has sailed.
The Senate could really benefit from a policy wonk like Crane. He just needs the right people around him to run the right campaign.
Maybe if he had called her a chink broad then the entire legislature would be behind an investigation….oh wait…wake me when someone actually faces consequences
That’s gonna be a long nap. Is your last name Van Winkle?
Bucchioni has “announced” he will run IF he remains in the 6th. If he had run again against Smyk in 2020, he probably would have won, but he decided not to at the last minute and Smyk had no opposition-every statewide D carried the 20th that year. Bucchioni then got elected to represent Sussex on the State Dem Exec Committee and resigned in a huff when he was criticized . There are at least two other D’s looking at running in the 6th. The R’s are trying to talk another cop into running.
As to Smyk, he is too conservative to win in the 6th. It is also rumored that he is retiring.
A rumor that seems to be entirely true, however, is that Sen Brian Pettyjohn (19th) is resigning to take a state job.
Thanks. The Pettyjohn retirement, although it won’t impact the party breakdown in the Senate, gives those drawing the lines a bit more flexibility in redistricting b/c they don’t have to consider where Pettyjohn resides when drawing the boundaries.
Same thing holds true with David Bentz’ House district in NCC. I don’t expect the House to do away with the district, but they CAN draw the lines w/o having to worry where Bentz lives.
Same thing could happen if Bruce Ennis decides to retire.
Sussex Worker,
Wow, so “judgmental”. I didn’t know you were the last or expert word on Sussex County politics or what I do. Amazing stuff. On to the primary.
Dearest Sussex Worker,
OOOOPS……………………
Why do you mislead the readers , I get it, you don’t want to support me. Got it, but I do have to refute your barrage of mis-information verifiably not correct. check out below
Please relax and regroup, you are making big mistakes on unsupported emotionally charged comments. You risk losing all reader credibility; case in point:
Sussex Worker said: “Just read Bucchioni’s revision of Sussex political history. Maybe if he actually had lived here back then, he would understand what happened. Shirley Price was defeated in 2002 after Republicans redistricting”
Really???
Jack says: Fact checking confirms you might want to check again what I wrote. you appear so upset you are factually wrong and making big mistakes in your lashing out. Here is a n article from the cape gazette the year is 2012:
https://www.capegazette.com/node/29051
Price did run in the 2012 election for Delaware House of Representatives District 38. Price ran unopposed in the Democratic primary on September 11, 2012 and was defeated by Ronald Gray in the general election on November 6, 2012.[1]
Sussex Worker is correct: Shirley Price was defeated in 2002 following the redistricting. By Gerald Hocker in a very close race.
Yes, she tried to make a comeback in 2012 after the D’s had done the redistricting, but she fell short.
So, um, Jack, SW didn’t mislead anybody. You’re not exactly covering yourself in glory here…
El Somnambulo,
This I will answer and move on, sorry for the long response but it is time to close and move forward to another topic.
Hummm, with respect , in my conversation with Sussex Worker or Sussex Water (which ever) I note the the Sussex Worker conversation deflected from the context of the looking at the last re-districting window 9/10 years ago, to a discussion of 20 years ago. Nice try, hoping our readers are not yawning now.
Getting back to the simple mention that the Price race was dated 2012 by me regarding Sussex County down ballot seats being the beginnings of Republican dominance, please note:
(Jack said) *Things dramatically changed and it went heavy red team around the last re-districting | 2012 forward; back then the thinking was Sussex is safe Blue. (2012 Senate 6 came down was formed….) Why this is relevant is Dems need to get some of these seats back blue.
So, El Somnambulo when you said “Yes, she tried to make a comeback in 2012 after the D’s had done the redistricting, but she fell short”. You actually validated and brought the context back to the original discussion of 2012 from “look at this shiny 2002 object” thank you. I would ask, let it roll now, should get more interesting, as the primary season begins in Sussex for this open seat.
Yes, let me re-state for clarity, 2012 and the next few years through 2016 were the start of a down spiral of losing seats in Sussex County that is the point. We need to get some of these seats back and remember this history. that caused the rise of team red
No glory needed here, no revisionist thinking, this, at arms length, was an opening debate between 2 people running for office on Delaware liberal i.e. one of my Senate 6 primary opponents incognito ghost through Sussex Worker.
Today, I’m re- identifying the years Sussex down ballot seats slid heavy to the Republicans. This history is very important as it happened in the beginning of the present 10 year cycle which we must reverse this re-districting cycle. I am a believer that past history dictates future success. Again this Sussex Republican gain was , ironically, on one leader’s watch, remember that “lost in history” fact. One needs to own their results and he will in time.
He? look to who was the Sussex Democratic informal and formal leadership during that 2012 time forward and the news paper quotes at that time. It appears one of my potential primary opponents just took my bait today as he he moved to engage me
from behind the curtain on Delaware liberal, nice. Disappointing he still is hiding in ghost writing form dancing in the shadows. O.K. let the games begin.
For the record, I really do respect this hiding opponent’s voice behind his ghost today and believe he is better than any Republican out there. Seriously I would vote for him, but I intend to win this one as planned he is my second choice. I was hopeful there would be no big tent food fights, but this is Delaware politics and he just threw the first punch. This Democratic primary will be epic as he I will be up to the task no doubt; it is just getting started. More conversations to come.
Given Sussex Worker’s, or the ghost behind the decent into personal attacks today (The insults we an interesting touch) I would make the case temperament matters, we will leave this to the voters of Sussex County , they are watching early and often.
Uh–ho-kay.
Is Jack B John K’s twin brother? They both bloviate the same way.
yep, watching and support JACK.
Steve Smyk must go. I’m in favor of whatever gets us to that outcome.
Pistol Pete has it in his power. No, he won’t go after a fellow ex-State cop on ethics charges, some things hew too close to the bone.
But, the 20th RD voted for every statewide D in 2020. There are a whole bunch of D’s in the northern part of Pete’s district who, due to huge population growth, could turn RD 20 into a solid D district.
If Pete wants to. Seriously worth keeping an eye on. Will Pete look to grow the caucus, or will he look to protect the Kop Kabal?
@Jack B: There is no ghost. Sussex Watcher has been commenting here for years.
As someone with no dog in the fight, let me say you’re doing yourself no favors here. You’re coming off as overexcitable and tendentious.
Sorry to say, I’m addressing “Sussex Worker”. I don’t know “Sussex Watcher”.
Same story. Both have been here for years. You, not so much.
You’re not much on details, either. Sussex Watcher commented above. He called you a joke, and you’re doing very little to dispel his opinion.
I agree. And Jack B’s comments really shows he doesn’t know Sussex County politics or political history. Anybody who thinks Sussex was safe Blue in 2012 either wasn’t living here or paying attention. The march hard Red started way before then, really after the 2002 re-districting. As ES mentioned, Shirley Price was replaced by Gerald Hocker. John Schroeder was also replaced by Joe Booth.
Further “down ballot” at the County Council level, in 2008 Dale Dukes, Finley Jones and Lynn Rogers retired rather than run for re-election, giving the Rs a 4-1 majority (which is now 5-0) (https://www.capegazette.com/article/friends-associates-honor-retiring-sussex-councilmen/5603). Senator Adams died in 2009 and his daughter couldn’t hold the seat in a special election against Joe Booth. Christine O’Donnell defeated Mike Castle in the Republican senate primary in 2010, largely based on the Sussex County vote.
Anyway, my guess is that SD6 is going to be a Rehoboth-centered district. Smyk can’t win the seat and based on where he lives I doubt he’ll be in it. I don’t know where Jack B. lives but I think the D candidate is more likely to have roots, contacts and name recognition in the Rehoboth-area.
Does anybody recall Vance Phillips? He was a kingmaker in county politics for a while in there, before his ephebophilic predilections caught up with him.
Any of you Sussex commenters know whatever happened to him?
On a related note, why is it that Democrats have the reputation for licentiousness, but Republicans are always getting caught exercising their perversions?
Last I heard Vance went to Texas after divorce and assorted issues.
As a point of historical reference, Thurman’s daughter was not the party’s first choice to run for his seat. Significant pressure was applied to get the initial pick to drop out and for Polly to get nominated.
Then she turned out to be an awful campaigner with nothing to say other than “Hi, my name is Polly ADAMS Mervine” and got absolutely creamed by Joe Booth with 63 percent.
That is truth. Needless to say, there weren’t a lot of people motivated to go to the wall for her.
Believe it or not, hers may not have been the worst campaign run by the offspring of a deceased legislator during my time working for the Senate. Herman ‘The Lesser’ Holloway somehow managed to lose in a district with about a 5-1 D edge to Margaret Rose Henry thanks to his unbridled arrogance and laziness.
BTW: Herman’s campaign chair?: Stephanie Bolden.
Call it a two-way tie for last.
BTW, here is some DEEP LEGISLATIVE TRIVIA for you.
I wasn’t the only legislative staffer who drew the short straw and had to ‘volunteer’ for Holloway, burning up vacation days for the honor.
One other staffer forced to work on that campaign is now a Delaware State Senator. Can you name that person?
I can’t reply, to your trivia question, but was it Senator Spiros?
In response to SW, yes, it WAS Spiros Mantzavinos, who was working for the Senate at the time.
I don’t remember who was calling the shots on that campaign, it was probably Herman The Lesser himself, but I remember me and Spiros lit-dropping down in Swanwyck Estates a couple of days before the election. Neither of us would EVER have chosen that area. I remember giving each other a ‘What the fuck are we doing here’ look. There was literally no interest in the race there, the Democrats were not exactly the type inclined to vote for either Holloway or Henry, if you get my drift. Bill Houghton was their state rep.
I’m happy that this thread has enabled me to remember some of this stuff.
I lived in Southeastern Sussex for 20 years from the 80’s to the 00’s
Finley Jones, Lynn Rogers, Venables and Dale Dukes were barely Democrats by any standard. Dale Dukes spends his time now posting pro Trump drivel. Though one of my great joys in Sussex politics was Rogers beating Jud Bennett by 4 votes:). Sussex has always been right leaning with the difference between ’86 when I moved there from Wilmington and now is the party labels are more accurate. That said ’22 will be an excellent opportunity to pick up a House and Senate seat. The sleeper could be the D’s getting back my old District the 38th. The only way to redraw it is east towards the beach. It is going to be at a minimum competitive and could be had with a good recruit.
@JackB. Listening to your recitation of Sussex political history is hilarious. Do this: go talk to some dems that were actually here. Leah Betts, Emory West. Joe Conaway. Learn what really happened; because just going by the numbers does not really tell the story at all. And the same is true for the D numbers in redistricting. MANY Sussex D’s will vote for a R than a progressive, transplanted D.