U.S. Senatorial Candidate Andrew Shecktor Poses for Photo With Pennsylvania Skinhead
On March 4, during a pro-Trump Spirit Of America Rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, a local racist skinhead snapped a photo of himself standing next to U.S Senatorial candidate and current Berwick city council member .听
In the photo Steven Scott Smith, member of the racist skinhead crew Keystone United (KU), holds an anti-immigrant sign reading, 鈥淪ecure our Borders.鈥� He stands next to Shecktor, who was also a delegate at the 2016 Republican National Convention.
It鈥檚 unclear if Shecktor knows Smith politically, and their views on immigration can鈥檛 be further apart, according to Shecktor鈥檚 campaign website.
Shecktor supports 鈥渁 plan to integrate undocumented immigrants who have been here and are productive citizens,鈥� whereas Smith, who has been a Luzerne County Republican Committee member since 2012, uses immigration as a wedge issue to reshape the county鈥檚 republican party.
And his plan might work, according to Smith. 鈥淚鈥檝e won a lot of people over my four years serving as committeeman ... I can still broadcast my pro-white views [and] you find out [that] most of them agree with you,鈥� Smith told a room full of skinheads and white nationalists last April in northeast Pennsylvania. But, 鈥淚f you鈥檙e afraid to be openly pro-white ... just say [you鈥檙e] against illegal alien immigration, the illegal alien invasion,鈥� Smith continued.
On a larger scale, Smith, who represents Pittston City鈥檚 fourth ward, wants to 鈥渢ake over鈥� the Pennsylvania Republican Party. 鈥淚 think we can get involved in the Republican Party on the local grassroots level 鈥� we can take it bit by bit. We鈥檒l take over this Republican Party in Luzerne county, maybe the whole state of Pennsylvania. We鈥檒l be pro-white republican committee members,鈥� Smith said at a Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP) event, a white nationalist group started by Matthew Heimbach.
Moving one step closer, last April Smith鈥檚 good friend and KU member Ryan Wojtowicz joined him on the Luzerne County Republican Committee, representing Nanticoke City鈥檚 fourth ward. 鈥�2016 has been a great year for nationalists,鈥� Smith wrote in a Facebook post on January 1. 鈥淭rump wins the Presidency. The United Kingdom votes to leave the European Union. Ryan Wojtowicz and I win elections to the Luzerne County Republican Committee. Let's keep it rolling in 2017!鈥�
And so they have. According to Wojtowicz, KU members are active throughout the area and 鈥渁ttend a lot of events hosted by the NAACP,鈥� he told Centre County reporter Chloe Cullen during in late February.听
While Smith he鈥檚 merely a 鈥渨hite rights advocate鈥� and not a racist, his and Wojtowicz鈥檚 actions tells a different story.
Smith 鈥� an active skinhead and neo-Nazi since the 1990s 鈥� has belonged to a plethora of white supremacist groups. He co-founded KU (formerly Keystone State Skinheads) in 2001, one of the largest and most active single-state racist skinhead crews in the country. Smith was also a leader of David Duke鈥檚 National Association for the Advancement of White People Philadelphia chapter and a state chairman for the American Freedom Party (formerly known as the American Third Position), which 鈥渞epresent[s] the interests of White Americans.鈥�
Most recently Smith co-founded the Pennsylvania-based group the European American Action Coalition (EAAC), an organization 鈥渇ounded in the fall of 2011 by a few well known White activists,鈥� that 鈥渁dvocates on behalf of White Americans,鈥� according to the group鈥檚 Facebook account. He also refers to the media as 鈥淶ionists鈥� and has a Totenkopf 鈥� a symbol formerly used by Nazi soldiers 鈥� tattooed on his arm.
Smith has a criminal record dating back to 2003, when he and two other Keystone State Skins (KU鈥檚 original name) members were arrested for beating a black man with stones and chunks of pavement. Smith pleaded guilty to terrorist threats and ethnic intimidation and received a 60-day sentence.
As for Wojtowicz, he doesn鈥檛 shy away from white nationalism.听
Wojtowicz, 27, 鈥渇irst got interested in the racial movement鈥� when he was around 11 or12, he told Cullen in late February, and 鈥渉ooked up with Keystone United,鈥� when he was in his late teens.
His embrace of racist rhetoric is alarming.
In KU blog posts, Wojtowicz refers to multi-cultural communities as 鈥渧iolent cesspools鈥� and he and several KU members have a long-standing relationship with TWP. According to TWP鈥檚 FEC filings, KU received over $800 from TWP in 2016 and co-hosted an event with them in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania last February 2016. With Wojtowicz and Smith trying to propagate ethno-nationalism in local politics, let鈥檚 hope Shecktor was unaware of Smith鈥檚 ulterior motives when that photo was taken.听
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