Smithtown residents to protest hiring of Kevin Smith, a Long Island Loud Majority leader

A group of Smithtown residents on Saturday plans to call on town officials to fire a leader of the right-wing political activist group Long Island Loud Majority.

Protest organizers said in flyers promoting the rally that they opposed the hiring of Kevin W. Smith to a part-time job in the town's audio-visual unit.

"Let Wehrheim know we say no!" the flyers state, referring to Supervisor Edward Wehrheim.

A rally organizer who did not want to be identified declined to comment Friday.

The rally was scheduled for 2 p.m. outside Smithtown Town Hall on West Main Street.

The town board on Jan. 3 voted 5-0 to hire Smith as an audio-visual production specialist, according to minutes of the meeting posted on the town website.

Smith began working for the town on Jan. 9 at a salary of $19.91 per hour, a town board resolution shows. 

Smith is a co-leader of Loud Majority, which has made frequent appearances at library and school board meetings denouncing the teaching of what they call "critical race theory." Members have cast doubt on the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, in which incumbent Republican Donald Trump was defeated by Democrat Joe Biden.

Critical race theory originally was an approach to understanding the impact of race and racism on the American legal system. In recent decades, it has been adopted by social scientists and historians as a tool for explaining the racial differences in income, education, law enforcement and life expectancy.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks suspected hate groups, has included Loud Majority on a list of “extreme anti-government groups.”

Smith and co-leader Shawn Farash have said Loud Majority is an advocacy group that is pro-Trump but is not opposed to government.

Town spokeswoman Nicole Garguilo told Newsday in an email it was "town policy not to comment on personnel matters. Additionally, town policy dictates that we do not discriminate in our hiring process of any kind, including one's political beliefs."

Smithtown officials previously told Newsday that Smith's audio-visual job does not require passage of a Civil Service exam because it is a part-time post.

The job does not include health insurance or vacation accrual, but Smith is eligible to join the New York State retirement system, officials said.

By Carl MacGowan

carl.macgowan@newsday.comCarlMacGowan

Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.