House Majority Whip Steve Scalise Spoke To White Nationalists In 2002

House majority whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) spoke at a conference hosted by white nationalists in 2002, the representative confirmed on Monday.

The conference was hosted by the European-American Unity and Rights Organization. Lamar White Jr., a Louisiana political blogger, found posts on one of the group’s websites called Stormfront that mentioned Scalise’s attendance.

One user on Stormfront said Scalise, who was a state representative at the time, gave a workshop “to teach the most effective and up-to-date methods of civil rights and heritage related activism.”

The European-American Unity and Rights Organization was founded by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. Southern Poverty Law Center has deemed it a hate group and a means through which Duke publicizes his writing and sells his books.

Moira Bagley Smith, a spokesperson for the House majority whip Steve Scalise, made a statement about Scalise’s attendance in the white nationalists’ conference. Smith said,

“Throughout his career in public service, Mr. Scalise has spoken to hundreds of different groups with a broad range of viewpoints. In every case, he was building support for his policies, not the other way around. In 2002, he made himself, available to anyone who wanted to hear his proposal to eliminate slush funds that wasted millions of taxpayer dollars as well as his opposition to a proposed tax increase on middle-class families. He has never been affiliated with the abhorrent group in question. The hate-fueled ignorance and intolerance that group projects is in stark contradiction to what Mr. Scalise believes and practices as a father, a husband, and a devoted Catholic.”

Alsace Hebert, a user on Stormfront, wrote on May 21, 2002 that Representative Scalise wanted to reduce funds that had little government accountability. Hebert said Scalise emphasized how community needs were underfunded “at the expense of graft within the Housing and Urban Development Fund, an apparent give-away to a selective group based on race.”

Scalise’s advisers and friends are insisting the representative didn’t realize the implications of attending the two-day conference in 2002. Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the SPLC, commented that it’s hard to believe Scalise didn’t know EURO was a racist hate group. Potok also noted that Scalise stayed after listening to hateful and racist speeches.

The Louisiana region where Scalise represents in Congress has white supremacist roots. Notably, in 2004, Democrat Roy Armstrong ran to represent the state’s 1^st Congressional District. Armstrong is an ex-KKK leader and a spokesperson for David Duke. He lost the race to Republican Bobby Jindal, current Louisiana governor, but he received more than 19,000 votes.

The uncovering of House majority whip Steve Scalise speaking at a white national conference in 2002 comes days before the Republicans take control of Congress. It also comes during a time of heightened racial tensions in the U.S. as protesters throughout the country are opposing grand jury decisions to not indict white officers who killed unarmed black men.

[Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore]

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise Spoke To White Nationalists In 2002