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Steve Scalise
House Majority Whip
Incumbent
Assumed office August 1, 2014
Leader	Kevin McCarthy
Preceded by	Kevin McCarthy
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana's 1st district
Incumbent
Assumed office May 3, 2008
Preceded by	Bobby Jindal
Member of the Louisiana Senate from the 9th district
In office January 14, 2008 – May 6, 2008
Preceded by	Ken Hollis
Succeeded by	Conrad Appel
Member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from the 82nd district
In office 1996 – January 14, 2008
Preceded by	Quentin Dastugue
Succeeded by	Cameron Henry
Personal details
Born	(1965-10-06) October 6, 1965 (age 59) New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Jennifer Ann Letulle
Relations	Ben Bagert (cousin)
Children	Madison Carol Harrison Joseph
Alma mater	Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge
Website	House website Party website

Stephen Joseph "Steve" Scalise (born October 6, 1965) is the current United States House of Representatives Majority Whip and representative for Louisiana's 1st congressional district, serving since 2008. He is a member of the Republican Party and the chairman of the 170-member conservative House Republican Study Committee.

Prior to his congressional tenure, Scalise served for four months in the Louisiana State Senate and twelve years in the Louisiana House of Representatives. On June 19, 2014, Scalise was elected by his Republican colleagues to serve as Majority Whip of the United States House of Representatives. He assumed office on August 1. He is the first Louisianan in the Majority Whip's position since Democrat Hale Boggs of Louisiana's 2nd congressional district held the position from 1962 to 1971.

In 2014, controversy arose after Scalise acknowledged that in 2002 he had spoken at a white supremacist group founded by David Duke.

Early life

Stephen Joseph "Steve" Scalise is the son of Alfred J. Scalise and Carol Schilleci Scalise. After his mother's death, his father remarried and Maggie Penfold Scalise became his stepmother.

Scalise graduated from Archbishop Rummel High School in Metairie in Jefferson Parish and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, with a major in computer programming and a minor in political science.

Louisiana Legislature

Scalise was elected three times to the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1995, 1999, and 2003. He initially succeeded fellow Republican Representative Quentin D. Dastugue, who made an ill-fated bid for governor in the 1995 primary.

His legislative peers named him to the House Appropriations Committee as the representative of the First Congressional District. Scalise opposed the 2002 Stelly Plan, a proposal by Lake Charles Representative Vic Stelly, since repealed, to reduce certain state sales taxes on food for home consumption and utilities in exchange for higher state income taxes.

Scalise was elected in the October 20, 2007, nonpartisan blanket primary to the District 9 seat in the Louisiana Senate vacated by the term-limited Ken Hollis of Metairie. Scalise received 19,154 votes (61 percent) in a three-way contest. Fellow Republican Polly Thomas polled 8,948 votes (29 percent). A Democrat, David Gereighty, polled 3,154 votes (10 percent) in the heavily Republican-oriented district. Scalise was succeeded in the state House by his aide, Cameron Henry of Metairie.

In the special election on November 4, 2008 to fill the remaining three and one-half years in Scalise's state Senate term, Conrad Appel defeated Polly Thomas, 21,853 (52.1 percent) to 20,065 (47.9 percent). Thomas had also lost the race for the seat in 2007 to Scalise.

U.S. House of Representatives

On being asked by the New Orleans Times-Picayune to assign Democrat Barack Obama a letter grade for Obama's first 100 days as President, Scalise awarded the new president an L (for "liberal").

Scalise encouraged residents throughout Southeast Louisiana to provide feedback about the Corps of Engineers' Category 5 proposal, titled Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration (LACPR) report. In a June 5, 2009 letter to the editor of The Times-Picayune, Anne Milling, founder of the Women of the Storm wrote, "Kudos to Rep. Steve Scalise, who led his congressional colleagues here last week for a first-hand glimpse of Louisiana's offshore oil and gas production and its critical importance to the nation."

Committee assignments

• Committee on Energy and Commerce
  • Subcommittee on Communications and Technology
  • Subcommittee on Energy and Power
  • Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations

Legislative history

In 2011, Scalise became a co-sponsor of Bill H.R.3261 otherwise known as the Stop Online Piracy Act (withdrawn Jan 23, 2012). As chairman of the Republican Study Committee, Scalise dismissed Derek Khanna, a committee staffer, in December 2012 because of pressure from content industry lobbyists after the study committee published a memo advocating copyright reform.

In 2013, Scalise voted against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act.

Leadership race

In the aftermath of Rep. Eric Cantor's unexpected defeat by David Brat on June 10, 2014, Scalise launched a campaign to replace Rep. Kevin McCarthy in the position of Majority Whip of the House; McCarthy himself would replace Cantor as House Majority Leader. Scalise's ascent to leadership built on his "come-from-behind win in 2012 to become chairman" of the Republican Study Committee. Scalise subsequently won a three-way race for whip, winning on the first ballot despite the efforts of fellow candidates Peter Roskam and Marlin Stutzman. He came under fire for using the assistance of a federal lobbyist, John Feehery, when hiring staff for the Majority Leader's Press Office.

Political campaigns

2008 special election

In 2004, Scalise announced that he would run for the U.S. House but thereafter deferred to the preference of party leaders and supported Jindal, who won the position vacated by the successful U.S. senatorial candidate, David Vitter.

In 2007, when Jindal was elected to the governorship of Louisiana, Scalise announced his intentions to seek the seat yet again. This time he received Republican party backing.

Scalise's strongest Republican primary opponent, State Representative Timothy G. "Tim" Burns from Mandeville in St. Tammany Parish, accused Scalise of push polling, a practice in which a campaign contacts voters by telephone and asks probing questions which leave a negative impression of his opponent. Scalise defended his poll from criticism by Burns: "We were running a public opinion survey this week conducted by the largest Republican polling firm in the country, Public Opinion Strategies. . . . conducted with a sample of 300 people, and it shows Scalise at 57 percent, Burns at 26 percent and undecided at 17 percent The margin of error is 5.6 percent. We ran a fact-based public opinion survey, not a push poll."

In the March 8, 2008, Republican primary, Scalise polled 16,799 votes (48 percent). He went on to win the runoff election on April 5 against Burns, who received 9,631 votes (28 percent) in the initial primary.

In the May 3 general election, Scalise received 33,867 votes (75.13 percent) to Democrat Gilda Reed's 10,142 ballots (22.5 percent). Two minor candidates polled the remaining 2.36 percent of the vote. Reed was a favorite of organized labor and the Democratic constituency groups. The First District has been Republican since 1977, when Bob Livingston won a special election.

Scalise was sworn in on May 7, 2008.

2008

In the regularly scheduled election, Scalise was reelected over Democrat Jim Harlan, 66 percent to 34 percent.

2010

Scalise defeated the Democratic nominee, Myron Katz, and an Independent, Arden Wells, in his 2010 bid for reelection.

2012

In June 2009, Scalise joined Dan Kyle, the former legislative auditor and the treasurer of the Louisiana GOP, as directors of a national presidential fund-raising effort promoting Governor Jindal. According to Kyle, the group hoped to raise $60 million to persuade Jindal to seek the 2012 party nomination. Others on the committee include former State Representative Woody Jenkins. Former Republican State Senator Tom Schedler of Slidell had his name removed from the group, not because he opposes Jindal but because such fund-raising activity could conflict with Schedler's role at the time as first assistant to Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne. In 2010, Schedler succeeded Dardenne as secretary of state.

In his own 2012 congressional race, Scalise prevailed with 193,490 votes (66.6 percent) over four opponents, the strongest of which was the Democrat M. V. "Vinny" Mendoza, who finished with 61,979 votes (21.3 percent). A second Republican, Gary King, received 24,838 votes (8.6 percent). Independent Arden Wells ran again and received 4,285 votes (1.5 percent) in his second race against Scalise.

Legislation

Scalise sponsored a bill called the FCC Consolidated Reporting Act. The bill makes the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) consolidate several of their reports into one report. The bill is expected to help streamline the FCC's work and make the agency more efficient.

EURO controversy

In 2014, political blogger Lamar White, Jr. researched forum posts on white supremacist website Stormfront and discovered that in 2002 Scalise had spoken at a conference organized by a white supremacist group. White, a law student, posted his findings on his blog, CenLamar.com. Soon after media took note, Scalise said that, while serving in the state legislature in 2002, he had spoken at European-American Unity and Rights Organization (EURO), a group founded by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. Scalise said that he did not know of the "racist nature of the group" when he spoke at the conference in 2002.

After news of the EURO speaking engagement came out, The Huffington Post reported that Scalise had accepted $1,000 from David Duke's adviser, Kenny Knight. The money was given to Scalise in 2008.

Kenny Knight and his former girlfriend, Barbara Noble, said that Scalise did not speak at the EURO conference, but at a meeting of the Jefferson Heights Civic Association. The association met in the same location as the EURO conference, several hours before the conference began. According to Knight, a representative of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office and a member of the Red Cross also spoke to attendees, who were mainly residents from Knight and Scalise's neighborhood. Knight says he invited Scalise because, “I wanted to reach out to him and give him an audience so he could talk to people from his district about legislation he was proposing." According to public records, Knight, who initially denied that he was a member of EURO, was previously treasurer for the group under it's previous name, the National Organization for European American Rights. The EURO press release advertising the 2002 conference did not list Scalise as a speaker.

On December 29, Niels Lesniewski of Roll Call reprinted an article that had been run in 1999, after Congressman Bob Livingston had resigned from Congress. Duke and Scalise were considering running for his seat and they and others were interviewed for the piece. When asked about a potential bid for Congress by Duke, Scalise had told the newspaper that he held many of the same "conservative" views as Duke, but was a more electable candidate, saying that Duke's "novelty" had worn off. Two days later, Louisiana political reporter Stephanie Grace recounted that during her first meeting with Scalise two decades ago, he had told her that he was "like David Duke without the baggage".

According to legislative records, Scalise was one of only three state legislators who, in 1999, voted against making Martin Luther King, Jr. Day a state holiday, and one of six who again, in 2004, voted against recognizing the holiday.

Reaction

Louisiana politicians such as Republicans Roger F. Villere, Jr. and Bobby Jindal, and Democrat Cedric Richmond defended Scalise's character. Speaker of the House John Boehner voiced his continued confidence in Scalise as Majority Whip. According to John Hayward at Human Events the story of Scalise's speaking engagement in 2002 was "either dubiously sourced, a mistake, or an outright hoax".

Several Democratic members of Congress, as well as Mo Elleithee, a spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee, criticized Scalise, and challenged his statement that he was not aware of the group's affiliation with racism and anti-Semitism. Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center called upon Scalise to step down from his leadership position as Majority Whip.

Personal life

He is a member of the American Italian Renaissance Foundation. He married the former Jennifer Ann Letulle (born 1975) on September 4, 2005. The couple has two children, Madison, and Harrison.

References

1. "CURRENT HOUSE FLOOR PROCEEDINGS LEGISLATIVE DAY OF MAY 7, 2008 110TH CONGRESS - SECOND SESSION". Clerk.house.gov. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
2. "Office of the clerk, U.S. House of Representative". Clerk.house.gov. May 7, 2008. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
3. "Deborah Barfield Berry, With Alexander departing, delegation's clout in question? Will Alexander loss, Senate battle hurt Louisiana in the nation's capital?". Shreveport Times. Retrieved August 19, 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
4. ^ "Marriage Annacouments". Times Picayune. 2006. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
5. Pierce, Charles (July 8, 2013). "Home / Blogs / The Politics Blog The Politics Blog The Republicans' New Debt Ceiling "Menu"". Esquire. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
6. Louisiana Secretary of State, November 4, 2008, election results: http://www400.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcms3&rqsdta=110408
7. Tilove, Jonathan, "Obama's first 100 days are graded on a curve" in Times-Picayune (New Orleans), 2009 April 29, Saint Tammany Edition, pp. A1, A6 (web version = Louisiana's congressional delegation grades President Obama's first 100 days from A to L.)
8. scalise.house.gov/hurricane
9. Sisco, Annette (ed.) (July 5, 2009). "A visit to Louisiana opens eyes". Blog.nola.com. Retrieved October 6, 2013. {{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)
10. Bill H.R.3261; GovTrack.us;
11. Lee, Timothy B. (December 6, 2012). "Staffer axed by Republican group over retracted copyright-reform memo". Ars Technica. Condé Nast Publications. Retrieved December 8, 2012.
12. Trotter, J.K. (February 28, 2013). "Here's Who Voted Against the Violence Against Women Act". The Atlantic.
13. Joachim, David S., "Louisianan Seeks to Extend Rapid Rise in House G.O.P.", New York Times, June 19, 2014. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
14. Parker, Ashley, and Jeremy W. Peters, "House Republicans Name McCarthy as Cantor’s Replacement", New York Times, June 19, 2014. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
15. Sherman, Jake; Bresnahan, John; Palmer, Anna (June 19, 2014). "Inside the House GOP leadership shake-up". Politico. Retrieved June 20, 2014.
16. Palmer, Anna; Sherman, Jake. "To pick staff, Scalise turns to lobbyist". www.politico.com. Politico. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
17. "Scalise defends integrity of GOP runoff survey". NOLA.com. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
18. ^ Louisiana Secretary of State Unofficial Election Results Inquiry Results for Election Date: 4/05/08
19. "'''nola.com''' ELECTIONS section". Nola.com. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
20. Louisiana Secretary of State-Multi-Parish Elections Inquiry
21. ^ "Michelle Millhollon, "Official pulls out of Jindal group", June 16, 2009". Baton Rouge Morning Advocate. Retrieved November 23, 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
22. "Louisiana election returns, November 6, 2012". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved November 11, 2012.
23. Harrison, Julie, "Scalise’s FCC consolidation bill sails through House", The Ripon Advance, 9-12-13. (Retrieved 9-12-13).
24. Calderone, Michael (December 30, 2014). "How Louisiana Blogger Lamar White, Jr. Landed The Steve Scalise White Supremacist Scoop". Huffington Post. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
25. Costa, Robert. "House Majority Whip Scalise confirms he spoke to white nationalists in 2002". Washington Post. Retrieved December 29, 2014.
26. ^ Jaffe, Alexandra and Walsh, Deirdra (December 31, 2014). "GOP leadership stands by Scalise after white supremacist speech". CNN. Retrieved December 31, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
27. Sarlin, Benjy (December 29, 2014). "GOP leader Steve Scalise may have addressed supremacist conference". MSNBC. Retrieved December 29, 2014.
28. Reilly, Mollie and Grim, Ryan (December 29, 2014). "House Majority Whip Steve Scalise Spoke At White Supremacist Conference In 2002". The Huffington Post. Retrieved December 29, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
29. "House Majority Whip Steve Scalise Was Reportedly an Honored Guest at 2002 International White Supremacist Convention". Retrieved December 29, 2014.
30. Martin, jonathan and Calmes, Jackie (December 31, 2014). "Republicans Try to Fix Damage Scalise's 2002 Speech Could Do in 2016". New York Times. Retrieved December 31, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
31. Lavendar, Paige (December 31, 2014). "Longtime Adviser To David Duke Donated To Steve Scalise". Huffington Post. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
32. ^ Nichols, John (December 31, 2014). "Steve Scalise's Problem Is the Republican Party's Problem". The Nation. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
33. Woodruff, Betty (December 31, 2014). "White Noise Did Steve Scalise Admit to Speaking at a White Supremacist Event He Never Attended?". Slate. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
34. Catalanello, Rebecca (January 1, 2015). "Steve Scalise defender's ties to white nationalist group closer than he disclosed, documents show". The Times-Picayune. Retrieved January 2, 2015.
35. "Steve Scalise Not Mentioned As Speaker in 2002 Press Release By White Supremacist Group". Weekly Standard. December 31, 2014. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
36. Niels Lesniewski (December 29, 2014). "What Scalise and Vitter Told Roll Call About David Duke in 1999". Roll Call. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
37. Stephanie Grace (December 31, 2014). "Stephanie Grace: Scalise's pitch to Duke supporters seems plausible". New Orleans Advocate. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
38. Kopplin, Zach (December 31, 2014). "Louisiana's Long History of Racism". Slate (magazine). Retrieved December 31, 2014.
39. O'Donoghue, Julia (December 29, 2014). "Steve Scalise attended white nationalist event, but says he wasn't aware of group's views". The Times-Picayune. Retrieved December 29, 2014.
40. Bendery, Jennifer (December 30, 2014). "John Boehner Backs Steve Scalise Amid Controversy Over White Supremacist Meeting". Huffington Post. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
41. Hayward, John (December 31, 2014). "Media: Um, that big Steve Scalise story probably didn't happen, but he's still 'embattled' anyway". Human Events. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
42. http://nation.foxnews.com/2014/12/31/media-um-big-steve-scalise-story-probably-didnt-happen-hes-still-embattled-anyway
43. http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/democrats-demand-answers-steve-scalises-ties-david-duke
44. http://splcenter.org/blog/2014/12/30/steve-scalises-denials-are-not-believable/
45. Berman, Mark (December 30, 2014). "SPLC calls for congressman who spoke to white supremacist group to step down from leadership". Washington Post. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
46. Alpert, Bruce, "You can call him 'Mr. Majority Whip' -- Rep. Steve Scalise wins House leadership race", Times-Picayune, June 19, 2014. "... ife, Jennifer, and children Madison and Harrison"; caption. Retrieved 2014-06-19.

External links

• Congressman Steve Scalise official U.S. House site
• Steve Scalise for Congress
• Template:Dmoz
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress
• Profile at Vote Smart

v t e Majority whips of the U.S. House of Representatives
Tawney Watson Dwight Bell Knutson Vestal McDuffie Greenwood Boland Ramspeck Sparkman Arends Priest Arends Albert Boggs O'Neill McFall Brademas Foley Coelho Gray Bonior DeLay Blunt Clyburn McCarthy Scalise Clyburn Emmer

v t e Republican Party whips of the U.S. House of Representatives
Tawney Watson Dwight Burke Hamilton Knutson Vestal Bachmann Englebright Arends Michel Lott Cheney Gingrich DeLay Blunt Cantor McCarthy Scalise Emmer

v t e Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana
1st district	E. Livingston White H. Johnson White Slidell La Sére St. Martin Dunbar Eustis Bouligny Sypher Lawrence Gibson Hunt St. Martin Wilkinson Meyer Estopinal O'Connor Fernández Hébert Tonry B. Livingston Vitter Jindal Scalise
2nd district	Gurley Thomas Ripley Chinn Dawson la Branche Thibodeaux Conrad Bullard J. A. Landry Hunt Taylor Mann Sheldon Ellis Hahn Wallace Lagan Coleman Lagan Davey Buck Davey Gilmore Dupré Spearing Maloney H. Boggs Maloney H. Boggs L. Boggs Jefferson Cao Richmond Carter
3rd district	Brent Overton Bullard Garland J. Moore Dawson Harmanson Penn Perkins Davidson Newsham Darrall Acklen Darrall Kellogg Gay Price Broussard Martin Montet Mouton Domengeaux Willis Caffery Treen Tauzin Melançon J. M. Landry Boustany Higgins
4th district	Bossier Morse J. Moore Jones Sandidge Landrum Vidal Newsham McCleery Boarman Smith Levy Elam Blanchard Ogden Breazeale Watkins Sandlin Brooks Waggonner Leach Roemer McCrery Fields McCrery Fleming M. Johnson
5th district	Blackburn Morey Spencer Leonard Young King Newton Boatner Baird Ransdell Elder Wilson Mills McKenzie Passman Huckaby McCrery Cooksey Alexander McAllister Abraham Letlow
6th district	Nash E. Robertson Lewis Irion E. Robertson S. Robertson Favrot Wickliffe Morgan Sanders Sr. Favrot Kemp Sanders Jr. Griffith Sanders Jr. Morrison Rarick H. Moore Baker Cazayoux Cassidy Graves Fields (elect)
7th district	Pujo Lazaro De Rouen Plauché Larcade Thompson Edwards Breaux Hayes John Boustany
8th district	Aswell Overton Dear Allen G. S. "Doc" Long McSween G. W. Long S. Long G. W. Long C. Long Holloway
At-large	Robertson Butler Johnston Sheridan
Territory	Clark Poydras

Template:Persondata

• 1965 births
• American Roman Catholics
• American people of Italian descent
• Archbishop Rummel High School alumni
• Italian-American culture in Louisiana
• Living people
• Louisiana Republicans
• Louisiana State Senators
• Louisiana State University alumni
• Members of the Louisiana House of Representatives
• Members of the United States House of Representatives from Louisiana
• People from New Orleans, Louisiana
• People from Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
• Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives