I Thought the Pointy Hats Were from Hogwarts

[Tecumsehsbones]

House Majority Whip Scalise confirms he spoke to white nationalists in 2002

By Robert Costa and Ed O'Keefe
December 29


Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), the House majority whip, acknowledged Monday that he spoke at a gathering hosted by white-supremacist leaders while serving as a state representative in 2002, thrusting a racial controversy into House Republican ranks days before the party assumes control of both congressional chambers.

Scalise, 49, who ascended to the House GOP’s third-ranking post this year, confirmed through an adviser that he once appeared at a convention of the European-American Unity and Rights Organization, or EURO. But the adviser said the congressman didn’t know at the time about the group’s affiliation with racists and neo-Nazi activists.

“For anyone to suggest that I was involved with a group like that is insulting and ludicrous,” Scalise told the Times-Picayune on Monday night. The organization, founded by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, has been called a hate group by several civil rights organizations.

The news could complicate Republican efforts to project the sense of a fresh start for a resurgent, diversifying party as the new session of Congress opens next week. In the time since voters handed control of Congress to Republicans, top GOP leaders have been eagerly trumpeting their revamped image and management team on Capitol Hill.

Monday night, some Democrats were already raising questions about whether Scalise should remain in a leadership post.

More at link: House Majority Whip Scalise confirms he spoke to white nationalists in 2002 - The Washington Post

This has me worried. I don't mind having racists in senior government offices, but if this guy is telling the truth, he spoke to a Klan crowd without realising it was a Klan crowd. That level of stupid should be kept well away from the controls.

 

[tay]

Congressman Steve Scalise apologized earlier this week for speaking to a group of white supremacists in 2002.


You would think that would settle the question of whether Scalise spoke to a group of white supremacists.


But no.


Two days ago, Slate ran a piece quoting Kenny Knight, a close associate of David Duke, who booked the room for the white supremacist group, known as EURO. Knight claimed that he invited Scalise to speak to the “Jefferson Heights Civic Association, which was largely comprised of elderly people who lived in his and Scalise’s neighborhood.” The meeting of the civic association, Knight said, just happened to be held in the same room as the EURO conference held later that day.

Knight told The Times-Picayune that he “was not a member of EURO and did not arrange for any speakers at the 2002 conference.”





The right-wing ran was the story, billing the entire controversy as little more than a hoax.


But, as it turns out, Knight was lying.


Not only was Knight a member of the EURO group but “documents filed with the Louisiana secretary of state’s office list him as treasurer…” He is also listed as a member of the group in a 2002 news release for the conference in question, where he was scheduled as a speaker.


Asked about the discrepancy and the state document listing him as treasurer of the group, Knight hung up twice on a reporter for The Times-Picayune. Eventually, Knight said “Is that 15 years ago? I don’t even remember that. I’m not communicating any more with the news media. I’m finished with y’all.”


If you have any further questions, ask David Duke.


In an interview with the Washington Post, Duke said he “recalled Knight reaching out to Scalise in the weeks before the conference to come and update attendees on state affairs, and that Scalise accepted without reservation.”

 

[Ludlow]

boo on scaloose