Thread by @LamarWhiteJr

Almost 9 years ago, I broke the story about Steve Scalise attending & speaking at a white supremacist conference in 2002. Given the renewed attention, I think it's important to correct a few things the media continues to misreport. (1/25)

cenlamar.com/2014/12/28/hou…

The "international" event, held at the Landmark Best Western Hotel in Metairie, was hosted by EURO, the European-American Unity & Rights Organization, a group affiliated with David Duke, arguably the most notorious racist in America at the time.

Duke, a former state representative, was universally known in Louisiana, rising to become one of the most dominant figures in state politics by winning the majority of white voters in the '90 Senate & the '91 gubernatorial elections. He also was one of Scalise's constituents.

Some have implied that because the event occurred more than 20 years ago, Scalise's decision to attend the conference must've been due to his youth and inexperience. Scalise himself has incredulously claimed that he didn't know anything about the group's politics or agenda.

But in 2002, Scalise was 35 years old, had served two terms in the state legislature, and was gearing up to run for a third term. This wasn't a rookie mistake. Not only was he familiar with Duke, but he personally knew members of Duke's political machine, including Kenny Knight.

Knight, Duke's former campaign manager and top aide, invited Scalise to speak at the event. (Some have taken issue with my characterization of Scalise as an "honored guest," but the group was clearly flattered and honored by the attendance of a prominent elected official).

Initially, Scalise's office denied my story, which I had uncovered after discovering a series of archived posts on the white supremacist website, Stormfront, which not only thanked Scalise for attending but also provided details of his remarks. He obviously impressed the group.

In an absurd attempt to protect Scalise from the fall-out, Kenny Knight, now serving time for operating an oxycontin "pill mill," told the Times-Picayune that Scalise had attended a meeting for a non-existent neighborhood group he also hosted at the same hotel on the same day.

Scalise eventually fessed up and admitted attending the white supremacist conference, though he claimed he had forgotten about the event, which, if true, speaks volumes about his normalization of white supremacist politics. Either way, he knew his audience.

A commenter on Stormfront recalled Scalise's vehement opposition to a so-called "slush fund." Quoting:

The fund was actually called the Rural and Urban Development Fund, and it provided funding to a variety of local programs. Scalise wanted to give it all away to entice an NBA team to New Orleans.

cenlamar.com/2015/01/05/ste…

Scalise would later claim that he likely decided to accept the group's invitation because he had been attempting to build opposition to a proposed constitutional amendment known as the Stelly Plan (which passed but was later rescinded by Bobby Jindal).

Under the Stelly Plan, sales taxes for household groceries and residential utilities were reduced and eventually eliminated by increasing the state income tax for those making over $80K a year and preventing double deductions on state and federal income taxes.

The Stelly Plan proved to be incredibly effective and fiscally responsible. It not only helped poor families in one of the poorest states in the country pay for food and electricity, but it also reduced the burden on the state. Once rescinded, the state lost $300M a year.

Not surprisingly, its leading opponents, including Scalise, who once voted against designating Martin Luther King Day, already a federal holiday, as a state holiday, used racist dog whistles and fearmongering about bankrupting business owners to campaign against it.

There's just one problem with Scalise's claim that his speech to white supremacists was merely a part of his campaign against the Stelly Plan. The conference not only occurred months before his campaign against Stelly; it occurred before the legislature had even considered it.

Steve Scalise now appears to be on the verge of becoming the Speaker of the House. He would be the first Speaker from Louisiana, which, contrary to what some of Scalise's usual critics in the state may believe, is not "good" for the state, even if Jim Jordan would be worse.

Scalise has spent practically his entire career in elected office, representing one of the most radically conservative districts in the country, the same district that launched David Duke's political career & put Bobby Jindal & David Vitter in power, a bastion of the Lost Cause.

Now that he commands power in Washington, it's easy & convenient for some to ignore how he got there in the first place, to accept his equivocations about his past & platitudes about racial tolerance as genuine, & to let his personal narrative of survival excuse his politics.

To be clear, I don't know him personally. Our one encounter was so brief I didn't have the chance to tell him my name. I've read his book, chronicling the trauma of his shooting in the style of a political thriller but revealing almost nothing about his personality and beliefs.

But I do know his voting record, both in the state legislature and in Congress. And I know how he built his political career and the constituency he's courted and empowered from the beginning. To use his own words, he's "David Duke without the baggage."

Not only did he oppose making MLK Day a state holiday (until last year, Robert E. Lee Day and Confederate Memorial Day were state holidays), but as a member of Congress, he opposed naming a post office after Judge Lionel Collins, a civil rights pioneer from Jefferson Parish.

Worth noting: Arguably, the only reason Scalise remained in leadership after my story broke in late December 2014 was because now-former Rep. Cedric Richmond, a Black Democrat from Louisiana, declared that Scalise didn't have "a racist bone in his body."

At the time, the standard explanation for Richmond's bizarre defense was that he and Scalise were "close friends." Apparently, they aren't today. Richmond's supporters in New Orleans imagined it was shrewd political calculus. Scalise would "owe" him, or so the story went. Nope.

Today, Republicans are allowing a radical faction to host their own white supremacist conference on the House floor.

Ironically, if Scalise doesn't get the votes needed to become Speaker, it will likely be because he failed to court the most outspoken white supremacists.